My tour of a "green" building
Having never before seen the inner workings of a building on track to be Gold LEED-certified, I was very interested in taking a tour of BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina’s new csc2 building. The tour showcased many of the ways that businesses can plan for the future while reducing their overall impact on the environment.
The building itself took 3.5 years to build completely, has 5 stories, and is 101,000 square feet. Their main goal was to be environmentally conscious, and to create a functional building using LEED-certified principles. Julie Schoenagel, lead architect, has ensured that the building is meeting the standards of Gold LEED certification and has also worked to ensure that the construction costs for this building were only 3% more than the “typical” office building—and that 3% will be recouped in just 6 years through energy and water conservation!
We hope this blog post showcases the value of LEED-certified buildings as an environmentally friendly and long-term cost effective opportunity for all businesses to consider. Feel free to read through my entire post outlining the building’s green features, or just click on the headings below that interest you the most.
Workspace and Healthy Employees
One of the core components of a LEED-certified building is energy efficiency. This building used a combination of both architectural design and the implementation of specific products and processes to conserve energy. Overall, they estimate that the building uses 65% less energy than a more conventional building would.
- Core elements (mechanical closets, bathrooms, utilities) are located on the back side of the building to allow for natural light (from the giant picture windows) to flood the open workspaces all the way through each floor
- High performance glass system is used to reduce the use of the HVAC system
- Lighting is tied to sensors, only coming on when the natural light is not bright enough for the workspaces
- The HVACs are motion-sensor, turning on or off automatically depending on occupancy in specific parts of the building
- The conference rooms in the middle of each floor have glass moveable walls to use as much natural light as possible
- Each workspace desk is equipped with an energy-efficient LED light which is also motion-sensor and turn off automatically to conserve energy
In addition, the building encourages reduction of employees’ carbon footprint by doing the following:
- Giving priority parking spaces to fuel-efficient vehicles
- Encouraging carpooling
- Offering electric hook-ups for cars
Water conservation—particularly in a state prone to periods of drought—is an important consideration for sustainably-constructed buildings. With BCBSNC’s new building, they estimate they will consume 50% less water overall than a typical building. One of the major things they have done is install gravity-fed cisterns for gray water—allowing rain water to flow through pipes into 3 large 25,000 gallon cisterns located in the parking lot. The gray water from the cisterns are used to flush the toilets and to cool the HVAC system (which actually also saves energy). The toilets and urinals throughout the building, in addition to being supplied by gray water from the cisterns, are lo-flow and have a dual-flush option to conserve even more water.
Outside, they have chosen native, drought resistant plants that do not need irrigation. And instead of using asphalt, which is non-porous and promotes polluted runoff, they use something called pervious pavers which allows for some absorption of rainwater to reduce runoff into our stormwater drains.
Of course no one would know about many of these eco-friendly retrofits if visitors and employees weren’t provided with information. Each visitor and all employees get a brochure providing basic information on the key features of the building. They have also set up green teams with self-selected leaders who educate and encourage other employees to recycle and “think green.” These types of teams are becoming more popular in workplaces across the country. For information and tools on how to start your own workplace green team, please see my previous post Create a workplace green team.
Workspace and Healthy Employees
Although not usually the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a “green building,” a flexible workspace which easily allows for folks who consistently work from home to work in the office is an important aspect of sustainable building. Working from home reduces carbon emissions, and is a great option for many employees. However, these employees also need to be able to come into the office occasionally to work or attend meetings. So, they created common work areas which have 1 workstation for every 5 employees that work from home permanently—allowing those coming into the office occasionally to have a place to work.
Employees also receive a half-mile radius map which lays out key amenities within walking distance—both to discourage driving and to encourage healthy living through exercise. The building also features healthy food choices, changing rooms for employees who choose to exercise during work hours, and an expertly-placed covered bridge from the parking lot to the building to encourage people to use the stairs, instead of the elevator.
One of the things I liked most about the building was that the architects tried to use as many NC-based products and vendors as possible—thereby reducing carbon emissions through fuel conservation and supporting the local economy. In fact, a good percentage of all products were from no more than 500 miles away. In addition, they used many sustainable building materials, implemented great processes for recycling, and diverted a large amount of waste from the landfills (overall, they diverted 75% of construction debris from the landfill!) Here are some examples:
- The white brick at the base of the building is recycled (was diverted from landfill)
- They took their old asphalt parking lot and recycled it
- They used sustainable paneling made from sorghum, and also ensured any wood used was certified
- The terrazzo floor in the lobby is partially made from reclaimed gravel, plastic, and mother of pearl
- They implemented a 3-step process for recycling: small sorting bins at each desk, large recycling bins in the hallways, and a housekeeping team that ensures no recyclables are left in the trash
- The building features fresh air intakes to improve indoor air quality
- Electric hand dryers to reduce paper towel use
- Toxics and pesticides were also reduced significantly through the use of low VOC paint, “green” cleaning products, and integrated pest management
