April 21, 2008—Allsteel Inc., a major contract furniture designer and manufacturer, has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the city of Santa Monica, Calif.’s Green Building LEED Grant Program. The grant was officially presented to Allsteel at its Santa Monica Resource Center during a recent meeting of the US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Los Angeles Chapter.
Launched in 2004, the program encourages private-sector builders to construct sustainable buildings and provides incentive for the design of buildings under the USGBC’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program, the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.
In fall 2007, Allsteel’s Santa Monica Resource Center, which was designed by architectural firm HOK, earned silver certification in LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI), the rating system for building tenants to certify their interiors are healthy, productive work environments.
As part of the grant award, Allsteel will open its facility to the city for green building tours. The company will also work with the city to create educational materials, case studies and photos.
Allsteels 16,000-square-foot Santa Monica showroom opened in April 2007. It is located in the park- like Water Garden office complex, a collection of office buildings, cafs and restaurants surrounded by gardens, waterways, lakes and courtyards. The selection of this site—along with a number of other initiatives, such as using 100-percent recycled water for its landscape irrigation, incorporating a day- lighting system and using low-emitting materials and indoor pollutant source control—helped the company earn its LEED-CI silver designation for the showroom.
For additional details on the companys commitment to sustainability, visit the Allsteel Web site as well as its FMLink ad.
