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THE LOU'S A LEADER
IN 'GREEN' BUILDING
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Even
Some ‘Top Tier’ Cities Looking Comparatively Brown
By Bill Beggs Jr.
Green building is booming in the Gateway City. Of course, by
green we’re not referring to that particular hue, but in some
cases it does pertain to landscape architecture. On the roof.
St. Louis ranks among the top 10 cities in the nation with the
highest number of buildings designed to minimize environmental
impact. According to the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC)
survey from July 2006, St. Louis ranks 7th on the list with
nine LEED-certified buildings. (LEED—Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design, the USGBC’s voluntary, consensus-based
rating system—is a national standard for developing high-performance,
sustainable buildings.) LEED emphasizes state-of-the-art strategies
for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency,
materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
Green construction is a comparatively fledgling enterprise in
the region, with Paric Corp. having built the first certified
“green” project in Missouri: The Nidus Center for Scientific
Enterprise, completed in 2000 and certified with a silver LEED,
one of the first green laboratories in the country.
Meanwhile, AmerenUE has ponied up $120,000 in grants as an incentive
for LEED-certified projects registered from June through December
2006. First-come, first-served awards of $5,000 to $25,000 have
been made available for each project. Designed to accelerate
green building practices, energy conservation and environmental
performance in the region, the Ameren grant program aims to
encourage the construction of LEED certified green buildings
that will serve as examples for future projects in the St. Louis
region.
The grants can’t be applied to “hard” costs (construction) and
are to be used for “soft” costs only, such as the LEED certification
fee; LEED documentation; professional services like energy modeling,
daylighting analysis and/or modeling life cycle analysis (LCA);
commissioning; and building design charrette facilitated by
an LEED-accredited professional. The program will run until
funds are exhausted or until June 30, 2007, whichever comes
first.
St. Louis Community College at Wildwood, slated to open in fall
2007, is a LEED- registered project. It incorporates design
concepts that will qualify for silver and perhaps gold-level
certification. To achieve this certification, contractors must
adhere to a stringent list of features and qualifications.
This new “green” campus will enhance occupant comfort and health,
reduce operating costs, conserve natural resources and minimize
strain on local infrastructure. The most prominent feature at
the Wildwood campus will be green-roof technology to absorb
heat and control inside temperature.
“I believe SLCC-Wildwood will be one of the first educational
buildings in St. Louis County to earn LEED certification,” asserts
SLCC spokeswoman Pat Matreci.
The checklist is rigorous, from the site, to the building materials
to accommodations for alternative modes of transportation; i.e.,
bicycles and “alternative fuel” vehicles. Storm water management
is critical to reducing erosion. Both rate of flow and quantity
of water must be taken into consideration.
A green roof—architecturally landscaped (see sidebar)—can be
a boon to a project, from the foundation, to where it touches
the sky. Strategically planted vegetation in soils atop the
membrane that separates the landscaping from the structure itself
helps manage the flow of water. And, it is not a “heat island”
in the swelter of a St. Louis summer. Consider a flat black
roof multiplied by hundreds of thousands; that has a significant
impact on the energy needed to air condition the interior. The
mayor of Chicago has decreed that green construction be part
and parcel of future development and retrofit projects in that
city, industry observers note—hundreds upon hundreds of millions
of dollars go into cooling the buildings downtown, money that
will be saved with a mandate to build with energy efficiency.
But in St. Louis, as Tom Schultz of Laclede Gas Co. has said,
“You don’t have to mandate doing the right thing.” Industry
observers say that green building increased nationally by 20
percent in 2005, and predict it will have increased this year
by another 30 percent.
Michael and Steven Roberts are among the scores of developers
looking to grow more “greenly”, if you will. They’ve tapped
sustainable-consulting firm Vertegy to assist with the development
of two significant sustainable projects in the City of St. Louis:
The Roberts Luxury Residences, the first new residential tower
in downtown St. Louis in 40 years, and the 26-home Roberts Place
subdivision near the Central West End.
Vertegy’s design for The Roberts Luxury Residences aims to achieve
gold certification under the LEED rating system, USGBC’s second
highest ranking for sustainability. Vertegy’s sales center at
9th and Olive showcases the sustainable options available. In
addition to interior features such as recycled ceramic tiles,
energy-star compliant appliances and bamboo floors, the project
is designed to use materials with high percentages of recycled
content.
The project will also use materials that contain no or low volatile
organic compounds (VOCs), which contribute to improved indoor
air quality.
“Sustainability has already been a driving force behind the
design and development of new commercial properties across the
country, but now, it’s starting to make its way into the realm
of residential living as well,” says Thomas Taylor, president
of Vertegy. “The Roberts Luxury Residences will showcase how
sustainable design and construction is done at its best in an
opulent setting.”
Groundwork for the Roberts Place subdivision is under way. The
single-family homes will be constructed with PolySteel, a 100-percent
insulated-concrete forming system that is resistant to fire,
earthquake and infestation, and provides 25- to 50-percent energy
savings. Roberts Place homes will be developed to meet the highest
level of achievement possible under the National Association
of Home Builders (NAHB) Green Guidelines, and are expected to
generate utility bills of less than $50 per month. In a time
of rising energy costs, Taylor expects that alone will be a
key selling factor.
“It’s a matter of blending technology with good design and old-fashioned
characteristics that will make this project revolutionary to
home building,” says Taylor. The end result, he added, is more
comfortable, healthier and resourceful buildings that are actually
less expensive to operate.
