Saving trees was a major priority in establishing the vision of LPL Financial’s new campus on the outskirts of Kingsley Town Center in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The site was designed with the intent that employees be able to engage with nature and walk within the trees without realizing they are surrounded by development. The end result is a greenway-adjacent campus with over 10 acres of tree save area, about 30 percent of the total site.
The Sealed Air headquarters located at the Lake Pointe Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina also boasts about 30 percent tree save acreage, totaling over 12 acres. The vision for the Sealed Air campus was that of tree houses cut within the existing vegetation across the campus. Very early on in the project, the team flagged trees that were important to preserve throughout the campus during construction.
LandDesign landscape architect, Eric Pohlmann, summed up the tree save efforts for both projects, “The tree save concepts were ideas generated early on with the teams for both projects and really continued to be owned by the clients as decisions were made during the design and construction process.”
The LPL Financial headquarters has obtained LEED Gold certification through design elements such as the 99% regionally native and drought-tolerant plant palette, the use of permeable pavers for hardscaped areas, and a 20,000 gallon cistern that captures runoff from the parking deck.
The Sealed Air campus is more than 60% open space, and of that, only 8,000 square feet is ‘water thirsty’ sod. The project is pursuing LEED Gold certification, and will likely be certified thanks to these elements, and the additional design effort taken to preserve 12 acres of woodlands onsite, use of crushed gravel throughout the site to maximize permeability, and the 50% reduction in irrigation demand due to the drought-tolerant plant selection.
