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Truckee District Office Receives "Gold" LEED Certification
Release Date: Feb 10, 2012
Contact(s): Joanne Roubique, Linda Zaleon
Truckee ….. The Forest Service was recently notified that their new district office in Truckee received an important environmental recognition. The building has been certified at the “Gold” level under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED*) program. This is the first LEED certified building for the Forest Service in all of the Pacific Southwest Region (California).
“We are very pleased that the certification resulted in the “Gold” rating. The Forest Service embraces its role as conservation leader both in resource management and in building design. We are really pleased with the building and feel it will be a very good place for the Forest Service to serve the public in Truckee for the foreseeable future” stated Joanne Roubique, Truckee District Ranger.
The LEED “Gold” rating is achieved partly in the design process, partly in the construction process and will be confirmed in the operation of the building over time. The site design was completed by Gary Davis Groupand the building design was completed by Ward Young Architecture in collaboration with Beaudin-Ganze Consulting Engineers. The construction of the building was completed by Geney/Gassiot INC General Contractors and the commissioning performed by Bender Engineering. They are all local Truckee firms. “In addition, we have been very lucky to have a great team who assisted in this effortincluding Scott Terrell, Truckee-Donner PUD. It has been great to work with these firms who shared our goals of creating a building that functions well and demonstrates these important conservation principles. We have also had a wonderful internal team of architects, engineers and program managers who have worked diligently through the process. And lastly, we had wonderful support from the community, local agencies and particularly from our primary partner in development of the Truckee Public Service Center – the Town of Truckee,” continued Roubique.
The ranger district office building utilizes an open floor plan, which meets several objectives. It allows for easy communication, great use of natural light and by taking advantage of the site’s wonderful southern exposure, it allows the design to maximize solar gain in the winter. The solar gain is achieved through a two-story south facing sunspace corridor, which has slate floors, concrete block half walls and high performance windows that allow high passive solar heat gain and minimize heat loss. The windows in the buildings were designed to allow the occupants to view the outdoors, including an excellent view of Lookout Mountain from almost every part of the building. Skylights at the ridge and light wells through the second floor bring natural light into the center of the building. Automatic lighting control systems measure daylight and dim electric lights accordingly. The architectural, mechanical and electrical design projects savings of over 50% for electricity and natural gas compared to California and industry standards. During the construction, over three quarters of on-site generated construction waste was diverted from the landfill and recycled products were used for structural steel, building insulation, aluminum doors, and other products. Over half of the materials were harvested or manufactured regionally and products used were within healthy indoor environmental standards.
The new station has taken almost 10 years to bring to fruition. It involved the sale of the former 82 acre Forest Service work center property located just north of the Truckee downtown core. In 2004, Congress approved the sale of that work center directing the funds be used for the construction of the new district office and work center facilities. In 2005, Ward Young Architects were awarded the design contract for the office. They were required to achieve a minimum Silver LEED certification, a challenge that they embraced with great enthusiasm. In 2008, a contract was awarded to Geney/Gassiot INC General Contractors for the construction of the new office to be built within the LEED specified requirements. The building was completed in 2010 and was part of the Truckee government center dedication last fall.
* LEED is a building certification process developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a non-profit, non-government organization. The certification process is used to enhance environmental awareness among architects and building contractors and encourage energy efficient, water conserving design and construction using sustainable resources and materials.
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