J.E. Berkowitz Goes Green On New Bank of America Tower In Charlotte

The glass-encased tower, designed by  Perkins + Will of Chicago, Illinois, is targeted to achieve a  LEED® Gold-Certification upon completion in 2010. The  fabricated glass products supplied by JEB play an integral role in  the sustainability of the project.



The high-performance insulating units feature PPG Solarban  70XL low-e coating on the second surface and provide optimum  energy performance for the building envelope, thereby reducing  heating and cooling costs. The coated glass and its raw  materials will be regionally sourced to reduce the environmental  impact of transporting products over longer distances and to  better contribute towards the use of local resources.



To meet LEED requirements, over 600,000-square feet of  monolithic glass will be tempered and then assembled into  insulating units within a 500 mile radius of the jobsite at JEB’s  facility in Pedricktown. Also, the aluminum spacers in the insulating glass units contain  53% pre-consumer and 35% post-consumer to reduce the environmental impact of the  extraction of virgin raw materials. The curtain wall will allow generous amounts of  natural sunlight to be brought in through large floor to ceiling windows to help conserve  electricity for lighting and improve the overall indoor environmental quality of the  workspaces for better worker health and productivity.



J.E. Berkowitz will be supplying fabricated glass to  Trainor Glass of Richmond, Virginia for unitizing and  installation. JEB has designed and built custom  returnable steel racks and purchased custom trailers  that the glass will be shipped on to help minimize  construction waste on the jobsite and better preserve  natural resources. “We, as a company, have taken the  initiative to embrace the green building movement with  our sourcing, operations and delivery methods,” says Robert Price, director of sales at J.E. Berkowitz. “Moving forward, we will continuously improve our operations and stay  on the leading edge of the newest sustainable products and technology in the market.”