Published : Nov. 11, 2014 - 19:39
An exterior view of Seoul Square building in Jung-gu, Seoul. (Seoul Square)
Seoul Square, a prime office building owned by KR1 CR-REIT and located in Jung-gu, central Seoul, has become Korea’s first building to attain the Platinum Certification of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, one of the industry’s top honors awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Until the 1970s, the 23-story building, formerly known as the Daewoo Building, was the tallest building in Korea. Following a large-scale 120 billion won ($110 million) renovation in 2009, the building has become a new landmark building that represents modern Seoul.
The LEED is a four-tiered certification system with its grade ranging from Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum based on a thorough evaluation of 60 criteria. Seoul Square earned the highest Platinum certification in the category of Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance.
Globally, only 1,600 buildings, including Taipei 101 Tower and the head office buildings of Kimberley and Siemens, have earned the highest certification.
Since its sophisticated facelift, Seoul Square has been committed to creating an energy-efficient and eco-friendly working environment.
Through an integrated facility management system, water consumption for landscaping was reduced through the use of high-tech water-saving devices. For energy efficiency, an LED lighting solution was adopted.
“As Seoul Square’s management company, Serve-One invited and consulted a LEED specialist and made a lot of improvements to the eco-friendly working environment,” said No Yong-hae, the director of Serve-One that is responsible for the building’s maintenance.
“Seoul Square has been known to be an intelligent building but this will be a good opportunity to inform (people) that Seoul Square also proudly supports and cares about the environment.”
Seoul Square’s main tenants include Mercedes-Benz Korea, the German Embassy to Korea and the Korean unit of Siemens, that value and appreciate an eco-friendly working environment.
Having earned the LEED Platinum, Seoul Square plans to further consolidate its image as a top green building and ramp up efforts to attract more foreign tenants.
By Park Han-na (
hnpark@heraldcorp.com)