Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of investigative articles on green building and the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification standards.
During a recent planning meeting for the renovation of the Boland Building at 1331 Lake Drive in Easttown, Nick Koster, vice president of development for the recently formed CWD Real Estate Development, formerly Second Story Properties, wrote LEED on the white board as part of a growing list of disposable line items.
“This will be a last resort,” Koster announced, “But it is on the table.”
Elsewhere on the board were the labels Plumbing, Mechanical, Electrical, Architectural and Other, plus the large number $522,000 (the projected cost of the project) and the smaller number $305,000 (its budget). The goal of the meeting was to make those numbers match.
“We own the building, so we’re going to do something,” Koster said. “We want a green building, but right now we’re about $210,000 away from that.”
The premium light fixtures were downgraded for savings of $20,000. Non-essential elements — a new mailbox unit, entrance mat, excessive art — were cut. The cost of plumbing fixtures was trimmed by $30,000, but not without cost.
“We’ll drop the shower, so now we can lose the bike rack, too,” Koster looked to Aaron Jenkins of Concept Design Group, the project’s LEED administrator and architect. “That’s two points. Where does that put us at?”
“I have to add it up. … We should try for 30 to be safe.”
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the U.S. Green Building Council’s portfolio of green building standards. Within the system, credits are awarded for different green building attributes, such as Alternative Transportation: Bicycle Storage & Changing Rooms and Water Efficiency: Water Use Reduction, the two credits threatened by the plumbing cutbacks.
The Boland Building is registered with the USGBC for LEED Core and Shell, a standard designed for developers that will not occupy the finished building and have little control over the end-users’ operations. The original design called for 37 of a possible 61 credits, passing the 34-point threshold for Gold certification, the second highest level.
But that design carried a higher price tag than what CWD cared to risk.
The discussion moved to the building’s mechanical systems, a critical piece of its green transformation. A LEED prerequisite and mandatory credit dictate the building’s energy performance (currently passing the state’s energy code) must match and exceed the strict energy standard of the American Society for Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
“So what if we don’t do the roof?” Koster asked Bob Gengelbach, president of Grand Rapids-based Sustainable Mechanical Systems and the project’s LEED commissioning agent, following talk of windows, walls and air conditioning.
“I’d have to do the model,” replied Gengelbach, whose calculations will largely determine whether the project qualifies as a green building.
“What does your gut tell you?”
“We’ll be cutting it close.”
The Score Sheet
Over the next month, the team was able to reconcile the cost of the project with its budget and keep the renovation green. Contractor Triangle Associates should begin construction this month.
While green building has challenges, the process is less difficult when building and budget conditions are more favorable, although there will always be tough decisions.
“This exercise is commonplace, and not just with LEED,” said Mike Van Schelven, vice president of Concept Design Group. “You want to design more into a project than what you can afford, and then you go back and figure out how to maximize your dollar.”
In this case, Koster explained, the air conditioning units were less efficient than anticipated, “and that forced us to make our budget for other items smaller.”
This is not a new concept in the construction field, or any field for that matter: When dealing with limited resources, something will be left on the shelf.
“And usually what happens with construction budgets is that the things we think of as ‘green,’ those that will save money over time, are pulled out because of that first cost,” said Gengelbach. “The LEED standard makes some of those things mandatory. That is what you see happening with this project. They would rather not spend that extra money on the mechanical systems, but if you want to get certified, you have to.”
There are 69 possible points in the most commonly used standard, LEED for New Construction. Only 26 points are necessary for basic certification, and much of that is low-hanging fruit. Locate downtown for three points. A bike rack and shower is good for a point. So is having a LEED accredited professional work on the project.
It is mathematically necessary to pick off some of the more challenging features that tend to receive the most attention, such as a vegetative roof, but the heart of the standard is the eight rarely mentioned prerequisites that most appropriately distinguish green building from standard construction — the features the council deemed too important to allow a choice.
Without exception, every building built to the LEED-NC standard will:
· Have reduced pollution from construction activities by controlling soil erosion and dust generation
· Have had its energy systems audited by an objective third party
· Meet the ASHRAE energy standard
· And exceed it by 14 percent (7 percent for renovations)
· Not use CFC-based refrigerants
· Have a space dedicated for onsite recycling
· Have superior ventilation as prescribed by the ASHRAE indoor air quality standard
· Either prohibit or strictly regulate smoking
Functional Features
No local LEED project is better suited for the alternative transportation credit than the four-year-old Rapid Central Station in downtown Grand Rapids. It is of real and symbolic importance to the local green building landscape as the city’s mass transit hub. And despite its basic certification rating, the project boasts trademark green features and tackles difficult environmental challenges.
