The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE new $310m US Embassy building on East Hill Street will be completed by 2024, officials said yesterday.

US Chargé d’Affaires Usha Pitts accompanied reporters on a tour of the 90,000 sq ft compound, highlighting its “climate-sensitive details”.

“This building is very well insulated. It uses quality materials,” she said. “So, it won’t cost a lot of money, but most importantly, it won’t use a lot of energy to keep it cool and to maintain it. And that means that we will have a reduced carbon footprint, so that’s really important to us. And then there’s also aside from these climate-sensitive details a lot of little add-ons that I think make this building special.”

Project director Stephen Ziegenfuss said there are between 300-350 persons working on the construction site, 100 of whom are Bahamian.

Mr Ziegenfuss said: “We begin with a heavily insulated building with energy efficient equipment inside. You’ll see LED lights everywhere. The air conditioning system is very efficient. Right now, we have temporary air conditioning in here, so we can get the furniture going.

“But the permanent air conditioning system will be a very energy-efficient piece of equipment. In the back, we have solar panels that will be generating electricity.”

Ms Pitts said the facility would be opened to the public a few months after completion.

“There’s these little challenges you encounter,” she said. “You move in and you find out that something isn’t quite working right, you got to fix it. So, it’s going to take a few months after completion for us to actually open the doors to the public, but we’ll be moving in.”