Key Facts
•Commercial new construction
•Air-source heat pumps, all-electric buildings
•1.1 million-square-foot “urban campus”
•Six floors, three buildings

Platform 16 is currently in phase one of construction and will ultimately be a three-building commercial campus along the Guadalupe River Park in San Jose, California. The development is directly adjacent to the Google transit village.

The decision to implement heat pumps in lieu of gas boilers came down to market factors and the technology availability. “California is leading the country in carbon emission reductions through  electrification, and tenants expect that new buildings are ‘green’ in this regard,” says Nick Ryder, senior construction manager with BXP, who is working on the Platform 16 project. Meeting tenant expectations was critical for the team.

Another reason for the high-efficiency design was that San Jose now mandates all-electric for new buildings. The Platform 16 team obtained its building permits before this ordinance went into effect. However, the team saw the direction the city was heading and made the proactive decision to futureproof the building. “Over the next 20 years, gas rates are expected to rise as gas usage drops,” says Ryder. So, it made sense for the team to consider the best long-term decision for the urban campus.

The air-source heat pump system was picked by the team’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) consultant. The main considerations were lower upfront costs (when compared with VRF systems), commercially proven, simply designed controls, and the knowledge from other projects that this type of system is effective in California.

Erin Fowler