Not only was Assurity Center the first large office building in Lincoln to receive LEED’s Gold Certification, it has also been selected as one of the first landscapes to participate in a new test program called The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES).  The Assurity Center will join 174 other pilot projects from 34 states, Canada, Iceland and Spain as part of an international pilot program to evaluate the new SITES rating system for sustainable landscapes, with and without buildings.

The Center consists of a 175,000 SF office building with five stories plus a lower level, and a separate 600-space parking garage.  A total of around 2,400 pieces of precast/prestressed concrete were used to build both structures.  Precast was selected for the superstructure of the building not only for its LEED friendly properties but to also solve engineering issues such as 17-6” cantilevers at the ends of the building that give the illusion of floating floors.

Some of the many other sustainable design elements on the Assurity site include: Green roofs; green living walls on portions of the garage; water-conserving plumbing; use of recycled-content and regionally available building materials; exterior sunshades; efficient heating, air conditioning and electrical systems; site bioswales and a rain garden; indigenous landscape and pervious site pavement.

Architect on the project was The Clark Enersen Partners, with the general contractor Sampson Construction Company.  Concrete Industries, a NEBCO, Inc. company, supplied precast concrete products on the project, and U-MIX Products supplied the mortar and grout on the project.