The XO Tex Industrial Co Ltd garment factory in Phnom Penh, owned by Hong Kong-based Luen Thai Holdings Ltd (Luenthai), recently became the first building in Cambodia to get ‘gold' certification under the US Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED v4 Building and Construction (BD+C) grading system. This 25,000-square-meter structure is meant to house 10,000 people.

The most extensively used green building grading system in the world, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) offer four levels of certification: certified, silver, gold, and platinum.

The latest LEED v4 rating criteria are the most severe ever, according to Luenthai, who praised the recent gold accreditation as evidence of its and XO Tex Industrial's "commitment to sustainability."

With the installation of direct evaporative cooling systems, LED lighting, and a solar photovoltaic [PV] installation planned to generate 10% of the yearly energy consumption of the operation, Luenthai claims the factory may reach excellent performance in terms of energy efficiency.

It said that the architectural design was fully analyzed to optimize daylight in order to minimize lighting needs and increase visual comfort.

It also said that the energy and water consumption are carefully sub-metered throughout the facility to ensure any outliers are quickly identified and resolved, in order to reduce the building's carbon footprint by 1,151 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually and create the healthiest work environment for its employees.