GOING GREEN
Flooring company plans to seek Living Building Challenge certification for new HQ
Construction starts next week in Norwalk on what could become the “greenest” building in Connecticut — designed by the architect who created the Living Building Challenge certification, among the most exacting environmental standards on the planet.
HMTX Industries is building a 24,000-square-foot center for designers and engineers to collaborate on “luxury” flooring it sells, with plans to seek Living Building Challenge certification for the project.
“We can sit in front of a computer screen or in our library, in front of artifacts and books and surfaces and objects, and come up with an idea, bring it downstairs to the industrial part, and create that as a flooring prototype,”
CEO Harlan Stone said. “This is kind of a revolutionary idea in our industry: normally you have an idea and it takes six-to-12 months to turn it into a sample. We’re going to do it in six hours.”
Thanks in part to a supplier contract with Home Depot, HMTX has become one of the dominant manufacturers of luxury vinyl tiling and planking in vogue today among interior designers and builders, for decor, durability and cost considerations. The retail giant gave HMTX its annual “supply chain partner of the year” award in 2020, recognizing its work in keeping inventory and shipments flowing during the pandemic. On its website, HMTX lists annual sales of $800 million.
Stone said that while the closure last month of the Suez Canal had only a minor impact on HMTX shipments in Europe, the COVID-19 pandemic has bogged down U.S. imports due to port
facilities being overwhelmed in southern California.
HMTX was among the earliest Connecticut companies to absorb the initial shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company was forced to close a factory in China that employed workers who found themselves under quarantine.
The new HMTX center will be located on Oakwood Avenue just behind its current headquarters building. HMTX is seeking a “petal certified” designation under the Living Building Challenge, which is one of three major environmental standards for commercial buildings along with the better-known Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program of the U.S. Green Building Council, and the Green Globe standard. HMTX will also seek LEED “platinum” and Green Globe certifications.
Only four commercial buildings in Connecticut carry the LEED program’s “platinum” label today, with the Greenwich office of the buyout fund L Catterton the most recent to win it two years ago. LEED also runs programs for retail spaces and individual offices inside buildings; in all, nearly 800 Connecticut facilities have a LEED designation.
As the architect, HMTX hired McLennan Design of Bainbridge Island, Wash., whose founder Jason McClennan created the Living Building Challenge and who drew up the blueprints for the headquarters facility of the International Living Future Institute that runs the challenge. McLennan Design is the visionary as well for a new campus for the Yale University Divinity School which is seeking the certification.
HMTX is well familiar with ILFI, which two years ago made Rochelle Routman the first individual with a manufacturer to receive its “Living Future Hero” award for her work promoting better environmental practices as chief sustainability and quality officer for HMTX.
Shawmut is the general contractor for the HMTX building. The construction company built the Kohler Environmental Center at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, one of two buildings in Connecticut with Living Building Challenge “zero energy” certification, along with a small faculty house at the Taft School in Watertown.
HMTX is funding the project with a loan from Bridgeport-based People’s United Financial, which is in the process of merging with M&T Bank.
“We will be capturing more energy from the sun than we can use,” Stone said. “We integrate with the natural environment — that’s actually a part of the standard that I love . ... We worked incredibly hard to preserve as many trees as we could, and the ones we have to take down we intend to replace.”