Starbucks first store in Italy aims high with LEED certification

Touted as the “most beautiful Starbucks in the world” by Starbucks themselves, the Reserve Roastery in Milan opened this month. The Roastery is Starbucks first store ever in Italy, the first Roastery in Europe, and it is as sustainable as it is stunning.

Located inside the historic Poste building in Piazza Cordusio, the 2,300 square meter Roastery was designed and built to meet the prestigious LEED green building certification standards.

Starbucks Roastery Environmental Commitment- In Pursuit of LEED Gold Certification

Starbucks is the largest user of LEED worldwide and the Milan Roastery is a prime example of the efforts Starbucks is making to reduce its environmental impact. Starbucks hired BEE to provide sustainable design and construction strategies for the Roastery which is in the process of obtaining the LEED Gold-level of certification.

Starbucks Roastery’s Sustainability Features:

• Energy Star energy efficient-rated equipment
• Energy efficient lighting to reduce lighting energy consumption by 15{e3829ec1db02d54faaf9fa2de0d48db26af01d7a7944a63c3b26976124791cab}
• Green Power purchased to offset 100{e3829ec1db02d54faaf9fa2de0d48db26af01d7a7944a63c3b26976124791cab} of the store’s total energy consumption
• Low-flow water fixtures to reduce potable water use by 40{e3829ec1db02d54faaf9fa2de0d48db26af01d7a7944a63c3b26976124791cab}
• “Grounds for Your Garden” Recycling program to up-cycle spent coffee grounds: Starbucks packages the spent grounds and offers them for free to customers to enrich their gardens and compost

BEE’s Starbucks LEED Stores

In addition to the Milan Roastery, BEE worked closely with the Starbucks team on the LEED certification for their stores in:

• Hefei, China
• Shanghai Expo, China
• Hong Kong (first LEED Starbucks store in Hong Kong)
• Kobe, Japan
• New Delhi, India (first LEED Starbucks store in the city, second in India)
• Shanghai Roastery, China (Second Roastery in the world and the largest Starbucks worldwide)
• Tokyo Roastery, Japan (Fourth Roastery in the world)