King County honors sustainably designed, built projects with ‘Excellence in Building Green’ awards

Environmentally sustainable building design and construction in King County took center stage recently when King County Executive Ron Sims announced the 2008 “Excellence in Building Green” awards.

The annual awards honor the planning and design teams of public facilities that reflect environmental sustainability. This year, eight design and construction projects were honored with awards for what Sims called “exceptional leadership in sustainable design and construction.”

“Green building planning, design and construction helps achieve so many goals that are important to the future of King County,” Sims said. “By building green, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce energy use, create healthier workplaces for employees and reduce operating costs for heating and cooling, lighting, water use and more.”

The 2008 “Excellence in Building Green” award winners are:

Sammamish Commons Project

Project Management Team:

• Ben Yazici - City Manager
• Dick Butkus - Deputy City Manager
• Sevda Baran - Project Manager

The Sammamish Commons is a 30-acre site encompassing a new 45,000 square foot city hall and police facility for the City of Sammamish. The 10 acres on the “upper site” feature a civic plaza, skate park, sports court, climbing wall and city hall building. The remaining 20 acres or “lower site” include a buffered wetland, walking trails, picnic shelters, play meadow, and a northwest garden and orchard.

This project earned this recognition for its design which preserves open space while providing active and passive recreation areas for the community. Pervious paving was used in much of the site to limit stormwater runoff

The city hall, which has been awarded a LEED Silver rating, has windows that open, providing for natural ventilation, an open office layout providing a flexible working environment, and daylight throughout the building.

Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center

Bellevue Parks and Community Service Department Project Team:

• Patrick Foran - Director
• Shelley Marelli - Deputy Director
• Glenn Kost - Planning and Design Division Manager
• Ken Kroeger - Planning and Design Project Manager

Mercer Slough Project Partners:

• Bryce Seidl - Pacific Science Center
• Darla Vivit Norris - Pacific Science Center
• Jerry Henry - Puget Sound Energy

The Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center earned its award for achieving multiple goals: Green building, site-sensitive development that protects the Mercer Sough ecosystem and community and science education. The center is being developed through a partnership with City of Bellevue, the Pacific Science Center and Puget Sound Energy.

On course to receive a LEED Gold rating, the nearly completed center will serve as a visitor’s center, classroom and wet lab space. The project emphasizes excellent indoor environmental quality, and water and energy efficiency measures. The project used high-quality, sustainable furniture, Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood, and recycled-content and regionally-produced materials. Parking for low-emitting and hybrid vehicles is also provided.

Low impact development techniques that were used to protect water quality include a constructed wetland, bioswales off the parking area, and pin foundations that minimize site disturbance and disruption of site hydrology.

Jim Wiley Community Center

King County Housing Authority Project Team:

• King County Housing Authority Executive Director Stephen Norman
• Deputy Executive Director Dan Watson
• John Eliason, Greenbridge Development Manager
• Deborah Gooden, Greenbridge General Manager

The Jim Wiley Community Center renovation project is in the heart of Greenbridge, a three-star Built Green mixed-income community that will provide 1,000 affordable homes for approximately 3,500 people when completed in 2012.

The Wiley Center has also received a three-star Built Green certification and is the focal point of the master-planned community in White Center.

The $5 million, 22,600-square-foot facility features a complete renovation including extensive seismic upgrades; updated accessibility; a new mechanical system; a renovated gym; a commercial kitchen; counseling services and a career development center for youth and families.

The renovation saved an immense amount of energy and construction material by “recycling” the building, rather than demolishing it and starting again with a new structure. Other key “green” features include solar panels, double-paned energy efficient windows and skylights, a 50-year roof, Marmoleum flooring, steel studs at interior walls, low volatile organic compound paint, and more.

Metro Atlantic/Central Base Expansion

Project Teams:

Atlantic/Central Base Demolition and Recycling:

• Mike Stanaszek, Project Manager
• Jim Carlson, Construction Representative

Communications and Control Center

• Don Campbell, Project Manager
• Charlie Reynolds, Project Engineer
• Ron Smith and Jim Carlson, construction management

Tire and Millwright Shop

• Ken Tarp, Project Manager
• John Davis, Project Engineer

King County Department of Transportation, Metro Transit Division is expanding the Atlantic/Central Bus Base to provide additional bus operating capacity in the Seattle area. As part of the expansion, two city blocks of old warehouses were purchased and demolished for future bus facilities.

