The former Waterloo House development will help stimulate the economy and create 150 jobs the Premier said yesterday.Ms Cox shovelled the first concrete footing yesterday at the Pitt’s Bay Road site.She thanked the Green family Peter, Alexander and Andrew whose investment company Berco Ltd bought the site and are building a five-storey office and residential development.Alexander Green said the development was a “vote of confidence in the future of Bermuda”.Ms Cox added the $100 million project was a step towards revitalising the waterfront.“That is what we mean when we talk about a public-private partnership,” she said. “The Green family is helping to stimulate the economy.”Ground broke on the project several months ago with D&J Construction excavating the land. At the time Alex DeCouto, president of Greymane Contracting, said the project, in addition to the new hospital, helped stave off a potential “apocalyptic depression” for the construction industry in 2010.Ted Wood, of Bothelho Wood Architects, said at the peak of construction 150 people would be employed on the site and already smaller companies were getting involved such as subcontractors involved in engineering and mechanics.The development will build 88,850 sq ft of office space and seven new penthouse apartments as well as parking underground for 59 cars and 57 motorbikes.Eight new boat-mooring stations will also be built in front of the property.The building will feature a lot of green technology. Mr Wood said it would feature the first under floor air conditioning distribution equipment.This will help reduce energy consumption. The building will also feature energy efficient lights, thermal insulation, a centralised low voltage lighting control system which switches all lights off after business hours and solar powered water heating for the penthouses.It will also feature Bermuda’s first green walls, on the Pitt’s Bay Road side as well as the waterfront. Mature vines will grow on two panels the full height of the building. Mr Wood said they are already working on which plants are best suited to Bermuda’s windy and salty conditions. In addition to being an environmentally friendly building it will be wheelchair accessible and meet the standards laid out in the Americans with Disabilities Act.The Green family has also commissioned a large piece of public artwork from Bermudian artist Will Collieson. It will be featured on the Pitts Bay Road side of the building.Mr Green, Mr Wood and Attorney General Michael Scott said the Department of Planning played an important part in the process.Mr Scott said: “The Department recognised the importance of this project and the good design and expedited the process.“This is an excellent example of how the Department of Planning can play a vital role.”Berco Ltd announced that it had acquired the property in January last year and they expect it to be finished in two-and-a-half years.Yesterday, the Premier, Mr Scott, Mr Wood and the Greens poured the building’s first concrete footing. Before pouring the concrete they tossed coins into the footing, which represent good luck and good fortune during the construction period and for the future occupants of the building.Useful websites:http://www.greenfamilyscholarship.bmhttp://www.bwarch.bm