New Assurity building to be ‘green'

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New Assurity building to be ‘green'
Story Discussion By the Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, September 14, 2009 12:45 pm | (2) Comments

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What Assurity's new headquarters and parking garage will look like when complete. (The Clark Enersen Partners)

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Not only is Assurity Life Insurance Co. spending a lot of green on its new headquarters in Antelope Valley, but the project will be green as well.

Assurity says its new five-story, 175,000-square-foot headquarters will be the first privately owned major office building in Lincoln, and only the fourth in Nebraska, to achieve Gold-level certification standards of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council.

"Our vision for the Assurity Center reflects our strong commitment to the Lincoln community to construct a building that will add to our community's architecture and be a sustainable, environmentally friendly facility," said Assurity Chairman, President and CEO Tom Henning said in a statement. "We believe good architecture matters in the present and the future because it brings both practical and cultural benefits to people as individuals and to communities."

Among the building's green components will be:

Extensive use of windows with exterior sunshading and lightshelves that reduce reliance on artificial lighting.

Emphasis on use of recycled-content and regionally available materials, including limestone from within 500 miles of Lincoln for the principal exterior and a minimum of 75 percent of construction waste diverted from the landfill.

Water-conserving plumbing that will provide 33 percent water use savings over a typical office building.

Green roofs on portions of the building to reduce heating and cooling costs and provide stormwater benefits, as well as pervious paving surfaces to reduce runoff and allow absorption of stormwater into the subsoil.

Capture of excess rainwater through underground cisterns, bioswales and a rain garden for grounds irrigation and use of drought-tolerant, native and naturalized plantings to minimize the need for irrigation, reduce the impact of maintenance on the environment and create habitat within the city.

Assurity is holding a groundbreaking ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at 20th and Q streets to officially kick off the project.

Construction on the project will start this month, and the building should be ready for occupancy by late 2011, the company said.

The $53 million project includes a headquarters building, which has enough room for 500 employees, and a separate parking garage on about 4 acres of land.

Assurity plans to consolidate its operations and house its more than 400 employees there. Henning said the facility also will have space for other tenants.