Among other LEED-registered and/or certified projects Vertegy
has worked on are the Security Building downtown, one of the
few LEED-registered buildings on the National Registry of Historic
Buildings; Centocor Biologics’ 46,000-square-foot office building;
St. Louis Community College’s new West County Campus; and the
William A. Kerr Foundation offices.
As you may imagine, building green is pretty complicated. Keeping
tabs on dozens of additional guidelines and requirements has
created a need for yet another set of eyes to oversee the process:
the building commissioner.
Building Commissioning is a process of documentation, verification
and training performed specifically to ensure that a finished
facility operates in accordance with the owner’s documented
project requirements (OPR) and the construction documents, according
to Bart Alsop, a mechanical engineer with Heideman Associates,
a subsidiary of Zak Cos. It begins in pre-design and continues
through the first year the building is occupied.
Commissioning, among the aforementioned soft costs an AmerenUE
grant would cover, fulfills LEED certification requirements.
Alsop notes that, among other things, building commissioning
helps set clear, measurable goals for all parties, and also
allows designers and contractors to measure success, as well
as any deficiencies.
Back in the day, this wasn’t so much a concern. Until about
the mid-1970s, Alsop points out, there were only a few key players
in the typical project team configuration. They included the
architect, the mechanical and electrical engineers, the mechanical
and electrical contractors, and the general contractors. Because
these disciplines received a higher percentage of revenue than
they do today, as a team, they were better able to invest man-hours
in quality control.
But several additional team members were added to the mix, such
as data/security, fire alarm, fire protection and controls contractors.
Project team members began to have fees split between them,
creating gaps between the disciplines. Fewer quality control
measures were put in place, resulting in poor coordination,
lost details, costly change orders and schedule delays, Alsop
says.
Today, he says, a commissioning agent helps fills in those gaps
in coordination and creates accountability by encompassing all
of the disciplines involved in a project.
| ‘Green’
Roofs: Skyscraping Gardens Work All Year for Environment |
Flat,
black tarpaper roofs top off residential and commercial
buildings everywhere in St. Louis and suburbs throughout
the region. Regardless of the time of year, it’s easy to
imagine the waves of heat rising into the atmosphere.
Just a glance out his Shrewsbury office window overlooking
the one-story commercial building next door is a constant
reminder to James Wolterman of SWT Design just what he and
business partner Ted Spaid are trying to accomplish.
“Landscape architecture is a way for communities to better
themselves,” says Spaid. “Green roofs are another tool in
the toolbox.”
Nodding across the driveway, Spaid points out: “Obviously
there’s an aesthetic issue. Also, there’s a storm-water
issue, a heat-sink issue. A green roof may reduce the inside
temperature five degrees. Then there’s the effect it has
on ozone, on allergens.”
With a grin, he says, “Just add apple pie.”
SWT has contracted with the Saint Louis Zoo to build perhaps
the most visible “case to the folks in the Show-Me State,”
says Spaid: The new Animal Nutrition Center. Visitors will
be able to watch food preparation for the Zoo’s scores of
different species, each with radically different dietary
needs. The gently sloping roof, largest green roof in the
region, will present another new educational opportunity
for visitors. The roof system incorporates sedums and other
hardy plants indigenous to an alpine region. The soil is
shallow; the plants able to withstand extremes in temperature.
It’s not so simple as spreading topsoil on the roof and
planting whatever you think the neighborhood Garden Society
will find attractive. Whatever goes up there adds weight
to the existing roof. So, just add water from a torrential
downpour…and the rooftop garden, ceiling joists and all,
might come crashing down into the upstairs bedroom of your
downtown loft.
Designing and constructing a green-roof system uses vegetation
to help modulate storm water runoff, among other things,
as Spaid and Wolterman point out. Green roofs help reduce
energy consumption and increase the life of roof materials.
They also don’t require going up there every half-hour or
so to move the sprinkler: Drought-resistant plants support
low maintenance and require no irrigation.
Meanwhile, across the Mississippi River, Southern Illinois
University Edwardsville is in the midst of an experiment
to evaluate the performance of a green roof installed on
the Engineering Building. Plant growth, roof coverage, and
thermal characteristics will be evaluated for the next two
years, according to William Ratzlaff, Ph.D., of the SIUE
Environmental Sciences Program. In addition to experimenting
with various growing mediums, researchers will evaluate
three different plant species and fertilizer applications.
The university’s departments of Civil Engineering and Mechanical
and Industrial Engineering will also be keeping a watchful
eye on what’s going on overhead.
Green roofs are not for the penny-wise, pound-foolish.
“To design a green roof is expensive,” says SWT’s Wolterman,
matter-of-factly. Payoffs both monetary and esoteric may
take awhile to realize. A regular roof may need to be replaced
within 10 years. A green-roof system still must incorporate
a membrane separating plantings from the supporting structure.
This layer eventually must be replaced, but not as soon—with
good design comes longevity. According to SWT, in Europe
green roofs have lasted for 80 years and more.
Then there’s the concept the Japanese call “borrowed scenery.”
This isn’t sneaking a peek at the family photos in your
co-worker’s cubicle. It’s the view out a window to a park,
formal landscaping—or a rooftop garden.
Pleasant surroundings, including borrowed scenery that’s
built in via landscape architecture, helps recruit and retain
talent, SWT’s principals point out. And there are fewer
sick days to contend with than there would be in a “cube
farm.”
SWT has purchased the commercial building next door, which
will be incorporated into the office complex that sprang
from a rehabbed Victorian home at 7722 Big Bend Blvd.
Not too long from now, the tarpaper view will be no more.
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