Koll Development Co. recently completed a 300,000 sq. ft. regional office building for Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) in Northpark Business Park, 40 miles north of New Orleans in St. Tammany Parish. The project is slated to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED gold certification. It is the first sustainable development for the oil company.

“Northpark is leading the way for Chevron as the company’s first commercial LEED-registered building, and we are proud that it is certified gold,” says Warner Williams, vice president of Chevron North America Exploration and Production Co.’s Gulf of Mexico Business Unit, which will be housed in the new building along with 750 employees. “Northpark is highly technology-enabled to support real-time operations for our Gulf of Mexico shelf and deepwater production centers.”

Green strategies incorporated into the Chevron building include under-floor air distribution, which reduces indoor pollutants and enables an individual to control the air supply; monitoring and adjustment of carbon dioxide levels and introduction of “fresh air” to all areas as needed; and reflective roofing, energy-efficient glass, and wall and roof insulation designed to achieve optimal energy performance.

Additional building design elements include an open floor plan, an employee dining area, fitness center, conference area, and a structured parking garage that holds approximately 550 vehicles. The facility also includes geology laboratory space for processing of soil samples obtained during exploration.