Whole Foods Market - Birmingham - Green Building Initiative

Whole Foods Market Furthers its Core Values through Green Globes Certification

Birmingham, MI • BRR Architecture

Although leasing building space can limit a project owner’s sustainable design options, Whole Foods Market is committed to incorporating a variety of green building practices into its stores. During the tenant build-out process, the retailer pursues Green Globes® certification to help uphold one of Whole Foods Market’s core values: caring for the community and environment to allow the earth to flourish for generations to come.

BRR Architecture has completed more than a dozen Green Globes certifications for Whole Foods Market, and architect Mark Scherrer led the tenant improvements for the recent store housed in a new Birmingham, Michigan structure. “Going through Green Globes certification offers a great thought process to carry through the rest of the project,” Scherrer says. “The questionnaire provides information and markers to guide you to extra insights, and I really like the transparency of the Green Globes’ online survey. You know exactly what you are being asked to do – there’s no hidden agenda.”

“Now, we strive to have the Green Globes mindset at the beginning of every project.”

The store has a farmhouse ambiance thanks to bright and cheery interior finishes and green building materials such as local stone, reclaimed wood and longboard. The project also made sustainable design and operations progress with:

Recycled-content tile, a SCS-certified rubber base, marmoleum flooring and thin bricks that include postindustrial waste.
Operational waste reduction with recycling collection containers on-site.
Commissioning of the HVAC system, lighting systems, and the building automation system, which was a team effort between the commissioning agent, the mechanical and electrical engineers, and architects.
Mechanical rooftops units that use a refrigerant with an ozone-depleting potential of zero.

Full Benefits

Scherrer attributes much of the certification’s success to the interactive nature of Green Globes. He found the online survey easy to use and the assessor’s comments insightful. “Everyone wants to get the full benefit of the program, and the assessors provide input and feedback on our plans, which helps open our eyes to points we may have left on the table.”

One of the unusual aspects of the Birmingham Whole Foods project was that the team created a Building Service Life Plan as part of certification. “Creating our building life cycle assessments was a very collaborative process with the assessor. We were able to use him as a guide and adapt the plan to the store,” describes Scherrer.

During the site visit, the assessor engaged the team in open conversation about possible improvements still within reach as well as ideas for future projects. As with all Green Globes assessments, the team received a report at the end of the project documenting recommendations.

For Scherrer, the recommendations trigger ideas to implement on the next project. “We can use the suggestions from the last project as a starting point to vet out different design options and then be sure to document things along the way,” he says. “Now, we strive to have the Green Globes mindset at the beginning of every project.”