The Kathleen Grimm School for Leadership and Sustainability at Sandy Ground has been selected as a 2017 finalist in the ULI New York Awards for Excellence in Development. The program honors the most exemplary land use and development projects in the New York region, and the winners will be announced at the Awards for Excellence gala in April 2017. The SOM-designed public school is recognized in the Institutional Development category.
Located in Staten Island and built for the NYC School Construction Authority (SCA), the Kathleen Grimm School is New York City’s first net zero energy school—designed to harvest as much energy from renewable on-site resources as it uses on an annual basis. The 444-seat, 68,000-square-foot primary school exceeds the standards of the SCA Green Schools Guide, a stringent rating system similar to the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® certification process and developed specifically for New York City public schools. As the SCA’s first “sustainability lab,” the Kathleen Grimm School will also help to achieve the city’s OneNYC goals for reduction in global warming emissions.