The Charlotte Knights announced that BB&T Ballpark has been awarded LEED ® (level of certification). LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices.
“The Knights organization was committed to the LEED certification of the ballpark,” said Gau Gupte, Odell. “The entire team, including the architects, contractors and engineers, focused the goal of being LEED certified from day one. This included energy efficient systems, high performance building envelope design and green material choices and construction processes.”
The LEED rating system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is the foremost program for buildings, homes, and communities that are designed, constructed, maintained and operated for improved environmental and human health performance. More than 58,000 commercial and institutional projects are currently participating in LEED, comprising more than 10.7 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and more than 140 countries.
BB&T Ballpark achieved LEED certification for implementing practical and measurable strategies and solutions aimed at achieving high performance in: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
“The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most-important challenges of our time, including global climate change, dependence on non-sustainable and expensive sources of energy and threats to human health,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “The work of innovative building projects such as BB&T Ballpark is a fundamental driving force in the green building movement.”
The 2014 inaugural season at BB&T Ballpark was a record-breaking one for the Knights, who led all of Minor League Baseball in attendance with 687,715 fans in 71 games. With 31 sell-out crowds, and an average of 9,686 fans per game, BB&T Ballpark was the most visited ballpark in the country in just its first season.
In anticipation of more interest in the Knights Uptown, Charlotte Knights ownership authorized the creation of a new 501 (c) (3) organization named Knights Charities. The first initiative involved a commemorative brick program installed in phases at BB&T Ballpark’s main gate. Fans responded by investing in hundreds of bricks that netted more than $75,000 to the coffers of Knights Charities.
Knights Charities has already made an impact in the Charlotte community. With help of corporate sponsors, the team has generated more than $70,000. Annual events such as Pink Knights, the Charlotte Knights Golf Classic, and others resulted in more than $35,000. Knights players contributed to the cause with funds raised for runs scored, double plays, and triples.
This article originally appeared on the official website of the Charlotte Knights. Click here to view the original story.