United Therapeutics’ Project Lightyear: Acknowledged for Excellence in Sustainable Pharmaceutical Manufacturing & Logistics
United Therapeutics Corporation’s (UT) Project Lightyear, a groundbreaking 55,000-square-foot current good manufacturing practices (CGMP) warehouse and logistics center, has achieved a remarkable feat – earning three prestigious AEC industry accolades. AEI was instrumental in Project Lightyear’s design, delivering a comprehensive range of services, including mechanical, electrical, piping/plumbing, fire protection, information technology, and security engineering design solutions. Our expertise also extended to geothermal heating and cooling, sustainable engineering design, energy modeling, computational fluid dynamic modeling, and LEED consultation, helping to meet the project’s ambitious environmental goals.
Project Lightyear’s battery energy storage system, featuring the Tesla Megapacks on the left with firewall separation and a combiner switchboard and grounding transformer on the right.
Project Lightyear has not only attained LEED Gold certification but is also on track to secure LEED Zero Carbon. Featuring all-electric mechanical equipment, a rooftop photovoltaic array, a microgrid with two Tesla Megapacks for energy storage, and a geothermal heating and cooling system, Project Lightyear stands as the first net-zero, carbon-zero CGMP facility of its kind.
2024 International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) Facility of the Year Award (FOYA) Honorable Mention
As the only U.S.-based project to win an ISPE FOYA this year, Project Lightyear received the 2024 ISPE FOYA Honorable Mention. This respectable awards program recognizes leading-edge biotechnology and pharmaceutical projects that push the industry forward through advanced facility design and technology. While typically focused on manufacturing and research labs, the judges made an exception for UT’s warehouse, highlighting its innovative approach to expanding supply chain capabilities while integrating decarbonization design strategies aligned with the corporation’s environmental stewardship.
AEI Principals John Duffy and Paul Erickson, joined by project partners, proudly accepting the 2024 ISPE FOYA Honorable Mention award on stage.
The CGMP warehouse.
2024 Engineering News-Record (ENR) Southeast Best Project, Manufacturing
The ENR Regional Best Projects awards program evaluates projects across several factors, including how project teams collaborate to overcome challenges and their contributions to industry innovation, design and construction quality, functionality, and overall aesthetics.
United Therapeutics' Project Lightyear earned the 2024 ENR Southeast Best Manufacturing Project honor by excelling in these areas. It showcased cutting-edge engineering solutions that helped it achieve net-zero energy and zero carbon emissions, ultimately setting a precedent for industry practices and future developments.
2024 International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) Sustainable Lab Buildings and Projects Awards, Excellence in Resilience and Renewable Energy
The I2SL Sustainable Laboratory Awards program honors exceptional projects and individuals demonstrating innovative accomplishments in lab sustainability, energy efficiency, decarbonization, and waste reduction. Project Lightyear received the 2024 I2SL Sustainable Lab and Buildings, Excellence in Resilience and Renewable Energy award, recognizing its sustainable design transformation of an underutilized soccer field and fieldhouse into a state-of-the-art CGMP logistics facility. The project significantly reduced embodied carbon and energy consumption by reusing 70% of the fieldhouse’s structural elements and integrating resilient, efficient systems.
Interested in diving deeper into Project Lightyear?
Check out the CSE-published case study written by AEI’s Senior Electrical Project Engineer Richard Austin.