“The university decided that every new building would be green certified,” says John W. Lister, principal at JL Architects, who spearheaded the Green Globes process working with the project’s architecture firm, L2P. “Keeping sustainability in mind during pre-design sets the tone early on, and you end up with a much better building and achieve a higher rating.”
“It’s exciting to see the owners and development team acknowledge their success and take pride in their accomplishment of the building’s performance.”
Trammel Crow served as Chemours development representative and the company appreciated Green Globes’ simplicity and personal attention. For example, Chemours research and development scientists produced a new, environmentally friendly refrigerant during the project that they wanted to use in the building. The refrigerant wasn’t yet on the market, so the team actually had to create equipment for it.
“We were able to go to our Green Globes Assessor, ask about this idea, and get a response of acceptance in three days,” Lister says. “This fast response time sets Green Globes apart, and if you’re objectively meeting the criteria it just makes sense to earn the point.”
Green Globes allowed the team to set a new standard for themselves, and the building won every available point in the Emissions category. Final certification also cited the following advances:
- Enhanced building modeling and energy modeling, with the addition of a complex Building Automation System (BAS) that monitors and reports efficiencies for energy savings.
- Cooling towers are equipped with variable speed pumps and fans. Heat pumps are also controlled with variable speed drivers.
- Contaminated soil removal and remediation of the site’s former abandoned car manufacturing plant actually improved site conditions.
- An integrated design approach that included members of the design and construction team as well as the facility manager.
Insight and Accomplishment
The years-long project opened the building to occupants in three phases. To keep sustainability initiatives on track, Lister used the Green Globes online questionnaire as a guidance tool. “It informed the team’s decision-making,” he says. “We went through the questionnaire three times with the client because it provided a roadmap for the project and made sure design and construction team members followed through.”
Before the Green Globes on-site walkthrough, Lister provided as much information as possible to the Assessor. When the Assessor arrived, he toured the facility the night before the meeting. Then Chemours arranged for the design team to have lunch with the Assessor the next day.
“In the end, our Assessor only had three questions because we had provided all the documentation in advance,” Lister recalls. “Our Assessor was very knowledgeable and did a great job of understanding how the building was put together. This allowed us to have an open-minded conversation about how items met the criteria.”
According to Lister, the building frequently outperforms the building modeling. Comparing real-time operational information to the modeling offers Chemours scientists a metric they can relate to and shows them how favorably their building performs above baseline.
“The Green Globes process helped raise awareness. It was educational and changed people’s behaviors,” Lister says. “It’s exciting to see the owners and development team acknowledge their success and take pride in their accomplishment of the building’s performance.”
