Using Green Building Practices to Restore a Historic Building

Businesses join together in Portland, Oregon to use green building practices to restore a historic building.

“Energy efficiency” and “historic building” are terms that almost never find themselves in the same sentence. But the people at Ecotrust and ShoreBank Pacific recently opened a building that is the epitome of both by using green building practices to restore a historic building.

The new Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center in Portland, Oregon, is a rescued 19th-century warehouse that after extensive green remodeling will house the headquarters of Ecotrust, a nonprofit promoter of a conservation economy, and organizations such as ShoreBank Pacific, the nation’s first environmental bank. Patagonia, an outdoor clothing company, will also set up shop inside.

The restoration included several green building practices, such as:

• A 97 percent rate of recycling and reclamation of construction debris;