Savvy contractors looking to enter the green building market should keep their eye out for new areas of green building. One new area is likely to be sports complex construction. The first LEED certified sports complex was the Portland Trail Blazers’ Rose Garden.
More recently, the Consol Energy Center, the future home of the Pittsburgh Penguins, has become the first National Hockey League arena to achieve Gold LEEDcertification.
Pittsburgh is also looking forward to opening a new Eat’n Park at the Waterworks Mall. A company spokesperson noted that, “Ninety-five percent of the materials for this restaurant have been sourced regionally . . . [O]ne of the key things for green building . . . is that you use local resources, and that’s one of the things we’ve done.” The new Eat’n Park will be the first LEED-certified restaurant in the city.
With other green construction projects cropping up, contractors are wise to think “outside the box” and consider developing an expertise in green building no matter what area of construction they specialize in.