LADWP’s La Kretz Innovation Campus is the first building in the U.S. to achieve both LEED v3 Platinum in New Construction and WELL v1 Gold Core and Shell certifications. LEED Platinum is the highest achievement for a building, according to the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) rating system, and La Kretz is the first LADWP building to achieve this level.
“At LADWP, we are committed to walking our talk about sustainability, and that includes green buildings,” said Commissioner Cynthia McClain-Hill, Vice President of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners. “Everything that is happening at La Kretz not only makes sense environmentally, but economically as well, and it shows how our customers and partners can be a part of our move toward a clean energy future.”
Located in LA’s Arts District, the fully-renovated campus, managed by the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), is a 60,000 square-foot, one-story brick masonry building that was purchased by LADWP in 2010. To celebrate the LEED and WELL certifications, LADWP and LACI held an unveiling of the designation plaques at the campus during the recent Net Zero Conference & Expo, the world’s largest annual building industry event dedicated to net zero energy, water, waste, and transit.
“At LADWP, we are proud to have our sustainability practices extend to not only our customers, but our internal operations as well,” says Chief Sustainability Officer, Nancy Sutley. “By implementing extensive clean energy measures throughout our facilities, we are leading by example to help minimize our environmental impact.”
LADWP created the space as a hub for merging science, entrepreneurship, environmentalism and policymaking to advance the development of a sustainable future. La Kretz was able to achieve LEED platinum status, thanks in large part to state-of-the-art, innovative design features such as a grey water system that provides irrigation for a neighboring park, a microgrid energy solar and battery system, a 175-kilowatt photovoltaic solar canopy, fast charger EV stations and two bioswales.
La Kretz is also the first public building to be WELL certified in Los Angeles. The building was able to achieve WELL Gold due to the facility’s access to LADWP’s quality potable water system, excellent inside air quality and the overall well-being of the building design. The WELL Building Standard is a performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment that impact human health and wellbeing, through air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind.
