Sustainable real estate developer, Scott Mazo, founder and managing partner of University Place Associates LLC (UPA) in Philadelphia, received the Center of Excellence Award from SEMCO LLC. The award was presented at the 2016 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo on Oct. 5.

The Center of Excellence Award honors buildings with unique sustainable and energy cost reducing green designs such as UPA's recently developed 98,000-sq-ft 2.0 University Place in Philadelphia's surging University City green building corridor. 2.0 University Place is a LEED® platinum project and one of the world's first multi-tenant, multi-certified sustainable office buildings, according to SEMCO.

The five story building's HVAC system features SEMCO's chilled beams and dedicated outdoor air dehumidifiers with energy recovery wheels, as well as high-efficiency boilers and chillers. The building is recording a 62% energy savings versus conventional building HVAC methods, according to LEED energy modeling performed by the project's sustainability consultant, Sheward Partnership LLC. Energy modeling also revealed the building surpasses ASHRAE Standard 90.1 requirements by 44%. Daily energy tracking reveals the building ranks in the upper 22 percentile of Energy Star Program facilities nationwide.

Now on the heels of selling the 100% leased building to Swiss-based Zurich Insurance Group (ZIG), UPA is developing 3.0 University Place, the next generation of sustainable office space that is the world's first global pilot project for pre-certified LEED v4 Platinum. The 190,000-sq-ft, five-story project will aim to cut HVAC utility costs even more as the world's first office building to use SEMCO's NEUTON controllable chilled beam pump module. According to the manufacturer, NEUTON cuts HVAC labor and material construction costs up to 50% while providing energy-saving pinpoint zone temperature control for chilled beam applications.

"Scott Mazo brings inspirational and visionary building ideas to the marketplace that are already increasing property value and job opportunities in west Philadelphia's 'Platinum Corridor' area, while also reducing the city's utility impact and carbon footprint," said Thomas Rice, director of sales for SEMCO.