The United States Department of Defense is renovating its Pentagon headquarters using a sustainable buildings benchmarking system.
In spite of President George Bush's stand against signing the Kyoto Protocol, the refurbishment of the Pentagon will have to meet standards set by the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). This is the American equivalent of BREEAM. This extensive project, on world's largest office space, is due for completion in 2010.

After the terrorist attack on the building in September 2001, it was decided to renovate the building. An acquisition process was put in place to use innovative techniques in design and also to incorporate environmentally preferable products. Performance specifications are built into the contract, along with incentives and rewards for performance.

There will also be a tighter thermal envelope, improved natural lighting, and improved air flow. The renovation team has also managed to use recycle millions of square metres of existing materials.

Source

Building Sustainable Design