Honeywell Global Corporate Headquarters

Considered one the smartest buildings in the world, Honeywell Global Corporate Headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, earned LEED v4 Gold certification for both the 23-story, 374,000-square-foot, Class A building and its HOK-designed interiors. Honeywell International’s smart building technologies combine its sustainable, energy-saving and accessibility features with Rockfon Sonar® and Rockfon Artic® acoustic stone wool ceiling tiles to create a fresh, modern appearance and healthy interior environment that fosters innovation and collaboration for its associates, customers and visitors.¹

HOK specified Rockfon’s ceiling products to support the office’s sustainability and wellness goals, optimize acoustics and light reflectance for employees’ diverse work styles, and enhance the headquarters’ attractive, contemporary, high-tech aesthetic. Helping achieve these goals, Foundation Building Materials supplied approximately 180,000-square-feet of Rockfon’s acoustic stone wool ceiling panels and metal ceiling suspension systems to Warco Construction for installation on Honeywell Global Corporate Headquarters.

The project was purpose-built to Honeywell’s specifications, integrating its technology to improve efficiency and create carbon reducing practices. Honeywell’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations and facilities by 2035 builds on the company's decades-long history of innovation to help its customers meet their environmental and social goals.³

In February 2022, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) confirmed the building at 855 S. Mint St. in Charlotte had earned LEED v4 BD+C: Core and Shell certification. The USGBC LEED rating programs assess and award credits to projects for energy efficiency and other categorical measures of environmental sustainability.⁴

In June 2022, the Honeywell Global Corporate Headquarters also was awarded LEED v4 ID+C: Commercial Interiors Gold certification. In the category of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), it earned the maximum credits for low-emitting materials and enhanced indoor air quality (IAQ) strategies. It also was awarded IEQ credits for quality views, daylight, interior lighting. Other credits included optimize energy performance in the Energy & Atmosphere category. In the Material & Resources category, the project earned points for every credit including long-term commitment, interiors life-cycle impact reduction, and building product disclosure and optimization.⁵

Improved Air Quality

For many workers, IAQ in office buildings is a concern and a priority. Honeywell’s 2023 Healthy Buildings Survey conducted by Wakefield Research included 2,500 office workers in buildings of 500 or more people. Of those surveyed:

• 68% said IAQ at their workplace contributes “a lot” to their productivity
• 2 in 5 said their organization should address both improving the IAQ and reducing the building’s carbon emissions
• 1 in 5 said they would look for another job if their employer didn’t adopt measures to maintain a healthy indoor environment⁷

Contributing to the IAQ and healthy interiors of Honeywell’s headquarters, Rockfon Sonar® and Artic® acoustic stone wool ceiling panels are UL® Environment GREENGUARD Gold certified for low VOC emissions in offices as well as schools. Low-emitting products with material ingredient documentation are recognized by such organizations as USGBC and the International WELL Building Institute. Stone wool also resists moisture, mildew, mold and potentially harmful microorganisms without using added biocides.

Optimized Acoustics

Acoustic quality and lighting are among the most impactful design considerations HOK noted in designing a neurodiverse workplace: “Effective acoustic design for the workplace provides a variety of auditory settings in support of diverse activities, locates them appropriately relative to one another and specifies assemblies for acoustic comfort within spaces and acoustic separation between them. Acoustic design may also consider whether a sound masking or white noise system would further increase comfort.”

To produce an optimal acoustic experience for office workers, design professionals combine sound-absorbing Rockfon stone wool ceiling systems with a high Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC), sound-insulating full-height walls with the correct sound transmission class (STC) rating and appropriate background noise levels. Within Honeywell’s offices, HOK specified a Rockfon Artic with an NRC of 0.75 in areas promoting a more energetic atmosphere and Rockfon Sonar with an NRC of 0.95 in spaces where quiet concentration was prioritized.⁹

Visual Comfort

HOK’s Designing a Neurodiverse Workplace also emphasized “workplace-wide access to daylight can result in increased physical well-being, improved mental and emotional health, and increased productivity and happiness for all workers. …Several design standards offer guidance on daylight for workplaces. LEED’s Daylight credit, for example, requires specified glare-free daylight illuminance levels for 75 percent of regularly occupied spaces.”⁹

With 1,850 computer monitors available for employees in the building, it is important to manage glare.¹¹

Rockfon’s white ceiling panels have a high light reflectance and softly diffuses the natural daylight and high-efficiency electric lighting to minimize glare and help reduce eye strain. Reflecting 85 percent of light, the ceiling panels’ surface maximizes available illumination while helping reduce energy use, saving costs and conserving natural resources. The white ceilings’ neat, clean appearance also uplift Honeywell’s desired, contemporary, high-tech architectural style.

