by Brianna Crandall — August 1, 2014—Chemical and pharmaceutical giant the Bayer Group recently opened its EcoCommercialBuilding (ECB) in the district of Socorro, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. In order to facilitate construction, the company had the support of 13 partner companies, including Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), which was responsible for the green building consulting service for the project, which received LEED certification from the Green Building Council Brazil (GBC).
The purpose of the building, which belongs to Bayer MaterialScience, one of the business divisions of the Bayer Group, was to raise awareness in the construction market of the different materials and technologies available that focus on sustainability, bringing together the latest in systems and materials. Bayer already has similar buildings in Germany, Belgium, China, USA, India and Thailand.
The EcoCommercialBuilding will function as a living space for 2,000 employees of the Bayer unit and will be open for tours, training events and partner companies. The fact that this is “the first building with zero energy consumption in Brazil (Net Zero Energy)” is noteworthy, according to consultant Pablo Sandoval, responsible for the energy evaluation of the project.
