 With Tarlton Corp. of St. Louis serving as construction manager for Maryland-based Wexford Science + Technology, Building 1 in the BioResearch & Development Growth Park at the Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis County has earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The building, which opened in June 2009, is one of the only LEED Gold laboratory facilities nationwide available for lease to emerging plant and life science companies, according to BRDG Park officials. The distinction is especially noteworthy given that buildings with research labs must support specialized building systems and have significantly higher energy demands than office buildings of comparable size. “Our Gold designation surpassed the Silver status we had anticipated,” said Sam Fiorello, president of BRDG Park. “We are thrilled to set an environmental standard for research and park facilities available to emerging plant and life science companies.”
The 110,000-square-foot, four-story building, designed by Gaudreau Inc. of Baltimore, is the first of three similar buildings planned for BRDG Park, which ultimately will total 450,000 square feet. Its energy efficient features contribute to a 17.5 percent energy savings, according to Tarlton project engineer Craig Smith, including a fully commissioned heating, ventilation and air conditioning system that allows building engineers to fine-tune systems for peak performance. The building also incorporates low-flow systems that reduce water consumption by 30 percent and provides daylight views from more than 97 percent of its interior. After building the core and shell, Tarlton also was contracted by five tenants for interior build-outs.
During construction, the team employed sustainable practices such as protecting pipes from dust and contamination, washing trucks on site to keep area streets clean and recycling trash and construction materials to divert more than 57 percent of the project’s waste from landfills.
Working with Smith on the Tarlton team were project executive John Doerr, P.E., project director Andrew Kovarik, project managers Jeffrey Wampler and Jeffrey Freese, superintendent Eric Nichols and assistant Jean Tedesco, along with construction consultant Robert Wesolich.
“We’re delighted to complete our first LEED Gold project,” noted Tarlton President Tracy Hart, chairman of the Energy and Environment Committee for the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association. “We’re seeing positive change in the industry’s way of doing business, with building owners and their project teams looking to build sustainably on every project, registered or not. Having built our own LEED Silver headquarters in 2004, we know how these buildings can improve people’s lives, and we’re proud to help make St. Louis an even better place to work.”
LEED certification is a rigorous third-party commissioning process intended to promote design, construction and building operations that reduce the negative environmental impacts of buildings, improve the health and well-being of building occupants and ultimately increase project profitability. After being registered, a project is eligible for credits in several categories for meeting specified design and construction criteria, with the level of certification (Certified-Silver-Gold-Platinum, Platinum being the highest) determined by the number of credits awarded by the USGBC, after the building is fully operational.
Having completed seven LEED projects in the last six years (two awaiting certification) and been named one of Engineering News-Record’s Top 100 Green Contractors in 2008, Tarlton has recently begun construction of three additional LEED-registered projects, all joint ventures: the Saint Louis Art Museum expansion with KAI Design & Build of St. Louis and Pepper Construction of Chicago; the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Outpatient Services Expansion with Interface Construction of St. Louis; and a new National Archives and Records Administration military personnel records facility for the U.S. General Services Administration with Atlanta-based Hardin Construction for The Molasky Group of Las Vegas.
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Contact: Laura Lusson, 314-458-6562 or LLLusson@tarltoncorp.com |