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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.2 LEED Certification Discussion of New Police HQ and Fire HQ/Station 13BoardDocs® Pro Page I of 2 Agenda Item Details Meeting Aug 14, 2018 - Joint Village Board and Finance Commission Workshop- 6:00 P.M. Category 4. Financing Discussion Subject 4.2 LEED Certification Discussion of New Police Headquarters and Fire Headquarters/Station 13 Access Public Type Discussion Public Content Information LEED Background and Costs As the Police and Fire Station designs continue to progress, the process has hit a critical juncture in relation to requiring direction from the Village Board on whether or not to pursue a US Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED Certification on either of these two buildings. The decision to pursue or not to pursue has to be made in the early design phases of the project, as all facets of the design will impact the ability to obtain such certification. To begin the discussion, identification of what LEED means is important. "LEED" stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This program has been developed and modified a number of times since its implementation by the USGBC in 1993. The intention of the program is to promote the construction of environmentally friendly buildings and sites for the betterment of the environment and the people that use the building. There are different levels of LEED certification, which correspond to a point system. The more points a project achieves, the higher the level of LEED certification. The levels from lowest to highest are: 1. Certified 2. Silver 3. Gold 4. Platinum These rankings are based on performance across a multitude of categories including sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation in design. While the intention of the program is to promote sustainability and efficiency in design, the real payback for the end user is in potential utility cost savings. The hope is that throughout the life cycle of the building enough money will be saved to offset the initial rise in construction costs, commissioning costs, and oversight costs. The construction costs are directly impacted due to the increase in cost of materials that meet the LEED standard, plus the additional labor involved to install some of these products. The general range for construction cost increase related to LEED certification of construction cost. In the case of the Police and Fire projects where the hard construction costs are expected to be around $30 million, this may amount to $600,000 to $1,500,000. Some examples of the impacted materials are: certified wood and its proximity to the jobsite, special adhesives, additional insulation products, extremely efficient mechanical systems, and water collection/reuse systems. The design and oversight fees of the project are impacted as well in the LEED certification process. The extensive documentation and duplicative design processes that are required to achieve a certification in the LEED program is costly for architects to perform. There is research, energy modeling, and additional design that must be completed. On the contractor's end, there is daily documentation, significant garbage/waste separation, and collection of documentation from all the subcontractors. These additional costs can add as much as 1 % to the cost of hard construction. For the Police and Fire projects, the quotes from the contractors and architects totaled $240)000. The final cost increase due to LEED to any project is in the form of enhanced commissioning. In addition to having the architects design and oversee the project, and the contractor to construct and oversee the project, a third party LEED commissioning agent is required to be on site to witness the proper procedures being practiced in the field. There is picture and report documentation required throughout the construction phase that gets compiled into a report that authorizes the USGBC to approve a specified level of certification. These commissioning costs are generally about 1 %, or about $300,000 in the case of these two projects. In addition, the https://www.boarddocs.com/il/vomp/Board.nsf/Public 8/16/2018 BoardDocs® Pro Page 2 of 2 latest round of changes to the LEED certification process includes annual recertification of the building to verify the components and systems designed and installed are still functional. No estimate has been determined for the recertification requirement, but there will clearly be costs for the annual inspections. Illinois Energy Code Requirements There was no Illinois Energy Code at the time when LEED certification was created; however, there is code requirement today as mandated by the State. In 2012 the State of Illinois adopted the ICC Energy Conservation Code and added a few more stringent amendments. This code has since been updated to the 2015 version, and in March of 2019 ASHRAE 90.1-2016 will be required. These required codes meet or exceed the requirements necessary for LEED Silver Certification, but require no additional documentation, oversight, or design process. The current ICC Energy Conservation Code regulates the following within a building: electrical consumption and lighting controls, mechanical systems (and the requirement for building automation to control them), wall, foundation, and roof insulation requirements, and building envelope tightness. When evaluating the necessity of the LEED certification process more than 25 years after its creation, and taking into account the effectiveness of the Illinois Energy Conservation Codes, staff is confident both the Police and Fire Headquarters can be constructed to meet or exceed LEED certification requirements for energy conservation - by simply meeting the minimum requirements of the ICC Energy Conservation Code. Increases to construction cost will be similar from the requirements of the Illinois Energy Codes to the LEED certification process; however, the oversight, enhanced commissioning costs and recertification maintenance costs associated with LEED certification can be saved. The end result will be extremely efficient buildings for the foreseeable future, regardless of actual LEED certification. As such, it is the Staffs recommendation to move forward with the design and construction of the Police and Fire projects with no LEED certification being pursued. Alternatives 1. Proceed with building design using the Illinois Energy Conservation Code requirements. 