The latest company to join CBE’s industry consortium, Genentech has been leading biotechnology innovation for more than 40 years. Genentech discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines to treat patients with serious or life-threatening medical conditions. Headquartered in South San Francisco, the company also has additional facilities in California, Oregon and Kentucky, with more than 14,000 employees.
The company places places great value on their employees. FORTUNE has included Genentech on its list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in the U.S for the last 19 consecutive years. This value is demonstrated through the effort the company expends on creating and operating healthy, sustainable and productive workspaces. For example, Genentech was the first client to partner with FLEXLAB, the advanced full-scale building test bed operated by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
In collaboration with CBE partners at Arup, Perkins+Will, and Webcor, Genentech’s project team used FLEXLAB to test design ideas for the creation of their Building 35 (B35), a LEED Gold-certified building. The full-scale mockup helped the team test solutions for lighting, daylighting and space conditioning (a tour of the lab was held for CBE consortium members in 2014, while the test was underway.)
The building was developed with multiple goals of providing for wellbeing, collaboration, flexibility, and environmental sustainability. Since opening in 2015, it has achieved LEED Gold certification and uses approximately 80 percent less energy, per person, than buildings of similar size on the Genentech campus. B35 provides ample daylight and fresh air, flexible work spaces, and views of the San Francisco Bay, and surveys of occupants in the building show improved levels of team productivity and collaboration. Genentech was recognized by PG&E for achieving significant energy efficiency in B35 receiving the maximum allowed rebate through PG&E’s Savings by Design program.
Building on the success of B35, Genentech has now opened Building 34 (B34), a campus community center that will strive to pursue similar sustainability goals and more. The building was built around four pillars: sustainability, innovation, well-being and community. It includes manually operable windows, a roof garden, and a grey water system that will treat water for use in toilets and irrigation. The project team plans to apply The WELL Building Standard, developed by CBE partner Delos, to further support the health and wellness of the building occupants. Genentech’s site services team will continue monitoring the energy and environmental performance of both new buildings.
The faculty and research staff at CBE have been impressed by Genentech’s commitment to environmental stewardship and green building development, and we look forward to their participation in our center and future collaborations.
Featured image: Genentech’s Building 35 in South San Francisco. Image courtesy of Genentech.