Thursday, July 25, 2013

Bentley Systems' London Office Achieves LEED Silver Certification

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure, today announced that the renovation and interior fit-out of its new London, U.K., office in the 23-year-old former Barclay’s Bank headquarters building has just received LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council office. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building, home, or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health, including sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. Last year, this same office achieved BREEAM “Very Good” certification – the primary green building rating system in the U.K.

Earlier this year, Bentley further extended its commitment to environmental sustainability by becoming one of the first 30 major U.S. employers, which also included 3M, Bloomberg LP, The Coca-Cola Company, Dell, Duke Energy, Eli Lilly and Co., Facebook, General Electric, Google, The Hartford, National Grid, Raytheon Company, Siemens, Southern California Edison, and Verizon, to join the U.S. Department of Energy’s Workplace Charging Challenge for Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) charging stations. The company’s first charging station will be installed in its Huntsville, Ala., U.S.A., office.

Amy Mussen, Bentley corporate environmental officer, said, “Sustaining the environment isn’t just a corporate program at Bentley, it’s part of our mission. And I’m pleased to report that Bentley’s environmental sustainability efforts continue to make solid gains with the support and commitment of senior management and our many colleagues around the globe. Together, over the past five years, we’ve been able to reduce our per capita carbon footprint 24 percent, recycle more than 27 tons of electronics, launch successful public transit and bike-to-work programs, implement energy efficiency and conservation measures across our 90 offices, adopt virtual meeting technology as a common practice to significantly reduce business travel, implement green procurement policies for office supplies, and more.”

Also this year, Bentley is partnering with organizations in Greater Philadelphia to develop sustainability projects that combine its software, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) projects, and active community engagement. The work is being done in support of preparations being made by Pennsylvania’s Delaware Valley region to host the U.S. Green Building Council’s GreenBuild Conference in November 2013.

About the Workplace Charging Challenge

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Workplace Charging Challenge is a collaborative effort to increase the number of U.S. employers offering workplace charging by tenfold in the next five years. The Challenge also supports the broader efforts of the DOE’s EV Everywhere Grand Challenge, announced last year by President Obama, to make PEVs as affordable and convenient for the American family as gasoline-powered vehicles within the next 10 years. For additional information about the Workplace Charging Challenge and EV Everywhere, visit www.electricvehicles.energy.gov.

About LEED

As an internationally recognized mark of excellence, LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations, and maintenance solutions.

With nearly 10.1 billion square feet of building space participating in the suite of rating systems and 1.5 million square feet certifying per day around the world, LEED is transforming the way built environments are designed, constructed, and operated. For additional information about LEED, visit www.usgbc.org/leed.

About Bentley Systems, Incorporated

Bentley is the global leader dedicated to providing architects, engineers, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. Bentley Systems applies information mobility to improve asset performance by leveraging information modeling through integrated projects for intelligent infrastructure. Its solutions encompass the MicroStation platform for infrastructure design and modeling, the ProjectWise platform for infrastructure project team collaboration and work sharing, and the AssetWise platform for infrastructure asset operations – all supporting a broad portfolio of interoperable applications and complemented by worldwide professional services. Founded in 1984, Bentley has more than 3,000 colleagues in 50 countries, more than $500 million in annual revenues, and since 2005 has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions.

Additional information about Bentley is available at www.bentley.com and in Bentley’s annual report. For Bentley news as it happens, subscribe to an RSS feed of Bentley press releases and news alerts. To view a searchable collection of innovative infrastructure projects from the annual Be Inspired Awards, access Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure publications. To access a professional networking site that enables members of the infrastructure community to connect, communicate, and learn from each other, visit Be Communities.

To download the Bentley Infrastructure 500 Top Owners ranking, a unique global compendium of the top public- and private-sector owners of infrastructure based on the value of their cumulative infrastructure investments, visit www.bentley.com/500.