WS Development and Sublime Systems Celebrate First Commercial Application of Low-Carbon Sublime Cement™ at One Boston Wharf, in Boston Seaport
May 16 2024 - 9:01AM
Business Wire
One Boston Wharf will be Boston's largest
net-zero-carbon office building
WS Development and Sublime Systems today announced
the first-ever commercial application of low-carbon Sublime
Cement™, manufactured by Sublime Systems, which spun out of MIT in
2020. The concrete placement is located in the indoor public space
of WS Development’s One Boston Wharf, Boston's largest
net-zero-carbon office building, in the Seaport district.
Sublime Systems is developing a breakthrough method of avoiding
CO2 from cement-making, which currently accounts for 8% of global
CO2 emissions. Sublime’s “true-zero” manufacturing technology fully
avoids traditional cement’s major emissions sources, limestone
feedstock and fossil-fueled kilns, instead using electrochemistry
to extract reactive cementitious ingredients from non-carbonate
materials and ultimately form the same hardened concrete the world
has relied on for millennia.
“Buildings are monuments to the values of the people who build
them, and the One Boston Wharf project represents WS Development’s
leadership in ushering in our post-carbon future,” said Sublime CEO
and Co-Founder Dr. Leah Ellis. “They are creating not only
the building but the world where people want to be. We are honored
to have Sublime Cement™ featured so prominently here and are
confident this pioneering place will inspire infrastructure owners
everywhere to embrace low-embodied-carbon materials as a powerful
tool for achieving our global net-zero goals.”
The partnership between Sublime and Seaport began when Yanni
Tsipis, Senior Vice President at WS Development and Lecturer at
the MIT Center for Real Estate, read the MIT Technology Review
profile of Sublime Systems, founded and led by former MIT postdoc
Dr. Leah Ellis and MIT Department of Materials Science and
Engineering Professor Yet-Ming Chiang. Tsipis, who holds
undergraduate and graduate degrees in civil engineering from MIT,
recognized the opportunity to apply the newest low-carbon building
technology to WS’ Boston Seaport project, widely hailed as one of
the most sustainable and resilient large-scale development projects
in the country.
“We and Sublime share the same vision and mission,” says Tsipis.
“We are developing the largest net-zero-carbon office building ever
built in Boston, and now we have the opportunity to showcase the
most forward-thinking low-carbon building technology on the planet
in the public space, at the heart of this building. This
partnership epitomizes the value of technology transfer from
incubator to industry. We hope it proves to be a path the entire
development industry can follow toward a more sustainable and
verdant future for our city and our planet.”
One Boston Wharf is a 707,000 square foot, 17-story building
with ground floor retail and restaurants, as well as the 700-seat
Seaport Performing Arts Center (SeaPAC) located on the 2nd and 3rd
floors, and 630,000 square feet of office space.
One Boston Wharf will be the largest net-zero-carbon office
building in Boston at the time of its completion in 2024. This
remarkable achievement will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more
than 90% below code requirements and eliminate 5.1 million pounds
of CO2 emissions annually. WS Development's commitment to achieving
net-zero-carbon status for One Boston Wharf is complemented by its
recent announcement to purchase renewably generated electricity for
all electric power serving its Seaport portfolio.
In a transaction announced in 2021, Amazon has leased the
entirety of the office space within One Boston Wharf, creating a
total footprint of over 1 million square feet within WS
Development's expansive 33-acre Boston Seaport development.
The Sublime Cement™ concrete placement will be located
prominently in One Boston Wharf Road’s primary public space, called
the Paseo. The Sublime Cement™ floor will be marked with
educational materials explaining the significance of decarbonized
cement in combating global climate change. The Paseo will lead
pedestrians from the Fort Point Channel Landmark District to a new
one-acre public space called The Rocks at Harbor Way, recently
completed with WS Development’s 111 Harbor Way building. This new
park is a focal point of the future Harbor Way, a 1/3-mile public
promenade that will connect Summer Street to the water’s edge — a
plan conceived of by the world-renowned landscape architecture firm
James Corner Field Operations. The park will create a hub of
community activity across all seasons, hosting hundreds of public
events annually.
About WS Development
Massachusetts-based WS Development is a mixed-use developer with
a singular mission: creating places people want to be. With an
approach that values art, science, innovation and, above all else,
people, WS strives to engage each community it serves with
best-in-class experiences, designed with our customers, tenants and
partners in mind. Established in 1990, WS is one of few
vertically-integrated real estate companies that conceptualizes,
owns, operates and leases more than 100 properties that range from
cutting-edge urban spaces to lifestyle and community centers. With
over 22 million square feet of existing space and an additional
nine million square feet under development, it is one of the
largest privately-owned development firms in the country. For more
information, visit www.wsdevelopment.com, call 617.232.8900 or
follow WS Development on LinkedIn.
About Sublime Systems
Sublime Systems is on a mission to have a swift, massive, and
enduring impact on global CO2 emissions by decarbonizing cement.
Unlike net-zero solutions that rely on carbon capture or credits,
Sublime's fully electrified, "true-zero” approach avoids the
industry’s legacy fossil-fueled kilns and limestone feedstock.
Sublime’s electrochemical process instead extracts reactive calcium
and silicates from an abundance of raw materials at ambient
temperature, to make ASTM C1157-compliant Sublime Cement™, a
drop-in replacement for ordinary portland cement in concrete.
Sublime was founded at MIT by Dr. Leah Ellis and Prof. Yet-Ming
Chiang, both respected experts in materials science,
electrochemical systems, and sustainability research. The company
has raised more than $140M from leading climate tech investors,
strategic investor Siam Cement Group, and cooperative agreements
with the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, IEDO, and OCED award
programs. It currently operates a Somerville, MA-based pilot plant
with a >250 TPY production capacity and is developing its 30,000
TPY first commercial facility to open in Holyoke, MA as early as
2026. To inquire about reserving Sublime Cement™ produced out of
this plant, contact partnerships@sublime-systems.com. Learn more at
sublime-systems.com.
About Boston Seaport
Culture, industry and community converge making Boston's Seaport
district a dynamic and vibrant area that has quickly emerged as one
of the most exciting neighborhoods and destinations in the country.
Seaport is currently Boston's single largest development project.
WS Development is transforming 33 acres of waterfront land with a
carefully selected mix of residential, hotel, office, retail,
entertainment, civic and cultural uses, and public open space
across the district. Combining the best of historic and modern-day
Boston, Seaport is the destination for fashion, culture, arts,
dining and entertainment, and technology and life sciences,
expanding Boston's position as one of the top cities in the world
for innovation, science, and quality of life. For more information
visit www.bostonseaport.xyz, follow Boston Seaport on Facebook, and
@SeaportBos on Instagram and Twitter.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240516678228/en/
Media: WS Development 44 Communications
Edwina Kluender & Julie Sullivan 617-888-5859;
617-571-4919 edwina@44-communications.com;
julie@44-communications.com @44Comm Sublime Systems Erin
Glabets Head of Communications media@sublime-systems.com
FischTank PR sublime@fischtankpr.com