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Charlotte Convention Center Earns Major Sustainability Award

Published on September 08, 2023

2023 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold award

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Sept. 8, 2023) – The Charlotte Convention Center was recently awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Operations and Maintenance (O+M) Gold certification, one of the highest designations in the sustainability industry.

While numerous new city buildings have earned LEED status, the Convention Center is the first existing city-owned building to achieve LEED Gold demonstrating the city’s commitment to sustainability in all of its buildings. Managed by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority (CRVA), the Convention Center has been a valued community asset and important piece of Charlotte’s tourism industry for more than 25 years.

“This award is another example of Charlotte’s commitment to creating a sustainable future for residents and visitors,” said Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles. “I applaud the Convention Center project team for its work to support the city’s sustainability goals and to create a healthier city.”

LEED was created by the U.S. Green Building Council and is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability, achievement and leadership. LEED-certified buildings save money, improve efficiency, lower carbon emissions and create healthier places for people. LEED O+M focuses on measuring and managing water consumption, energy use, waste, transportation and human experience.

“This achievement is a testament to the strong partnership we have with the city and the trusted relationships we’ve built,” said CEO of the CRVA Tom Murray. “I’m so very proud of the team earning LEED Gold Certification because it’s an important acknowledgement of a lot of people’s hard work.”

Expansion project

The designation follows the completion in October 2021 of the $126.9 million Convention Center expansion project. The project added more than 50,000 square feet of public space including 14 new meeting rooms, an over-street pedestrian walkway, and SKYLINE, an immersive LED public art installation. Additional enhancements to the Convention Center resulted in the entire building earning the accreditation.

The building was recognized by LEED for several best practices, including:

Significant energy and water conservation measures including replacement of the building’s original HVAC chillers, boilers and cooling towers with new, energy-efficient flexible units that use water from underground springs, resulting in savings of approximately 100,000 gallons of city water per month.
Waste reduction including enhanced recycling, food composting and food service donations.
Environmental purchasing and building performance data analysis.

The award is the result of extensive collaboration across numerous project teams including the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority (CRVA), City of Charlotte, EcoImpact Consulting, LLC, Building EnergetiCx, PLLC, Johnson Controls, Inc, TVS, and Holder-Edison Foard-Leeper.