Benaroya’s new data center in the Seattle region has received a LEED Gold certification from the US Green Building Council. This is USGBC’s second highest award for environmentally friendly design, construction and operation of facilities.

Completed in 2010, the high-power-capacity data center campus in Puyallup, Washington, has not been leased out or sold, as Benaroya said in its news release it was looking for either a tenant or a buyer. The property at the moment includes 55,605sq ft of raised floor and can support up to 260watts per 1sq ft.

Larry Benaroya, principal with the company, said in a statement that the facility, called South Hill, would be attractive both fiscally and environmentally. "We strive to be sensitive to green building practices by using sustainable design and technology to deliver very significant energy savings and the LEED Gold Certification is a strong validation of our efforts."

So what did Benaroya do to get LEED Gold?

The data center’s ‘green’ features include an energy efficient cooling system, which takes advantage of air-side economization (the area’s climate provides an ample supply), supplemented by evaporative cooling. The developer has also implemented extensive monitoring and building automation systems to track energy use in real time.

Other green design features include protection of indoor air quality through controlling dust and particulates to prevent contamination of building materials, ductwork and equipment.

Finishes used throughout the facility contain low levels of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, some chemicals VOCs contain may have short- and long-term health effects.

Materials used during construction contained recycled content, whenever possible, and came from sources within 500 miles of the construction site. Benaroya scored another LEED point for retrofitting an existing structure.

The data center campus has a dedicated on-site dual-fed substation that can provide up to 42.5MW, expandable to 67.5MW. Additional 60,000-70,000sq ft of space and 17.5MW of power is available for expansion at the campus, which also has a spot for a containerized data center.