“We don’t advocate starting with a LEED score card and designing a building around it,” said Jeff Remtema, director of sustainability for Grand Rapids-based Progessive AE, which designed the station.
It is preferable to find the specific outcomes important to the owner, Remtema said, including sustainability requirements, and then discuss point-by-point how each will address the concerns, fit the site, and impact the cost.
“There are definitely some tradeoffs,” Remtema said. “There could be an impact on the schedule or the budget of the project, and then you’ll have some very frank discussions on what to pursue.”
With Rapid Central Station, it was a high priority to decrease stormwater discharge, a costly issue to address in an urban environment. With little room for retention ponds or rain gardens, Progressive AE drew plans for a vegetative roof, pervious pavement and a system that separated street filth from the water that does reach the sewer.
There were additional benefits: The vegetative roof, when coupled with very white concrete, also eases the urban heat island effect and helps cool the building.
“When you lump all of the things together it isn’t as constrained by the budget as if you were just doing things for one purpose,” Remtema said. “The vegetative roof wasn’t a factor until we realized it would make sense for all these strategies.”
Green Egg
Back on Lake Drive, Nate Gillette, chief architect for Bazzani Associates, sat down with Rapid Growth for breakfast at Marie Catrib’s, the restaurant located in the East Hills Center (of the Universe) building his firm developed.
“When we developed this building, we didn’t know Marie would be here, we didn’t know (the West Michigan Environmental Action Council) would be here, or (retailer) Cobblestone,” Gillette said. “But we knew we were going to be building a building.”
Like the Boland Building, Bazzani Associates chose LEED-CS for its project. It was a pilot for the rating system in 2005 and became the first structure to earn Double Gold Certification when anchor tenant WMEAC was certified in the LEED for Commercial Interiors system, the accompanying standard for interior design. (It was surpassed last month by the new Lansing headquarters of Christman Co., which earned Double Platinum).
“The key to a sustainable project is deciding early on that this is what you are going to,” Gillette said. “In the end it’s still a business and I still have to sell this space. Everyone here was sold on the environmental aspect, so that worked out great, but we were going to do it either way.”
The East Hills Center earned 35 of a then-total 65 points and was the first zero-stormwater discharge site in the city.
“When you talk about tradeoffs, look at stormwater,” Gillette said. “You need curbs and catch basins, pipes that hook into the city storm sewer. You have to pay the city sewer fees and on top of everything else the runoff lowers the quality of water in the Grand River. … So now I’ve done the city a good deed and I don’t have to worry about spending money on all this other stuff.”
Grading Green Buildings
Here’s how it works: At the beginning of the development, the project team registers the project with the USGBC, and later files a list of intended credits. As construction progresses, the team documents each credit, eventually submitting the outcome to the council for approval.
The council does not physically audit these applications. Rather, it assigns the work to one of eight firms responsible for writing and maintaining the LEED standards, including Grand Rapids-based Catalyst Partners. Occasionally, applications are rejected, as happened earlier this year when the new Aquinas College library was turned down because of documentation errors. These issues are usually resolved on appeal.
“The submittal is an audit,” said John Stivers, a principal of Catalyst Partners and his own firm, JHStivers Project Services. “Fortunately, the council has gotten very good at working with firms to let them know where their deficiencies are and help them make the decision on whether or not to go for it.”
Stivers has some strong opinions on credit selection, particularly on the subject of the “easy points.” The bicycle rack is a common complaint, as it is a low-cost item with seemingly low value. He believes there are no low-value credits.
“With gasoline at over $4 a gallon, people are finally starting to see wisdom in that,” he said.
While he is happy to report that owners are increasingly embracing green principles, including high-dollar innovations and higher-level certification, the same discussions of trade-offs still exist.
“You need to evaluate these things against the other discretionary things in a project,” Stivers said. “In a high-end office or showroom, you can take 15 percent or 20 percent out of the art budget and cover the cost of LEED certification right there.”
Daniel Schoonmaker is a freelance journalist and a copywriter for Alexander Marketing Services in Grand Rapids. He is currently studying for accreditation as a green building professional through the U.S. Green Building Council. He recently reported and wrote the Knowledge to LEED, the first article in this series.
Photos:
Nick Koster of CWD Real Estate DevelopmentRear of buildingNice daylight with interior demolition underwayThe Rapid stops in front of the buildingDownstairs demolition of the old restroomsPhotographs by Brian Kelly - All Rights Reserved