“The City of Flagstaff requires a certain level of green building certification for all its buildings,” explains Mike Thomas, President of Kinney Construction Services (KCS), the Design-Build Contractor on the project. “Green Globes offered more flexibility for the user and the end product, and it was new to Flagstaff. Being among the first Green Globes certified projects in the region gave all of those involved a sense of pride.”
“Green Globes was collaborative from the very beginning. “We could actually speak to people rather than submit online and wait to hear the results… It helped us all understand why we made these decisions.”
The three-story, 40,000-square-foot building reclaims an underutilized site in a historic section of downtown. Housing five courtrooms, a jury assembly room, jury deliberation rooms and offices, the new facility achieved an established goal of Three Green Globes.
“Early involvement in the process was key,” notes Andrew Staskey, Project Engineer at KCS. “We had a pre-construction effort of nearly 150 items that needed to be tracked and documented throughout the building process. Being able to talk to our Green Globes Assessor every few months to make sure our submittals were on track was very helpful.”
KCS Project Manager Callie Gabelman agrees. “Green Globes’ hands-on approach was very beneficial. Any time I emailed our Green Globes Assessor with a question, I got a quick response. That made it easy to understand what we needed to do to get to our goals.”
The Municipal Court Facility honors the city’s sustainable principles through:
- A 78% diversion of construction waste from the landfill.
- An Energy Recovery Unit (ERV) system for heating and cooling paired with a Variable Refrigerant Volume (VRV) cooling system.
- Low-VOC interior products including adhesives, sealants, paints, flooring and carpet.
- Occupancy sensors, photocell controls and LED lamps on lighting, and daylight harvesting in public areas.
- A locally sourced brick exterior that fits into its historic surroundings with insulating properties to reduce peak electrical demand.
Evident Integrity
With Green Globes, project teams can pursue sustainability features that make the most sense for their specific type of facility, and this distinction won the team’s approval.
“I liked that Green Globes was tailored to our project,” Gabelman says. “We didn’t submit just to try to get points – the criteria was based on what we were actually doing. Flagstaff isn’t a large town so building owners get heavily involved in the process, and Green Globes brought them closer to the facility’s actual construction.”
Being able to reach a real person had a strong impact too. “Green Globes was collaborative from the very beginning,” Thomas recalls. “We could actually speak to people rather than submit online and wait to hear the results. Sometimes team members aren’t clear on the reasons behind what we do, and this was a more thorough process. It helped us all understand why we made these decisions.”
The new Municipal Court Facility was partially funded through a taxpayer bond and had to fulfill a fiscal responsibility to the public as well as its sustainability requirements. As such, the City of Flagstaff paid close attention during all phases of the project.
“The city’s Project Manager monitored the process and surveyed our progress along the way,” Staskey says. “The owner was able to see the highlights of what Green Globes brought to the building and we could show how much work it went into it. Obtaining Three Green Globes is an awesome achievement for the City of Flagstaff.”
