(CHICAGO) — Hines, the global real estate firm, today announced the completion of the concrete core and steel structure for Salesforce Tower Chicago, the 60-story, 1.2 million-square-foot office tower in downtown Chicago. Hines has also released their Embodied Carbon Reduction Guide to educate the industry on embodied carbon and environmental protections and provide the tools and best practices to achieve the industry’s goals for carbon reduction.
Following the best practices outlined in the guide, Salesforce Tower Chicago is the first building in Chicago to require and measure Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to quantify embodied carbon emissions of concrete, steel and other various construction materials. This led to a 27% reduction in the production of concrete used and a 9% reduction in steel used resulting in a 19% overall reduction in carbon emissions for steel and concrete in comparison to the industry average. For Salesforce Tower Chicago, this equates to carbon savings in excess of 7 million kilograms of C02. That is more than 1,500 cars off of the road for a year, or about 800,000 gallons of gas. This accomplishment sets a new industry standard for commercial developments and demonstrates Hines’ commitment to ESG.
Hines Global Head of ESG Peter Epping said, “The built environment is responsible for nearly 40% of all energy-related carbon emissions across the globe, just behind energy and transportation, and that is a sobering statistic. With the success Salesforce Tower Chicago achieved by following our guidebook, we want to demonstrate that it’s technically and commercially feasible to reduce carbon emissions. The commercial real estate industry must take an even stronger stand to support more-significant carbon reduction and combat the climate crisis by admitting we have been part of the problem and collectively finding ways to be a part of the solution.”
"At Salesforce, one of our core values is sustainability and our real estate is a physical representation of our culture and our values. We build our spaces with all of our stakeholders in mind — employees, partners, customers, communities and the environment," said Steve Brashear, SVP of Global Real Estate, Salesforce. "Salesforce Tower Chicago is a great example of how a commercial high-rise building can minimize carbon emissions by working with suppliers to select lower-carbon materials. We're proud to partner with Hines to bring this vision to life."
Focusing on reducing embodied carbon—the CO2 generated during the product creation—Hines partnered with Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA), an award-winning structural and civil engineering firm, and spearheaded the creation of the Embodied Carbon Reduction Guidebook. This guidebook aims to educate Hines employees around the world, as well as industry peers and the architects, designers, contractors and subcontractors with whom Hines works on how to achieve similar, significant carbon reduction results. Hines will utilize the guidebook on all new projects to track and ultimately reduce the embodied carbon footprint of our new developments.
Hines Vice President – Carbon Strategy Michael Izzo shared, “Our legacy is not our footprint, it’s the influence we have on the market. We encourage all in the real estate sector to join this commitment to create a decarbonized built environment, as it is imperative for us all to collaborate to achieve this momentous goal.”
To access the Embodied Carbon Reduction Guide, please visit this link: https://www.hines.com/embodied-carbon-reduction-guide.
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 285 cities in 28 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management totaling approximately $90.3 billion¹. In addition, Hines provides third-party property-level services to 373 properties totaling 114.2 million square feet. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,530 properties, totaling over 511 million square feet. The firm currently has more than 198 developments underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a foundational commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world. Visit http://www.hines.com for more information.
¹Includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of December 31, 2021.
About Salesforce
Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360° view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.
About MKA
For over 100 years, MKA has provided enduring, creative, and innovative structural and civil engineering solutions for projects worldwide from their Seattle and Chicago offices. With designs totaling over $100 billion in 49 states and 61 countries and a staff of 185, MKA is an industry-leading firm with specialized knowledge in 13 facility types, offering clients highly targeted expertise and technical skill. MKA targets the cross-roads of resiliency and lower carbon construction, with guidance and leadership from the early design stages through construction.
