Mansion on Peachtree Receives GreenGuard Building Construction Certification

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorAtlanta—The Mansion on Peachtree Hotel and Residences, a 42-story condo/hotel tower, has received GreenGuard Building Construction Certification, the first multifamily project in the state to achieve this award. The Certification is based on the requirements of the pending ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard for newly constructed buildings to prevent mold and moisture.“It’s a voluntary program—a commitment made by the general contractor and owner to focus on quality and construction,” Taylor Gonsoulin, PE, CIAQP, LEED AP, general manager of Air Quality Sciences, a national building consulting organization and the third-party consultant for The Mansion on Peachtree, tells MHN.Gonsoulin explains that the program is a collaborative effort between the design team and the third-party consultant. Air Quality Sciences is currently the only certified third-party consultant for the GreenGuard Building Construction Certification, though the company is talking with others to review the process and ensure they are qualified professionals who understand mold and moisture, Gonsoulin explains. For The Mansion on Peachtree, City Centre Properties LLC and Holder Construction Co. worked in consultation with Air Quality Sciences to develop and implement a comprehensive moisture management plan for the building.“Along with the creation of the plan, an independent consultant will visit the site to ensure contractors are adhering” to the plan, Gonsoulin says. This visit is usually done once monthly, but may occur more frequently depending on the location of the site and the nature of the building.Once a building has gone through design, construction and acceptance, “we want to make sure it stays that way,” says Gonsoulin, explaining that the owner and facility managers must be trained to follow the maintenance plan of a certified building.This certification “is the first focused primarily on indoor air quality,” notes Gonsoulin.  Benefits to this program, he asserts, is that a building commissioning agent can review the indoor air quality of a newly constructed building at the same time he is reviewing other green features, perhaps allowing a building to gain multiple certifications at the same time. For example, the GreenGuard program is written into LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) as an innovation and design credit.In addition to the physical benefits a GreenGuard-certified building can provide, Gonsoulin notes that it provides risk management and litigation avoidance.The Mansion on Peachtree Hotel and Residences, a Rosewood Hotels property developed by City Centre Properties LLC and designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects LLP, is located in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta. The property includes 45 residential units, 127 hotel rooms, fine dining and a world-class spa. (Click here for past MHN coverage of The Mansion on Peachtree Hotel and Residences.)Other multifamily projects that are registered with the program are the 173-unit Turquoise Place I Condominium and the 227-unit Turquoise Place II Condominium in Orange Beach, Ala., the 46-story Atlantic at Atlantic Station in Atlanta, and the six-story Garrison at Graham in Charlotte, N.C.