Biz611 Opens In Hendersonville
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. – Biz611, a first-of-its-kind sustainable building in Hendersonville, is now open. The building was designed as a business incubator to help cultivate young startups focused on helping the environment and developing software. GreenBy3, a company that acts as an onsite representative for its clients on construction projects, oversaw the construction of Biz611.
Biz611 (pronounced Biz Six Eleven) is located at 611 N. Church St. in downtown Hendersonville. It incorporates a long list of sustainable practices in the way it was built and in the way it’s designed to operate. The hope is that Biz611 will serve to educate the tenants, as well as the community, on sustainable building and operating practices.
The 9,500-square-foot building maximizes natural light, generates solar energy and captures water for use by way of an inverted roof and cistern. It also features a “living wall,” or a vertical green wall. Biz611 also has displays and readouts throughout to monitor the building’s performance, allowing tenants to track their impact on the building’s energy consumption. The building also is designed to encourage collaboration, creativity and interaction among the businesses.
GreenBy3’s involvement in Biz611 began with overseeing the deconstruction of two buildings that previously stood at 611 N. Church St. and reclaiming specific materials for reuse. GreenBy3 then worked with the building owner 203 Neotrantor, architect Ken Gaylord and contractor BlackHawk Construction on the design and construction of the new two-story building.
It was very important to the owners of GreenBy3 and 203 Neotrantor that everyone involved make extra efforts during the deconstruction to divert as much material from the landfill as possible. Repurposing and reusing reclaimed materials in the new building was another priority.
Materials that were reclaimed from the original 1920s building and reused or repurposed in the new building include 9,000 brick that were used on the north wall facing a major Hendersonville street and in landscaping around the building. In addition, salvaged iron railings were used to create a bike rack and reclaimed doors will be made into desks.
Other materials used in the Biz611 project that were selected from GreenBy3’s inventory of reclaimed materials include office furniture, DIRTT raised floor and office walls, and sliding barn-style doors. Materials from the deconstruction not used in Biz611 were taken by local companies and repurposed or recycled on local construction projects. For example, some of the excess brick and block were crushed and used in road construction.
“We set out to design something that could be a teaching tool for ourselves and others on how to build something that has a low impact on the environment and the community,” said Jorge Riano, president of GreenBy3. “Another goal was to build something where the tenants of Biz611 could learn from and take with them once they move on to grow their business.”
For information on office space available at Biz611, please visit www.Biz611.com.
Tagged: Biz 611, Green Building, Project Update
