Our Green Building

Spark Sustainability

UTEC’s main program center in downtown Lowell, MA is now the oldest LEED Platinum Certified building in the world.

UTEC’s main program facility is housed in a church that was built in 1839, purchased by UTEC in 2006, and extensively renovated and expanded in 2012.

Our value of sparking sustainability carries throughout the building and our mission. In the original 1839 structure, the former steeple now serves as a thermal chimney to help natural ventilation cool the building without mechanical air conditioning. Throughout the 7,500 square foot addition, details from the original church building have been integrated into the new design.

A History of Advocacy

Not only is the building sustainable for the environment, but our goal has also been to sustain its legacy of civil rights advocacy.

In 1841, a Supreme Court trial (United States v. The Amistad) voted 7-1 in favor of the freedom of a group of enslaved Africans. That vote was a game-changer in the abolitionist movement which led groups like The United Missionary Society to speak out against slavery, as they did at St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Lowell, MA, which is now home to UTEC.