Being a 'green' web design firm is something
Yikes! Inc. owners Mia and Tracy Levesque take very seriously. Founded as a triple bottom line business in 1996, the company has collected a slew of green business awards and certifications. Yikes is a member of the
Sustainable Business Network, a
Certified B Corporation, owners of a
Green America's Business Seal of Approval, and even provide discounts for businesses with similar commitments.
This week, the company takes its environmental mission one step further as construction began on Yikes' new headquarters. Rehabbing a vacant building on the 200 block of Girard Avenue, the Yikes team is creating a LEED Platinum office with attached residential units, hoping to add sustainable real estate to their list of green achievements.
"I have always loved these vacant, run-down, but architecturally beautiful buildings so when I made the decision to buy a building for our business, I come across these buildings and they look terrible but I think they look beautiful," says Tracy. "I decided then that I wanted to do this renovation project even though I know it would be a lot easier to just move in somewhere that was ready to go."
To get to LEED Platinum, there is a lot of planning involved. The HVAC system has to be tested and retested for efficiency, all the materials used have to be reclaimed through
Greensaw, and all electricity will be purchased from the
Energy Co-Op. But as much as they are doing, Tracy says they wish they could do more.
"Unfortunately solar had to be taken out of the budget but my goal is, within the next few years, to find the money to get solar put back on," says Tracy. "Being able to go beyond our own consumption to create our own electricity would just be the best."
Source: Tracy Levesque, Yikes Inc.
Writer: John Steele