Watt Plaza, a twin 23-story office tower complex encompassing 900,000 square feet in the heart of Century City, has been awarded Gold LEED Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance (EB O&M) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the first office building in Los Angeles to achieve this distinction in this category.

Watt Plaza is one of five buildings in California and one of 12 buildings in the United States to be certified LEED EB O&M. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the U.S. Green Building Council’s primary rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient and high-performing buildings.

LEED Certification of Watt Plaza was based on a number of green measures taken to positively impact the project itself, the broader community and reduce global climate change. These measures include: water conversation, waste recovery, alternative transportation options, energy efficiency measures, and an indoor air quality management program.

Watt Plaza installed low-flow faucets, low-flush toilets and 88 water-free urinals – measures which save millions of gallons of water per year. Based on the Pacific Institute Water-to-Air Model, which correlates water and energy demands to calculate carbon dioxide emissions, the use of the water-free urinals alone reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 39,600 pounds per year.