While some reports indicated that Amazon is pulling back on office development in connection with it’s famed “HQ2,” the project is moving ahead in Northern Virginia, and CNBC reports that it is loaded with up-to-the-minute sustainable features. 

“Starting next week, the first of 8,000 Amazon employees will begin moving into one of two brand new 22-story towers in Arlington, Virginia. Move-in is expected to be complete by the end of the summer,” according to the report.

CNBC notes that: 

• The buildings will run with no operational carbon emissions and will be powered by 100% renewable energy from a nearby solar farm.
• “We eliminated fossil fuels from this building, which is huge and really new for a lot of developments, particularly of this size,” said Kara Hurst, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide sustainability.
• The 2.1 million square feet of space includes some of the newest clean energy technology and sustainability features. An enormous meeting room has a mass timber ceiling made from 70-foot laminated planks of sustainable material. The floor is made of concrete from CarbonCure, a carbon removal technology company for concrete, funded by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund. 

As for the second phase of HQ2 offices that was recently delayed, Hurst wouldn’t give a time frame but said Amazon is in the pre-construction phase and still committed to it, CNBC reported.

Photo credit: Amazon