Darden is currently celebrating the opening of it new Restaurant Support Center, which was designed to achieve the gold certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). This building will become the largest LEED Gold building in Florida upon the final certification from the United States Green Building Council.
Darden has now set a standard in sustainability and highlighted the true corporate responsibility. Darden restaurants have now committed fully to sustainability and can be seen through in the new Restaurant Support Center by its design and construction elements. Adding to the sustainable building more than ninety percent of the waste generated from construction was recycled. The building’s design will reduce energy consumption by sixteen percent by having an automatic lighting system, which dims or brightens the lights according to the amount of sunlight entering the building. They included a highly effective roof system, which reduces the heat island effect and helps maintain the buildings internal temperature. Among all these changes they also aim to save about two million gallons of water a year by their restrooms using reclaimed water and the landscape of the building includes bio-soil that promotes water absorption and use plants, grasses, and trees that all require minimal water.
Darden’s new Restaurant Support Center promotes a healthy living and working lifestyle for the employees. The Support Center is only three floors high so the employees use stairs instead of using the elevator. The staircase were made wider so more employees would be more apt to walk up and down the stairs. They can also have conversations on the staircase without blocking the flow of traffic. Along with the environmental benefits the RSC has created, Darden also agreed to add 500 new employees from the surrounding area, creating new jobs for the people of Florida.
I think that this is an extremely huge development in the foodservice industry, and large business as well. Darden has shown that they are willing to fully commit to going green, buy building a massive new structure, setting the benchmark for what a green building can be. Also, Darden is one of the largest companies in the country, both in and outside of foodservice, and other companies will follow their lead if the results from this venture are proven to be favorable. Darden also has stepped up by creating jobs in a time when work is hard to find. This will make them stand out as a company, which will definitely be beneficial for them in the future.
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I think what Darden is doing with this new building is pretty remarkable. I mean to make a building of this mass out of 90% of recycled materials is shocking. To the massive windows to help let in the sunlight and its way of using reclaimed water to save 2 million gallons of water is crazy. Things that this company is doing to help the environment make me realize what one company might be doing to the environment if they don’t act responsibly. People waste so much and have no clue what is going on. There is so much that they can do to help out and reduce there energy and costs. Most of what was being done was requested by their employees which is showing they are giving the people what they want. This is a great idea and something any business owner should look into and see if is feasible for them to do. Every little bit helps its our turn to do our part.
ReplyDeleteAs we all know, Darden is a huge nationwide company. I know that currently this building is only in Florida, but I think it could serve as a major model for other states and other countries. Like we talked about in class today, transforming or designing a building to be sustainable can originally be costly, the benefits (both monetary and environmental) are much greater. It seems as though many of the things done at this building are so simple. For instence, I think the automated ligts are a great idea and again so simple. By having lights that can detect how much sunlight is coming into the building, much less electricity is wasted. Not only does that decrease the amount of electricity, it also saves massive amounts on bills for the company. Other little things that we discussed and that Darden is doing could be very easy to institute in restaurants that are already established. Mostly, I think composting couldbe the easiest to implement. It doesn't take too much effort for a restaurant to begin composting.
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