The demolition project maximized material reuse and recycling, with more than 90 percent of the 30,000-plus tons either salvaged for reuse or recycling. Not only was material disposal avoided by onsite crushing, but the cost and impacts of the trucking was avoided, and a useful product was generated for future projects.

Two buildings were designed to achieve LEED Silver certification: The Communications and Control Center, which houses the “command center” for transit; and the Tire and Millwright Shop, which provides bus base facility maintenance and tire replacement for approximately 300 buses.

Chinook Building

Project Team:

• Facilities Management Division
• Kathy Brown
• Jim Napolitano
• Dave Preugschat

The county’s newest office building is targeting LEED Gold for core and shell work, and LEED Platinum for commercial interiors work. With 98 percent of the construction waste recycled, energy efficient heating and cooling systems, low-flow plumbing fixtures, the Chinook Building is the template for future county office buildings.

Managers reused 90 percent of the furniture and furnishings throughout the building, installed bicycle storage, showers, a changing area and activity center for employee use; placed recycling centers on every floor, providing tenants with easy access to recycling; and will continue the ongoing use of green cleaning products and green housekeeping practices.

Power Distribution Headquarters

Project Team:

• Ron Moattar, Project Manager
• Charlie Reynolds Project Engineer
• John Wright, Construction Manager

Power Distribution Headquarters was the first building that Transit designed with LEED certification as a goal, which the project achieved in 2007.

Projects challenges that were overcome included maintaining ongoing operations while staging and construction occurred for the new building, which houses several different functions including office and shop space.

New green features include high efficiency heating and cooling, use of recycled-content and locally manufactured materials, low volatile organic compound paints and adhesives, plus no-flow and low-flow plumbing fixtures.

King County Road Services Division - Southeast 304th Street at 124th Avenue Southeast Intersection Improvement Project

Project Team:

• Don Bleasdale, Project Manager and Senior Design Engineer
• Dan Sahagun, Design Engineer
• Sam Park, Design Engineer
• Mark Wilgus, Senior Surface Water Engineer
• Lindsey Shepherd, Environmental Engineer
• Dean Wilson, Senior Environmental Engineer and Landscape Architect
• Jenny Ma, Engineer Technician
• Kino Gomez, Resident Engineer
• Sondra Maurer, Engineer Technician

While improving safety at a busy street intersection was the primary purpose for the redesign, the team for the Southeast 304^th Street at 124^th Avenue Southeast improvement project infused multiple green-building principals into their work at this Auburn site.

Green features include replacing a signalized intersection with a single-lane roundabout. This simple traffic control feature offers numerous environmental benefits to a traditional intersection, including cutting greenhouse gas emissions by reducing idle time for cars, decreasing noise by eliminating the need for cars to stop and accelerate, and decreasing energy use by eliminating the need for an electronic signal.

Low impact development stormwater management techniques included using porous concrete cement for new sidewalks at the intersection, and using native, drought-resistant shrubs and trees in the roundabout’s center.

Transit Custodial Green Cleaning and Conservation Program

Project Team:

• Jerry Rutledge, Manager
• Peggy Meyer, Transit Supervisor
• Lorri Traylor, Transit Chief
• Eddie Padilla, Transit Chief
• Talon Swanson, Environmental Specialist
• Gerry Parkinson, Facilities Constructor

The Transit Custodial Maintenance work group’s green cleaning program received an award for implementing a sustainable program that meets Environmental Protection Agency standards and guidelines, as well as those recognized by the governor’s committee on green cleaning from the Washington State Cleaning Industry Professional Association.

Green cleaning certification includes training every custodial worker in proper equipment and cleaning product use, and demonstrated proficiency in applying the approved processes for their daily tasks.

Program elements pertain to all aspects of custodial and cleaning including products, procedures, equipment and supplies.

Through the program, the group has reduced the number of cleaning products used from more than 30 to just two primary, Green Seal-approved cleaning products. Additionally, all paper products meet or exceed post consumer recycled content standards.

Related Information

Sustainable Building

Environmental Grants and Awards

Sims Global Warming Initiative