Córdova Recreational Sports Center and Herrick Laboratories achieve LEED gold certification

Two facilities on Purdue's West Lafayette campus have recently received LEED gold certification: the France A. Córdova Recreational Sports Center and Ray W. Herrick Laboratories.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a certification system for green building leadership that awards points and ranks facilities into four categories: certified, silver, gold and platinum. LEED buildings strive to promote clean and renewable energy while promoting the health of building occupants.

"Córdova Recreational Sports Center and Herrick Laboratories are great examples of environmentally responsible buildings," says Bob Olson, university engineer. "Not only do they meet the needs of their occupants, but they do so in a way that utilizes technical innovations and also capitalizes on the unique aspects of their physical locations."

The Córdova Recreational Sports Center began the LEED certification process as part of the building renovation and expansion in 2008. LEED principles were incorporated throughout the project and upon its final LEED review in October 2014, the center received 39 total points based on a scorecard that included items such as maximizing open space, stormwater management quality and quantity control, water efficiency, optimized energy performance, construction waste management, recycled content, regional materials, low-emitting materials, controllability of systems (including lighting and thermal comfort) and innovation in design.

"Earning the LEED gold designation is a point of pride for the Division of Recreational Sports, and we have the students who participated in the project design team to thank for initiating and strongly supporting the pursuit of this certification," says Howard Taylor, director of recreational sports. "We have even created an online self-guided Green Building Features Tour, which is also available at various locations throughout the facility, to provide the campus community with additional information about our sustainable features."

Some highlights of the Córdova Recreational Sports Center project include design meant to achieve 22 percent better performance than energy code requires and a 40 percent reduction in water usage due to high-performance faucets and shower fixtures.

Herrick Laboratories went through a revised LEED process with a different scoring system. The lab received 72 total points upon its final LEED review in the following categories: alternative transportation, stormwater design quantity and quality control, water use reduction, water efficient landscaping, optimizing energy performance, construction waste management, recycled content, regional materials, low-emitting materials, thermal comfort design and verification and innovation in design.

"Pursuing LEED certification was a natural fit for our project because sustainable principles, including energy efficiency and environment impact on building occupants, are studied at Herrick Laboratories on a daily basis," says Patricia Davies, director of the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories. "Herrick Laboratories truly functions as a 'living lab' because faculty and students can use the building to test out new high-performance building concepts and develop robust technologies that will enable buildings to be even more green in the future."

Points of note for Herrick Laboratories include being designed for 44 percent better performance than baseline energy standard, diverting 94 percent of construction waste, sourcing 44 percent of all building materials from within 500 miles and using 30 percent recycled building materials.

Achieving LEED certification is a collaborative effort that requires the engagement of future building occupants, Physical Facilities and Office of University Sustainability staff and professional design consultants.

"Everyone involved in the LEED gold certification of the Córdova Recreational Sports Center and Herrick Laboratories should be congratulated for the successful completion of this rigorous process," Olson says.

Additional information on LEED for existing buildings and new construction may be found on the Office of University Sustainability website.