Turner has more than 1,000 LEED Accreditied Professionals on staff nationally and 59 in Texas; Record volume of green buildings

DALLAS, July 30, 2009 – Turner Construction Company has achieved a significant milestone as a result of the company’s commitment to Green Building practices. Turner now counts 1,186 LEED Accredited Professionals (APs) on staff, more than 20% of its total staff.  Building Design and Construction recently recognized Turner as having more LEED APs than any other firm in the U.S. architectural, engineering and construction industry, and, with the company’s $3 billion of “green” construction volume in 2008, Turner was additionally recognized as the leading green builder in the publication’s 2009 “Giants 300” rankings. In Texas alone, Turner employs more than 59 LEED APs, 19 Green Advantage professionals, and has provided construction services for more than 25 green projects.

“We are proud to take the top spot in this year’s Building Design + Construction green rankings,” said Sam Latona, LEED-AP, preconstruction manager for Turner-Texas. “But in addition to having green professionals and building green buildings, we are committed to incorporating green practices throughout our three Texas offices. Company-wide green initiatives include the ‘LEEDing by Example’ employee incentive, which encourages our employees to become LEED-accredited. For those that become LEED-APs, they are entered into a lottery to receive the use of a new Toyota Prius hybrid for three years.  We have also made a commitment to reduce our carbon emissions by five percent over the next five years, by reducing electricity consumption in all offices and reducing fuel consumption in company-owned and leased vehicles. Other initiatives include utilizing Turner’s online Construction Waste Recycling Reporting system, utilizing Building Information Modeling (BIM), renovating offices to meet LEED standards, purchasing green office supplies, and providing green training for employees. Green practices such as these support Turner’s efforts to improve the planet and also advance sustainable building practices and environmental awareness throughout our organization, the construction industry and in our personal lives.”

Nationwide in 2004, Turner had only 42 LEED APs on staff when the company made a formal commitment to promoting green building practices. These commitments included a mandatory construction waste recycling program on all projects, conducting industry surveys and developing web-based and instructor-led green building training programs. Turner’s commitment to employee development has resulted in more than 2,500 employees receiving training in green building practices.

Turner’s LEED APs have enabled the company to complete 85 projects that have been LEED Certified by the U. S. Green Building Council (USGBC). An additional 131 Turner projects are LEED Registered. In addition, the firm’s sustainable construction work has grown to 40% of its backlog. Turner’s green building projects are in wide array of building types, including in the education, commercial, healthcare and aviation segments.

Recent Texas-based “green” projects constructed by Turner include the headquarters for architecture firm Corgan Associates Inc. (certified LEED Silver); a bank branch for JP Morgan Chase (certified LEED Silver); Pat Lobb Toyota (certified LEED Silver, first green auto dealership in the U.S.); the Embrey Engineering Building at Southern Methodist University (certified LEED Gold; first green academic building in Texas); the Haworth Showroom in downtown Dallas (certified LEED Gold); Wal-Mart’s green prototype store in McKinney, Texas (the first green Wal-Mart in the U.S.), and more.

“Every LEED AP contributes immeasurably to his or her employer’s success by bringing the latest in green building knowledge and a holistic perspective to the table. Having a LEED AP workforce more than 1,000-strong demonstrates Turner’s leadership and commitment to cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings for their customers,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chair, USGBC and Chair, GBCI.

ABOUT TURNER

Turner is the leading general builder in the U.S., ranking first or second in the major segments of the building construction field.  During 2008, Turner completed $10.7 billion of construction. Turner is the only builder offering clients a nationwide network of offices across the U.S. Founded in 1902, the firm is a subsidiary of HOCHTIEF. For more information, visit Turner’s website at www.turnerconstruction.com.

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Media Contact: Claire Bloxom
claire@coopersmithagency.com, (214) 329-9191