PCC Goes Platinum in LEED Certification

SEATTLE — Only two supermarkets have achieved the highest level of LEED certification — platinum.

The first was a Hannaford Bros. store in Augusta, Maine, that opened in 2009. This year, the second LEED platinum designation (LEED for Retail-Pilot, Commercial Interiors) was conferred on a PCC Natural Markets store in Edmonds, Wash., that opened in 2008. The PCC store also earned Salmon-Safe certification, the first store to ever receive that distinction along with LEED certification.

The Edmonds store, a reconstructed former Albertsons location, features design elements used at PCC's LEED-gold store in Redmond, Wash., such as 28 skylights and sustainably harvested lumber and plywood. What pushed the Edmonds store into platinum territory was the addition of a rooftop rainwater harvesting system and two parking lot rain gardens.

“We capture and reuse for landscape irrigation and toilet flushing more than 160,000 gallons of water annually that we would have otherwise needed to buy from the local water utility,” said Diana Crane, director of sustainability for PCC here. In addition, annual savings from all energy measures used in the Redmond and Edmonds stores are 50% better than industry standards, she said.

The fee that PCC paid for registering its Edmonds store and getting it reviewed for LEED for Retail (CI) certification was $2,000, she said.