For E&E, it’s great to be green

The three turkeys wandering outside the main entrance to Ecology & Environment’s vine-covered headquarters in Lancaster are the first clue that this isn’t an ordinary office building.

Inside, there’s the 300-foot-long glass atrium, which bathes the plant-lined interior corridor in natural light.

When unwanted pests attack some of the more than 1,000 plants inside the building, E&E brings in other bugs or natural predators to take care of the problem. No pesticides, here.

And, most unusual in a modern office building, the atrium opens, as do all the windows in the building, allowing fresh air in through the windows and hot air to escape through the atrium, creating a sort of natural air conditioning.

All this in a building that opened 20 years ago, long before the beginning of the “green building” movement that now is gaining momentum. “It was absolutely, unequivocally unique back then,” said Brian P. Brady, the building’s architect.

Now, E&E’s headquarters has been awarded the highest level of certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, one of only 10 existing buildings in the country and the oldest structure in the world to achieve that status.

“It means a heck of a lot,” said Gerhard J. Neumaier, E&E’s chairman and chief executive officer, and one of the company’s founders.

“We were talking [with a potential client] about buildings in Washington, and they want them to be green,” Neumaier said. “We can say we believe in this stuff. We’ve been preaching it.”

The award puts E&E in an elite group. Only 70 buildings, mostly new construction, have been granted certified platinum status under the council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating program. Buildings that achieve platinum status typically are about 50 percent more energy-efficient than conventional structures, said Linda Thomas, who spearheaded E&E’s efforts to obtain its LEED certification.

At E&E, environmentally-friendly ways are engrained as part of the daily business practices, down to using biodegradable utensils in the company’s cafeteria and its long-standing recycling and composting programs, said Kevin Neumaier, the firm’s senior vice president.

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