So, we are seeking LEED certification on the Lecture Hall project. That is nothing new to Evergreen, we already have at least two LEED Gold Certified buildings, which are the CAB and Seminar II building. I also understand the Lab I 1st and 2nd floor renovations achieved LEED Certification. Our goal is to achieve LEED Gold on the Lecture Hall project. If you don’t know already LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a third-party verification system for rating “green” or sustainable buildings. This system was established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to create a verification system for sustainable structures. The main goal is in having minimal impact on the environment while building a facility, and also considering the long term impact on the environment once the facility is up and operating. I bring this subject up at this point in the project because recently I’ve been coordinating portions of the LEED checklist with our design team.

The LEED checklist consists of a long list of opportunities to consider before the design even begins. You use the checklist to create a list of goals that once achieved will give you points. The amount of goals / points achieved is tallied and verified once the construction is complete. The paperwork is filed with the USGBC and they go through the submitted checklist and all the supporting documentation and they certify (or not if you did not do your job) what LEED benchmark has been achieved. Currently there are four levels of certification, all based on the number of points achieved on a project. The first of these levels is “Certified” which is the easiest level of achievement; a building must achieve a minimum of 40 points to meet this benchmark. The next levels of achievement are Silver, then Gold, and the highest level is Platinum. Being able to achieve Platinum would be ideal for a college like Evergreen, but there are certain costs associated with a number of these points, thus you really need to strike a balance between costs and benefits. We also have a budget to adhear to, which we are continuously keeping in mind. We are a public institution, so striking that balance is especially important with spending tax payers dollars. It currently looks like we may achieve 62 LEED points, which is a few points into the Gold level. Here is the LEED scorecard for New Construction and Major Renovations if you are interested in this subject:U.S. Green Building Council score card

Yes, we had another power outage on campus. I don’t know about you, but these seem to be an all too common experience this year. We had our weekly construction meeting during the power outage. I joked that we should get LEED points on this project for holding construction meetings without using any electricity. It made me think that maybe we should plan on having planned power outages twice a day. Doing so forces you to step away from the computer and actually talk with your co-workers. And think of the resources we would save! I’m sure our computing and networking offices would love it.

We are now officially behind schedule on the Lecture Hall construction. The stars don’t seem to be aligning for me at this juncture in time. Don’t worry though, we have a huge buffer between when we are supposed to be substantially complete to the time we need to start holding classes in this facility. Anyway, there are a number of factors that are hurting us. Some of the issues include light fixtures not shipping when they should have, fire sprinkler inspections not taking place as planned, and just today the Glaziers Union is on strike. We need to get all those windows installed ASAP, and nobody ever thought a strike was even in the works! I’ve asked our contractor to provide us with an updated schedule so we can see what the new substantial completion date is that we are shooting for. That won’t really be possible until we know when this darn strike is over with.

Hat channels and clips that hold the channels in place are currently being installed on the new exterior walls of the Lecture Hall. These hat channels are going to support all the exterior insulation. Yes, the current building code requires exterior wall insulation in order to minimize thermal bridging that occurs if the insulation is just between the structural members. Once the Rock Wool insulation is installed we’ll soon see the metal siding being installed. More about Rock Wool can be found here: http://www.roxul.com/ Fine grading of ground around the perimeter of the Lecture Hall is currently taking place. As is the grading for the new ADA ramp that will lead from Red Square to the upper area between Lab I and II and the Lecture Hall.

More sidewalks are currently being formed around the Lecture Hall. We will see those being poured on Tuesday, July 5th. Keep an eye out for the concrete trucks accessing the job site.

That is it for this time. Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Cheers,

Tim

Timothy Byrne

Project Manager

Facilities Services

The Evergreen State College

360-867-6093