Atlanta Warehouse Is World’s First WELL Platinum/LEED Gold Pharma Project     

Also Georgia's first WELL Platinum building, Atlanta Warehouse is part of UCB's global inspace project, providing work environments to stimulate innovation and reimagine collaboration.

In Atlanta, a renovation at UCB’s headquarters campus has been awarded LEED Certification at the Gold level by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and WELL Certification at the Platinum level by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). The Atlanta Warehouse is the first pharmaceutical facility in the world to earn both certifications.

Part of the global biopharmaceutical company’s inspace project, the Atlanta Warehouse was designed to reshape employees’ work environment to stimulate innovation, reimagine collaboration, and create and deliver value for patients living with severe diseases.

UCB Atlanta Warehouse
Leaders from IWBI and USGBC joined UCB executives to present the plaques certifying the Atlanta Warehouse on UCB’s campus as LEED Gold and WELL Platinum. Pictured L to R: Jean-Christophe Tellier, CEO, UCB; Dustin Mason, Associate Director, U.S. Market Transformation & Development, USGBC; Judith Webb, Executive Vice President, IWBI Patty Fritz, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, UCB; Emmanuel Caeymaex, Executive Vice President and Head of Immunology and U.S. Solutions, UCB.

First launched and implemented in UCB’s Brussels, Belgium, headquarters in 2018, the inspace model offers employees four main work environments with unique design elements and functions. From quiet workspaces that promote individual tasks and confidential discussions, to open workspaces that foster connectivity, the four distinctly designed areas within inspace allow employees to tailor their environment to best suit their work activities and goals.

“Everything we do at UCB is to keep people living with severe and rare diseases in mind – ensuring they can live their best lives, whatever that means for them – and the inspace reimagined work environment invests in our employees and facilitates collaboration as they pursue this mission,” explained Patty Fritz, UCB’s Vice President of U.S. Corporate Affairs. “We are already seeing the positive impact the Atlanta Warehouse is delivering for our patients, employees, the environment, and the greater Atlanta community as it is the first building in UCB’s network of almost 40 countries to receive this level of distinction.”

The Atlanta Warehouse inspace project achieved LEED Gold certification for implementing practical and measurable strategies and solutions in areas including sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. LEED-certified buildings create 34 percent lower CO2 emissions, consume 25 percent less energy and 11 percent less water, and divert more than 80 million tons of waste from landfills. UCB’s Atlanta Warehouse is one of only 50 buildings in the pharmaceutical industry globally to achieve LEED Gold certification.

In addition to LEED Gold, the Atlanta Warehouse project also achieved WELL certification at the Platinum level by the IWBI and is one of only two WELL Platinum certified pharmaceutical projects in the world. The warehouse is also the first project to be awarded WELL Platinum certification in Georgia.

“We are already seeing the positive impact the Atlanta Warehouse is delivering for our patients, employees, the environment, and the greater Atlanta community as it is the first building in UCB’s network of almost 40 countries to receive this level of distinction.”

– Patty Fritz, VP of U.S. Corporate Affairs, UCB

The UCB Warehouse inspace project reflects UCB’s sustainable business approach, creating healthy work environments, and minimizing the company’s environmental impact on the greater Atlanta area. Key features achieved by the inspace project include:

  • Diverting more than 85 percent of Warehouse waste generated during construction – equating to more than 1,500 tons of waste and saving 60 loaded standard garbage trucks from the landfill.
  • Reducing the Warehouse’s total energy consumption by 30 percent against the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Condition Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1-2010 baseline and without using any fossil fuel energy sources, in support of UCB’s commitment to reduce its overall Green House Gas (GHG) CO2 emissions by 35 percent by 2030.
  • Offsetting approximately 20 percent of the buildings’ anticipated total annual energy use by installing a 223-kWh photovoltaic array (solar panels) for supplemental power generation located on the roof.
  • Installing two 8,000-gallon cisterns to capture rainwater for landscape irrigation serving both the Warehouse project site and elsewhere on campus which is sufficient to serve 100 percent of the annual irrigation needs for the landscape served by this system.

“Sustainability is an integral part of our business approach. UCB is dedicated to improving technology and energy efficiency in its facilities. Implementing the inspace model is one step of many as we work toward a more sustainable model for our Atlanta campus and beyond,” Fritz stated.

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The Atlanta Warehouse project was initiated in 2018 and Phase II of the project was completed in the second half of 2021. Phase III of the project is expected to begin in early 2023 with a planned redesign and renovation for an additional building on the campus.

Read more news about facilities that have earned LEED and WELL certifications.