Lewis & Clark Project Team Strives to Achieve Tough, Independent “Green” Building Certification on Forward-Looking Campus Housing Development

With the Northwest leading the way, environmentally sensitive design and building strategies are spreading across the country, and DPR is at the forefront - working with owners, architects, subcontractors and suppliers to identify new construction techniques and materials that will minimize the environmental impact of its projects.

In environmentally conscious client, Lewis & Clark College in Portland, supported by an equally environmentally sensitive local community, is working with SERA Architects and the Portland office of DPR to deliver a new, forward-looking campus housing development - one of the first LEED- (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified green building projects to be built in Oregon.

The Lewis & Clark campus housing project encompasses design and construction for three new residence halls: one three-story building and two four-story buildings, totaling approximately 80,000 sq. ft., plus associated sitework.

While green building has become something of a catchall phrase, covering everything from recycling to sustainable design elements, LEED certification goes above and beyond any token claim to being “earth friendly.” LEED was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to promote a more integrated approach between eco-friendly building goals and their actual execution.

To rate the level of impact a project has on the environment, LEED certification uses a scoring system based on a set of wide-ranging criteria for energy efficiency, air quality, water quality, materials, and site use. These criteria are applied to almost every aspect of the project, beginning with whether the site itself is being reused or cleared and extending to the kinds of products specified and used in the building, how far away they are produced and transported (products transported less than 500 miles get the best score), and how much waste is recycled during construction. A minimum score must be achieved to win LEED certification.

Using certified lumber, for example, is one requirement for LEED certification. Official certification is obtained through the Forest Stewardship Council, which has an intricate system for tracking the “chain of custody” for this material - where trees are cut (from a forest that is not old growth), how they are trucked to the sawmill, the emission levels at the sawmill, and how milled lumber is delivered to the jobsite.

Another LEED certification requirement has to do with air quality. In the Lewis & Clark project, cellulose insulation (essentially ground up newspaper mixed with resin) is being substituted for traditional batt insulation (which contains formaldehyde), the carpet will be installed with nontoxic adhesives, and linoleum will used instead of formaldehyde-stained concrete.

The greatest portion of LEED certification requirements are met in the design phase through product specification and design. The rest is controlled during construction, primarily by documenting all products as they come in and are used, recycling demolition materials, and optimizing the sequence of installation.

The most successful projects make LEED a priority early in design, leveraging the expertise of the design team, contractor and owner to take a hard look at the costs. Project Manager Rob Fallow notes that DPR has gained a unique perspective on LEED certification during its involvement in the preconstruction phase, which spanned nearly a year.

“SERA’s team has an in-depth knowledge of LEED. We worked closely with them and the engineers, helping research the products for LEED certification,” he says. “It’s really given us a unique perspective, and we’re excited about being involved on a project that is not just your ‘standard’ building.” Fallow adds, “We’d like to build on this and ultimately be seen as the green building contractor in Portland. We see this project as a stepping stone to push us into the forefront of this segment of the industry, not only in the region, but in all our offices across the country.”

A common assumption is that designing and building a LEED-certified project like Lewis & Clark’s costs more than the traditional approach, a risk owners may be reluctant to take. The LEED process will help document the actual benefits. “The contractor and architect can be very supportive of the effort, but it really does take the dedication and commitment of an owner like this to make it work,” Rob Fallow says. The goal - and expectation - of the Green Building Council is that a market transformation over the next several years will bring the costs for a LEED certified building more evenly aligned with that of traditional design and construction. “Contractors who understand this early on will be ahead of the curve,” says Logan Cravens, director of green building resources at SERA.

During construction, which began this May and is scheduled to be completed in August 2002, DPR expects to achieve a recycling rate greater than 90 percent by following an elaborate waste management plan tailored to meet that goal. Tracking the various green products going into the building has involved additional resources and time from DPR. The Portland team expects that lessons learned on this job can be transferred to a wide range of future projects, whether or not they are candidates for LEED certification. “This is giving us a better handle on what it will take to do a green building in the future,” Fallow says. In addition, DPR is teaming up with local utility Portland General Electric to form a green building coalition in the Portland area, a grassroots effort that the company hopes to help push into the mainstream.

While increased market opportunities are one reward, the progressive principals behind green building complement DPR’s own corporate philosophy. “This fits in well with DPR’s core values of being an ever forward contractor, being smart enough to recognize future trends,” Fallow says. “At the same time, it dovetails with our commitment to the environment and to giving back to the communities in which we work.”