< Back

Donna Rio Bravo Land Port of Entry Achieves LEED Gold Certification

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

We are very pleased to announce that our project with the General Services Administration, Donna Rio Bravo Land Port of Entry, has received two industry distinctions. It was recently honored with the National ABC Pyramid Award for Excellence in Construction in the Institutional 25-99 Million category. Additionally, it has achieved the goal of LEED for New Construction Gold certification from the United States Green Building Council.

WorkingBuildings provided commissioning of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems for this multi-building border station. The use of the CxAlloy Commissioning Quality Assurance Software was included in the commissioning services. This project is one of several ports of entry and other border facilities commissioned by WorkingBuildings. Other projects include Anzalduas Land Port of Entry (LEED NC Silver) and the El Paso Federal Courthouse.

Congratulations go out to our partners in this effort, architecture firm Leo A. Daly and general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie. Our collaborative efforts have created an efficient and eco-friendly facility that has set the bar for future GSA projects.

The third-party LEED certification verifies that the Donna Rio Bravo Land Port of Entry was designed and built using environmentally friendly strategies, as well as helps owners define sustainability for their facility. This project is one of more than 150 LEED projects in which we have active involvement. WorkingBuildings has an ongoing commitment to sustainability, which is evidenced through our own completion of the LEED certification process, becoming the first commercial renovation in Georgia to achieve LEED Silver certification. “We are so excited to have provided another facility with the means to achieve LEED Certification,” says John McFarland, our Director of Operations and Chief Sustainability Officer, “The efforts put toward sustainability today are opening up new possibilities for the future of ‘going green.’”

Located in Donna, Texas, the facility serves as the checkpoint for the international Donna Rio Bravo Bridge, which crosses the Rio Grande and is a commercial route across the border to Rio Bravo, Mexico. This facility has primary and secondary inspection facilities featuring detention areas, kennels, inspection facilities and offices.

WorkingBuildings, LLC is an employee-owned professional service firm specializing in building commissioning, LEED® certification, sustainability consulting, laboratory pre-certification, standard operating procedures for bio-medical facilities, risk/threat mitigation, and CxAlloy Suites software. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., with offices located in Albuquerque, Austin, Birmingham, Boston, Chicago, Houston, New York, New Orleans, Tampa, Trenton, NJ, Charlotte and Winston-Salem, NC, and a satellite location in Los Angeles. For more information, call 678-990-8001 or visit www.workingbuildings.com.