When Parissa founder and CEO Fardad Moayeri decided to build a new company headquarters in Vancouver, it was important that the build not only be beautiful, but that it also be green. “Our company produces natural hair removal products; therefore, we felt that our natural ethos should extend beyond ingredients to also include our production facility,” he says.
Built to LEED Gold standards, the company focused their eco-efforts on energy, water and waste. “Energy because both generation and consumption can adversely impact climate, water because it is a scarce life-giving resource and waste, since it directly impacts the ecosystem of all living beings,” says Moayeri.
The facility uses 25 percent less energy than a typical industrial building, they recirculate water used in our production for their bathrooms and their plumbing uses 40% less water than typical buildings. Finally, waste, whether generated as emissions (they use electric boilers instead of gas) or garbage (they recycle virtually everything) will have future cost implications. “Using Green Building Standards to minimize the impact of energy, water use and waste not only makes environmental sense, it makes business sense.” The building has won three awards, for Design Excellence, Best New Industrial Building, and Green Energy Efficient Merit in Vancouver. “We feel that protecting and preserving our environment not only benefits the future of our community, but also the future of our business as well,” says Moayeri.