By SkySite Property staff 

Design firm Callison is developing two groundbreaking sustainable models designed for retailers—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Retail and LEED Portfolio, also referred to as LEED Volume—with the U.S. Green Building Council.

Callison developed a prototype for Wachovia’s regional financial centers, establishing the tools and guidelines for the LEED for Retail rating system. The Wachovia prototype received the first LEED Silver Commercial Interiors and Portfolio certification under the new system.

“Up until now, retailers have been slow to adopt sustainable practices. For the first time, national retailers can build to LEED standards across their portfolio of stores without having to go through the certification process for each individual site,” says Chris Hamilton, principal at Callison. “This results in an efficient, streamlined process for building sustainable on a large scale, thus saving time, money and manpower for retailers that want to go green.”

Wachovia plans to open more than 300 branches in accordance with LEED for Retail standards by 2010.

Callison has more than 30 million square feet of sustainable projects worldwide, and more than 9 million are LEED-registered projects.

Callison plans and designs retail, hospitality, mixed-use, residential, corporate and healthcare projects worldwide.

For more information, visit Callison's website by clicking here.