MAS Intimates Thurulie, the ‘iconic’ eco-manufacturing facility of MAS Holdings was awarded LEED (Platinum) certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). LEED is the world’s pre-eminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

Built under the auspices of Marks & Spencer’s Plan A eco-initiative, MAS Intimates Thurulie was the world’s first purpose-built green factory for apparel manufacturing. This unique departure from the traditional factory model delivers 40% savings on energy and 50% savings on water compared to a similar facility. It also generates 10% of the electricity consumption from solar panels set on its roof. The factory carbon footprint was assessed to be 9 tonnes per year – probably one of the lowest in the world. A key innovation at Thurulie is its adaptation of ‘evaporative cooling’ for a hot/humid environment, providing thermal comfort with a minimal energy use. This innovation was validated by USGBC when they awarded of 16 out of a total 17 points related to energy, as well as all the points related to thermal comfort design. A LEED Platinum building with an evaporatively cooled system in a tropical climate has never been done before.

The Thurulie technical team created a new method to evaluate such a system which will now be a basis for USGBC to evaluate and accredit future buildings with similar approaches. Thurulie also achieved 5 out of 5 points for water efficiency, 13 out of 14 points for site sustainability and 4 out of 4 points for innovation. “The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most important challenges of our time, including global climate change, dependence on nonsustainable and expensive sources of energy and threats to human health,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President,CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council.

“The work of innovative building projects such as MAS Intimates Thurulie is a fundamental driving force in the green building movement.” Dian Gomes, Managing Director of MAS Intimates said, “We are proud of this ground-breaking achievement. With this project, we have shown again that in any area we put our focus on,MAS and Sri Lanka are second to none.”

This is another jewel in the crown for Thurulie. In 2009, Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction selected Thurulie as a Global Best Practice for sustainable construction, after evaluating the project based on a broader metric (5 target areas). The foundation published a book describing in detail the approach and strategies used at Thurulie, disseminating it globally.

Deshamanya Mahesh Amalean, Chairman of MAS Holdings said, “For MAS, the sustainability of the planet is equally important as the sustainability of our business. MAS Intimates Thurulie is an important step in our journey towards making our business more sustainable. The LEED Platinum rating is an encouragement for us to move forward with focus and determination to make our business more and more sustainable.”

With the certification, MAS Intimates Thurulie becomes the first ‘new-built’ factory in the world to achieve LEED Platinum status. It sits in elite company of less than 150 buildings in the world, which hold a LEED Platinum rating for a new construction.

Sri Lanka’s leading prelate has founded the first Christian monastery in his largely Buddhist nation. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, who served as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments from 2005 to 2009, has erected a diocesan institute of contemplative life whose initial members are one Austrian and three Sri Lankans from Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria.

The Cistercian abbey, renowned for its fidelity to the Magisterium and its celebration of the ordinary form of the sacred liturgy in Latin, has more monks than at any time since the Baroque era. If the new diocesan institute succeeds, it will one day become part of the Cistercian order, according to Heiligenkreuz’s abbot.