The world’s most environmentally responsible high-rise office building is being built in midtown Manhattan in New York City.

The $1 billion project is being co-developed by the Bank of America and The Durst Organization and is scheduled to open in 2008.

The Bank of America Tower will serve as the headquarters for Bank of America’s operations in New York City, and house its global corporate and investment banking, wealth and investment management and consumer and commercial banking businesses.

The 51-storey, 288m (945ft)-tall tower will focus on water and energy efficiency, and indoor environmental quality. The project aims to halve water and energy consumption, and use 50% recycled materials in the building construction.

“I think there is a certain amount of public resentment concerning the amount of natural resources that commercial office buildings blindly consume,” says Jody Durst, co-president of The Durst Organization, which has a reputation for developing environmentally responsible commercial properties.

The tower is the first high-rise to strive for the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) Platinum rating. LEED is a rating system that defines the green credentials of a building, and Platinum is the highest rating that can be achieved.

“Many LEED buildings are in remote areas, so it’s always more interesting and challenging when there is a project in a major city precint,” says communications manager at the US Green Building Council, Taryn Holowka.

“City locations are more difficult as there is no control over the building site. For example, it might not have the East West orientation that will be cooler in summer and warmer in winter. There are LEED credits awarded to projects near public transportation, but in the city you can’t always choose (your position), and there’s a limited area to work in.”

Reducing water consumption

The tower will save millions of gallons of water annually through a grey water system to capture and re-use all rain and a portion of the building’s wastewater, while planted roofs will reduce the urban heat island effect.

The average New York City rainfall is around 1200mm (47in) per year, and the total storage capacity of the building’s rainwater and grey water tanks is 261KL (69,000 gallons).

“We’re capturing all the rainwater on the 30,000ft2 roof (2787m2), and will pipe it to a series of cascading tanks (starting from) the 50th floor,” says Bob Benazzi, plumbing engineer and partner in JB&B consulting engineers. “In this manner both water and energy savings are realized. Energy is saved since the captured storm water is diverted to flush valves on the water closets utilizing gravity only.’

“We’re very excited about the creativity that JB&B has committed to the project,” says Mr Durst. “We see water particularly as the next precious reserve in the United States, and anything that can be done to reduce consumption is noteworthy and newsworthy.”

Mr Benazzi says the water goes from a 7432m2 (80,000 ft2) eighth floor podium roof to a basement storage tank. “From the basement, water is pumped to the water closets in the podium and the cooling tower; this is how we offload the storm water.

“Storm water drains in New York flow to combined (sanitary and storm) sewers which tend to overflow when there’s heavy rainfall. By capturing the storm water from the site, the load on the combined sewer is substantially reduced, lessening the impact to the combined municipal sewer and thus lessening the chance of sanitary overflow to the river.”

The eighth-floor roof podium will also have a green roof. “When the water goes to that roof, it will water the plants, and we’ll capture water through the soil and pipe it to the water tank,” says Mr Benazzi.