The final steel beam hoisted atop The PNC Financial Services Group’s new global headquarters in Pittsburgh also reaffirmed PNC’s continuing commitment to sustainability.

The topping off ceremony in June brought together government officials, labor dignitaries, constructions workers, PNC’s employees and members of the project team, including Tom Paladino, CEO of Paladino and Company, who served as the owner’s representative for sustainability on the project.

Below is a video from the Iron Workers Local Union No 3 of the final steel beam being raised to top off the building.

Paladino has worked with PNC for almost 15 years on its pioneering green building program, beginning with its first green building, Firstside Center. At nearly 650,000 square feet, the equivalent of 12 football fields, Firstside Center opened in 2000 as the largest LEED® certified building in the world and the first certified under LEED 2.0.

PNC has certified 225 projects to LEED standards, earning recognition from USGBC for building more new LEED certified buildings than any other company in the world.

Paladino CEO Tom Paladino said “We are incredibly proud of the role we’ve played in developing the sustainability vision for this capstone project. PNC set a lofty goal when they asked the team to go beyond LEED Platinum and aim to create the ‘greenest skyrise in the world’, and the team has done just that. When it is complete in 2015, The Tower at PNC Plaza will set a new standard for green office towers.”

The design strategy rests upon three pillars of performance: Community Builder, Workplace Innovator and Energy Responder. As a result, the Tower sets a new bar for energy efficiency; creates engagement value for PNC, its employees and the Pittsburgh community; and demonstrates that high aspiration green is achievable for a commercial office high-rise.

Tom Paladino (below left) and Gary Saulson, Executive Vice President and Director of Corporate Real Estate, The PNC Financial Services Group, in front of the new PNC headquarters building.

PNC Tower Tom Paladino Gary Saulson sustainability

The new tower’s groundbreaking innovations include:

  • A breathable double-skin façade manufactured in Pittsburgh
  • A solar chimney that ventilates the building naturally 42 percent of the year
  • Energy consumption that is 50 percent lower than a typical office building
  • Floor-to-ceiling windows that daylight 90 percent of all open workspaces daily
  • A water recycling system expected to decrease the annual water use by 77 percent

The 33-story building will house approximately 2,200 employees when it opens in the fall of 2015. The project team includes Pittsburgh-based general contractor PJ Dick, Inc., global design firm Gensler and UK-based engineering firm Buro Happold.

In its press release announcing the topping off of the 800,000-square-foot tower, PNC Chairman, President and CEO Bill Demchak, said, “The new headquarters will serve as a statement about the importance that we place on sustainability and innovation and on providing the best possible environment for our employees.”

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