Green Intiatives

As recently as 1969, Chattanooga was rated the most polluted city in the nation. Now, it has become one of the cleanest. As a leader in sustainable development, it is among the first U.S. cities to use a citizen visioning process to set specific long-range goals to make the city a much more environmentally-friendly community and to enrich the lives of residents and visitors.

As a good corporate citizen committed to that green vision, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee pledged to achieve Gold LEED-certification for the new corporate headquarters when construction began in 2006. Today Cameron Hill stands as the largest Gold LEED-certified corporate campus in Tennessee and the second largest in the nation. 

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is the nationally accepted benchmark of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

BlueCross corporate headquarters was built with environmental sustainability, employee health and comfort, and cost savings in mind. Some of the features and their corresponding benefits include:

• A parking garage and white roofing membranes that help reduce ambient urban temperatures.
• A raised floor system that helps to improve indoor air quality by supplying air at the breathing zone and allowing individuals to regulate airflow in their work area.
• Landscaping to reduce storm water flow by 15%, thereby decreasing storm water pollution.
• A building design that reduces energy costs by an estimated 20% or $265,000 annually.
• A high-performance lighting design and individual task lighting control that can increase employee productivity more than 1.5% or $1,000 annually per employee.

Not only does our campus promote “green” awareness and achieve environmental benefits, but the cutting-edge design offers breathtaking views of Chattanooga’s natural beauty, promotes employee collaboration and emphasizes our mission focus of health and healing, life and living.