JAX Earns CT Green Building Award

CENTERBROOK, Conn. – Two years after opening its doors, The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine (JAX) continues to add accolades.

The latest honor for the facility, designed by Centerbrook Architects & Planners in collaboration with Tsoi/Kobus & Associates, was bestowed last night at the 2016 Green Building Awards by the Connecticut Green Building Council.

JAX earned the Commercial Honor Award, conferred to the project with outstanding sustainable achievements.

Awards aside, The Jackson Laboratory’s facility in Connecticut has seen a significant return on its financial investment in sustainability. The laboratory’s efforts were rewarded with a $1.2 million conservation incentive from Energize Connecticut. That grant, combined with an estimated annual savings of $620,000 on its energy bill, allowed JAX to offset the initial efficiency design cost of approximately $2.4 million in just two years.

"Striving for higher levels of sustainability was an integral part of our design process,” said Jim Childress, Centerbrook partner. “From the outset, JAX placed a priority on minimizing its energy footprint. Sure, there is a financial incentive to save energy, but going one step further to be on the leading edge is integral to how JAX thinks. They want to make the world better. It is a tribute to the great collaboration of a diverse project team that the laboratory continues to be recognized for its sustainable implementations.”

The Farmington-based research facility was one of 10 winners at the annual awards program, conducted by the Connecticut chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. The USGBC promotes sustainability-focused practices in the building and construction industry and established the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system.

JAX earned LEED Gold in 2015 – the second-highest tier on the scale.

The previous calendar year was full of design accolades for JAX, which garnered four different awards, including the Project Award by the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories.

“We’re honored by this latest recognition and extremely grateful for the many awards this facility has received since it’s opening,” said John Fitzpatrick, senior director of facilities services for The Jackson Laboratory. “For us, this is further confirmation that we’ve built a beautiful, sustainable, and functional space where our team can focus on our mission: to discover precise genomic solutions for disease and empower the global biomedical community in our shared quest to improve human health.”

The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine is one of three recent projects on the UConn Health campus in Farmington that Centerbrook has been associated with as part of the Bioscience Connecticut initiative. Centerbrook designed the UConn Health Outpatient Pavilion and Garage that came online in 2015 as well as the new Academic Entrance and renovations to the School of Medicine and Dental Medicine that is in progress.