The Center City Bishop Ranch is a shopping, dining and entertainment destination for the community of San Ramon, California. The shopping center was designed by Renzo Piano, one of the world’s most highly regarded architects. In bringing Center City Bishop Ranch to life, Piano wanted to emulate the hills of San Ramon and the squares of the old world. He also sought to make the shopping center as environmentally and energy-efficient as possible.
Renzo Piano and his team succeeded in every way. In March 2020, City Center Bishop Ranch became the largest retail center in the United States to earn LEED® Platinum certification. The certification was awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council, the most widely used environmental building review in the world. Other LEED® Platinum Certified buildings include Taipei 101, The Clinton Presidential Library, The Vancouver Convention Center, and Soldier Field in Chicago, IL.
The shopping center had to abide by strict building guidelines and principles to gain the certification. Center City Bishop Ranch took many steps to build sustainably, including:
- Planting drought-tolerant and native plants to increase water efficiency and local biodiversity. Wherever a shopping center is located, this simple step can increase sustainability while also serving to enhance the ambiance of the space.
- Using greywater, or reclaimed water, for all landscaping. Greywater is defined as “gently used water that comes from sinks, showers, and other sources.” It does not include water that comes from toilets.
- Installing water-efficient fixtures. Through this measure, the shopping center uses 36% less water than the average building of its size.
- Over 25% of the building’s energy comes from the solar array. Retail centers can find massive benefits after adopting this economic and straightforward technology, especially if the center is in a sunny area.
- Using regionally sourced and recycled materials, like concrete and steel, to construct the retail center as opposed to having these materials shipped in.
Through these steps and more, Center City Bishop Ranch has become a highly regarded environmental retail space. In a world of depleting resources and ever-increasing emissions, sustainability is highly valued by investors and consumers alike. With this fact in mind, the Center City Bishop Ranch team successfully created a forward-thinking retail space.
New and existing shopping centers can follow similar steps as Center City Bishop Ranch to reduce their impact on the environment and live more sustainably. Focus on reducing energy usage, using greywater, using alternative energy sources, sourcing locally, and benefitting the community in environmental and social ways.
The Directory of Major Malls database provides contact information on more than 8,500 major shopping centers in the USA and Canada, making it a highly valuable resource for architectural firms and construction companies looking to identify new opportunities. Learn more on our website today.
