M&T Bank Corp. is building a huge branch at Southgate Plaza with a contemporary, environmentally friendly design that will be used going forward, and which the bank hopes will qualify it for LEED certification.

The 9,100-square-foot branch will be located at 1024 Union Road, in the parking lot of Southgate. It replaces an older M&T location in the mall itself, at 1110 Union Road.

M&T started by demolishing an old vacant branch that it acquired in 2006 from Citibank, and is now creating a new model to be used for its future branch construction and renovation. The new branch is expected to open by year-end, pending approval from regulators.

The new office is being constructed using the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards set by the U. S. Green Building Council to identify facilities with less environmental impact.

Its design uses a significant amount of glass and louvers on the exterior to promote natural light and minimize the need for interior electrical lighting. Its plumbing system will conserve water, reducing use by 30 percent from federal water efficiency standards.

“We’re using a contemporary design . . . to create an iconic look for M&T’s brand and a welcoming place for customers to do business, while also addressing environmental issues by better managing light and heat in the building,” said M&T Chief Marketing Officer Peter J. Eliopoulos.

The project was designed by Lorenzo Apicella, a London-and San Francisco-based principal at international architectural design firm Pentagram, in concert with Hamilton Houston Lownie Architects and Kideney Architects, both of the Buffalo area.

This is one of M&T’s first LEED projects, along with another branch also under construction in Maryland. Spokesman Chet Bridger said the same design will be used in the future, but M&T doesn’t necessarily plan to seek LEED certification on all future offices, but rather on a case-by-case basis. He said the bank does not have any goals as to the number of LEED branches.

“We’ll follow this design, which makes environmental sense and business sense,” he said. “You maximize light, and you have less need for electricity.”

The Southgate office is is one of M&T’s largest branches, both physically and in deposits, and is a “focal point” for the bank’s business in the SouthTowns, Bridger said.

A typical branch is just 3,000 to 4,000 square feet, less than half the size of the new Southgate office. The branch also has 23 employees and a branch manager, and had $215.85 million in deposits at June 30, the most recent date for which branch deposit information is available from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That ranks it second in Erie County by deposits, behind only M&T’s headquarters branch downtown.