Nature House Officially Gets LEED Gold Rating

Reston Association's new Walker Nature Education Center building has officially been awarded the second-highest level of LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Nature House becomes the first new building in Fairfax County's  Hunter Mill District to achieve the Gold certification status, and only the 17th new LEED Gold building in Virginia.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is a third party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

Some of the LEED features at Nature House: Energy efficient heating and cooling and rain barrels on the property.

Katie Shaw, manager of Nature House, said the project needed 39 points and earned 43. Shaw also recognized the eight years of work of the Friends of Reston for community projects.  This  501c 3 volunteer-led organization  funded the design and construction of Nature House through private donations. The new building opened in November 2009.

"This achievement would not have been possible without each of our Friends of Reston board members," Shaw said. "The solidarity, generosity and commitment of the FOR Board has always been exemplary---or should I say 'golden.' "