Decarbonizing at Scale: Lessons from Boston's Largest Net-Zero Office

This session addresses a critical question for the built environment industry: How can we achieve net-zero carbon performance in large-scale commercial office buildings while maintaining financial viability and market competitiveness? Using One Boston Wharf Road—Boston's largest net-zero carbon office at 630,000 square feet—as a case study, the development team reveals the strategies, investments, and collaborative processes that delivered LEED Platinum certification and eliminated 5.1 million pounds of CO2 emissions annually. We aim to answer the following key questions – • How does a developer build the business case for all-electric systems and renewable energy procurement in a competitive commercial market? • What design strategies enable architects to integrate net-zero performance from concept through construction while meeting client and tenant requirements? • How do mechanical consultants engineer all-electric building systems—air-source heat pumps, energy recovery technologies—that achieve over 90% GHG reduction compared to code baselines? • What are the costs, timelines, and risk mitigation strategies for innovative materials like low-carbon cement at commercial scale? • How does early cross-disciplinary collaboration between developer, architect, and engineer optimize sustainability investments? The session provides specific examples of collaborative workflows and decision-making frameworks at key project milestones through a developer (WS Development), architect (Henning Larsen) and mechanical engineer’s (Buro Happold) perspectives, including a presentation from each followed by a moderated discussion.