Thoughtfully Selected Materials

“To make people’s experiences inside these spaces as healthy and enjoyable as possible, we’re systematically specifying more environmentally responsible products and finish materials,” shared HOK.¹²

Helping HOK and other architects, building owners and tenants make informed decisions about their material ingredients, Rockfon offers health product declarations (HPDs), UL-certified environmental product declarations (EPDs) and Declare Label 2.0 as Living Building ChallengeSM Red List Approved documentation.

Biophilic design elements communicate Honeywell’s commitment to health and well-being. Daylight floods the workspaces and employees enjoy city views. Natural materials, live plants and a green wall bring people closer to nature.⁸

HOK specified Rockfon’s acoustic stone wool ceiling products to enhance Honeywell Global Corporate Headquarters’ modern high-tech aesthetic, to contribute to its LEED Gold-certified sustainability and performance goals, and to support its employees’ diverse work styles and well-being. The project is recognized as one of the most sustainable and technologically advanced office buildings in the region.

• Property tenant representative: CBRE; Dallas; https://www.cbre.com
• Property developers: Goldman Sachs Asset Management Real Estate; New York; https://www.gsam.com
  Lincoln Harris; Charlotte, North Carolina; https://www.lincolnharris.com
• Property owner: PRP Real Estate Investment; Washington, D.C.; https://prprei.com
• Property manager: Lincoln Harris; Charlotte, North Carolina; https://www.lincolnharris.com
• Property architect: LS3P Associates Ltd.; Charlotte, North Carolina; https://www.ls3p.com
• Property construction manager: Gilbane | Shelco joint venture – Gilbane Building Company; Charlotte, North Carolina; https://www.gilbaneco.com; and Shelco; Charlotte, North Carolina; https://shelcollc.com

^Sources

^{¹ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/goldman-sachs-asset-management-lincoln-harris-and-honeywell-sell-374-000-square-foot-honeywell-global-corporate-hq-at-charlottes-legacy-union-to-prp-real-estate-investment-management-301449427.html, https://prprei.com/prp-acquires-the-honeywell-global-corporate-headquarters-in-charlotte-nc/, https://legacyunioncharlotte.com/honeywell-ceo-praises-new-headquarters-city-while-hinting-at-more-growth-ahead/, https://www.honeywell.com/us/en/news/2021/11/honeywells-new-headquarters-by-the-numbers}

^{² The Facility Executive podcast; Aug. 18, 2023; https://facilityexecutive.com/listen-now-inside-honeywells-hq/}

^{³ https://www.honeywell.com/us/en/press/2022/09/honeywell-s-corporate-headquarters-earns-leed-gold}

^{⁴ https://www.usgbc.org/projects/honeywell-headquarters-legacy-union}

^{⁵ https://www.usgbc.org/projects/honeywell-charlotte-hq}

^{⁶ https://www.honeywell.com/us/en/press/2022/06/honeywell-helps-building-owners-and-employers-reinvent-the-post-pandemic-office-environment}

^{⁷ https://www.honeywell.com/us/en/news/2023/03/by-the-numbers-what-workers-expect-from-buildings}

^{⁸ https://www.hok.com/projects/view/honeywell-global-headquarters/}

^{⁹ HOK, Designing a Neurodiverse Workplace, 2019; https://www.hok.com/ideas/publications/hok-designing-a-neurodiverse-workplace/, https://www.hok.com/pdf/download/31839}

^{¹⁰ https://prprei.com/prp-acquires-the-honeywell-global-corporate-headquarters-in-charlotte-nc/}

^{¹¹ https://www.honeywell.com/us/en/news/2021/11/honeywells-new-headquarters-by-the-numbers}

^{¹² HOK Forward, June 2022, https://www.hokforward.com/read/sustainability-for-all}

^{¹³ https://legacyunioncharlotte.com/lincoln-harris-blends-heritage-and-vision-in-legacy-union-project/}