Dec 24 2010
The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded the U.S. General Services Administration its LEED® Gold certification for the Food & Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) building, also known as Building 66, on the FDA’s new headquarters campus in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Tishman Construction Corporation of Maryland (TCC), in a joint venture with Heery International, managed the construction of the six-story, 396,000-square foot office building, which houses approximately 1,100 FDA employees. The joint-venture saved taxpayers $2 million on the project while completing construction three months ahead of schedule and raising the building’s LEED rating from Silver to Gold at no additional cost to taxpayers.
Known for successfully managing the complexities of sustainable building, TCC is part of AECOM Technology Corp., a Fortune 500 provider of professional technical and management support services for government and commercial clients around the world.
Tishman and Heery previously assisted the GSA in achieving certification of several other buildings on the campus. They assisted in obtaining one LEED Gold rating--for historic Building 1--in April, and one Silver rating--for the Central Shared Use Facility--at the $1.4-billion FDA headquarters project. The FDA is pursuing three more Silver certifications and one more Gold one on the 130-acre campus.
Building 66 was designed to LEED Silver standards, but through collaboration between the GSA, which is overseeing the project, the FDA, the LEED consultant, the architect (KlingStubbins in association with RTKL Associates, Inc.) and the construction management team, the project achieved LEED Gold at no additional cost.
“We are pleased with the insight, knowledge and skill that Tishman has applied to this project in order to raise the building’s sustainability level from Silver to Gold at no extra cost,” said Shapour Ebadi, Director of Campus Development for the GSA. “Tishman’s innovative ideas and skillful implementation were crucial to this outstanding improvement in the building’s LEED certification achievement.”
“Tishman is proud to boost the sustainability level of this building from Silver to Gold and to construct a building that forms an environmentally friendly place in which FDA employees can work to protect our nation’s health,” said TCC-MD Executive Vice President Jeffrey Dodd. “We’re very pleased we accomplished the project while saving U.S. taxpayers $2 million in construction costs.”
Steps in Pushing Project from LEED Silver to LEED Gold:
The FDA Headquarters Consolidation Project includes renovation of three historic buildings and construction of 17 new buildings, totaling 5.3 million square feet of new laboratories and offices. Tishman and Heery has also managed construction of a central utility plant and parking garages for approximately 5,900 vehicles. Eleven buildings have been completed and are occupied, five are under construction, and several are in the planning, programming or design phase. The project also includes building all new site utilities and infrastructure, more than 2½ miles of roads, and two new bridges. Completion is anticipated for 2013.
Through collaboration, the construction and design team gained additional credits for fuel-efficient vehicles, increased water-use reduction, bicycle storage and changing rooms, and increased recycled content, at no additional cost. Steps in achieving LEED Gold included:
- Implementing a transportation management plan involving shuttle buses, connection to the Metro, and dedicated parking for van and car pools;
- Using low-volatile organic compound (VOC) paints and coatings;
- Diverting over 75% of construction waste from landfills to be recycled;
- Installing lighting-control systems in order to reduce light pollution;
- Using indigenous plant materials that do not require regular watering;
- Providing high-efficiency mechanical systems, including connection to the campus’s central utility plant, which generates electricity and uses waste heat to power other equipment;
- Using rapidly renewable materials;
- Innovation credits for Owner-implemented programs pertaining to Green Education and Green Housekeeping;
- Using waterless urinals to reduce water consumption;
- Using excavation material originally planned to be hauled off site for infill, thereby diverting it from landfill; and
- Purchasing green power off the grid that is supplied by power companies who provide clean energy.
Construction Challenges Overcome to Save Time and Money
Heery-Tishman adroitly managed several changes of scope of work while completing the project $2 million under budget and three months ahead of schedule:
- With construction underway, the GSA deleted a security lobby from the plans. The Heery-Tishman team continued construction during redesign, with no time lost.
- The GSA later added a smaller version of the original lobby back into the scope. Heery-Tishman managed this change without adding any additional time to the schedule.
- Heery-Tishman completed the project three months ahead of schedule even though approximately 20% of the interior office space design was modified during construction.
Also, a Tishman innovation protected air quality for the occupants of an adjacent, occupied laboratory during construction. Tishman implemented a temporary plenum that extended 200 feet beyond the limit of the Building 66 construction project and protected the air intake of the laboratory. The plenum therefore drew clean air from outside of the construction zone to serve the lab.
Source: http://www.tishmanconstruction.com