Shaw Industries Group, Inc. has received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) for Plant 95, an administrative facility on its corporate campus in Dalton.

Plant 95 is the first building in Dalton to achieve certification under the LEED Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance rating system, and the second Shaw facility to achieve LEED certification. The 32,335 square foot facility was previously first privately owned building in Dalton to achieve the US EPA Energy Star rating.

“The social and environmental responsibility of all our facilities is a fundamental part of our commitment to sustainability. We are continually assessing the infrastructure and processes at all our facilities to find new ways to increase water and energy efficiency, and to reduce the overall impact of our buildings,” Shaw Corporate Facilities Director Jason Bowling said. “Plant 95 is a great example of this commitment – our consistent investment in improving the environmental responsibility of this facility made LEED certification a logical next step.”

According to Bowling, the high level of energy efficiency that helped the building garner Energy Star also made a significant contribution towards the building’s LEED rating. Shaw Corporate Facilities Manager Rhonda Allen, one of the project leaders, agreed. “Thanks to the building’s already high efficiency, achieving LEED certification did not require extensive capital investment; instead, we simply had to work with USGBC to provide the appropriate documentation and tracking for the work we had already done,” Allen said.

In addition to energy efficiency, the building scored very highly in several other areas of the rating system, including water efficiency, water efficient landscaping, environmentally responsible sourcing and purchasing, green cleaning, waste reduction and recycling, and lighting, according to Allen. “Plant 95 is now serving as a model for moving other Shaw facilities towards the LEED standard,” she said.

“Sustainable organizations require sustainable facilities,” noted Shaw Vice President of Sustainability Paul Murray. “Achieving LEED certification for our key buildings is one of the many ways we are working to ensure we’re upholding the most rigorous standards for environmental efficiency in all facets of our business – from product to manufacturing to our physical infrastructure.”

Shaw’s Patcraft brand achieved LEED Gold certification for its Chicago showroom in early 2010, and several other Shaw facilities are currently at some stage of the LEED certification process, including two additional facilities in Dalton and the Shaw Contract Group showroom in Shanghai, Murray said.