2. Discretion of the Village Board. Staff Recommendation Staff respectfully requests permission to move forward with the design and construction of the new Police and Fire projects with no LEED certification being pursued. (002) �-:Xff K[:.3) Administrative Content Executive Content https://www.boarddocs.com/il/vomp/Board.nsf/Public 8/16/2018 Village of Mount Prospect ou Pro - Community Development Department MEMORANDUM \1J TO: MICHAEL CASSADY, VILLAGE MANAGER CC: NELLIE BECKNER, ASSISTANT TO THE VILLAGE MANAGER FROM: MARK RYSAVY, DD BUILDING & INSPECTION SERVICES DATE: AUGUST 1, 2018 SUBJECT: LEED CERTIFICATION DISCUSSION As the Police and Fire Station designs continue to progress, the process has hit a critical juncture in relation to requiring direction from the Village Board on whether or not to pursue a US Green Building Council LEED Certification on either of these two buildings. The decision to pursue or not to pursue has to be made in the early design phases of the project, as all facets of the design will impact the ability to obtain such certification. LEED Background To begin the discussion, identification of what LEED actually means is important. LEED simply stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This program has been developed and modified a number of times since its implementation by the US Green Building Council in 1993. The intention of the program is to promote the construction of environmentally friendly buildings and sites, for the betterment of the environment and the people that use the building. There are different levels of LEED certification, which correspond to a point system. The more points a project achieves, the higher the level of LEED certification. The levels from lowest to highest are: 1. Certified 2. Silver 3. Gold 4. Platinum These rankings are based on performance across a multitude of categories including sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation in design. While the intention of the program is to promote sustainability and efficiency in design, the real payback for the end user is in potential utility cost savings. The hope is that throughout the life cycle of the building enough money will be saved to offset the initial rise in construction costs, commissioning costs, and oversight costs. LEED Cost Impacts These additional costs show up in several different locations. The largest is usually the impact to material and labor costs in the construction phase. A range of 2-5% is the standard increase in costs due to these LEED required items. For the Police and Fire projects that are expected to have hard construction costs around $30 million this amounts to $600,000 to $1.5 million. These costs are due to certified wood purchasing, more expensive low VOC adhesives, localized purchasing policies, additional insulation Page 2 products, extremely efficient HVAC equipment, and exterior environmental systems for water collections and reuse. While all of these items are good ideas in concept, the application in municipal settings brings challenges that will be discussed later. The second area that the LEED program can increase costs is in the design and construction management services. The amount of paperwork and documentation throughout the design process to prove the additional features will increase the performance of the building is daunting. The additional work for the architects for the police station was quoted as $60,000 for the base certification, and greater for advanced certification levels. For the fire station the quote was $50,000 for the architectural upcharge. On the construction management side of the equation, each project would stand to increase $25,000 for the paperwork and $40,000 for the field management. The total increase for architectural and construction management services would be expected to be $240,000. The final cost increases would come from the enhanced commissioning agent that has to be hired. This is a person that is certified by the USGBC to oversee the design, paperwork management, material handling, construction methods, material installations within the building, and final evaluation of the systems installed in the building. While no exact quotes have been provided, staffs previous experience with enhanced commissioning resulted in a fee of $125,000 on a building that had a construction cost of $12,250,000 or about 1%. Extrapolating that fee out on the expected $30 million in construction costs results in a $300,000 combined enhanced commissioning fee for the two projects. To sum up the potential impact on the police and fire projects: Increase to material and labor $600,000 - $1,500,000 Increase to architectural and Construction management fees $240,000 Enhanced commissioning fee $300,000 Total impact to the projects $1,150,000 - $2,050,000 Code Impacts to LEED When the USGBC implemented the LEED program in 1993, there was no energy code implemented by the International Code Council (ICC) or the State of Illinois. By the year 2012, both the ICC and the State had caught up to the energy consumption conversation with the State adopting the ICC Energy Conservation Code and making some more restrictive amendments it. At that point, it was said that a building that met the 2012 Illinois Energy Conservation Code was equal to the base level of LEED certification. In response to these codes, the USGBC raised the requirement on the number of points to qualify for each level of certification. In essence, the old Gold certification became the new Silver, the old Platinum certification became the new Gold, and a new higher level of points was created to take over as Platinum. In the meantime, the ICC codes and State of Illinois have increased their standards yet again in the form of the 2015 Illinois Energy Conservation Code. The changes have been significant and now it is said that a building that meets the requirements of the State code are at a LEED Silver level of certification. Additionally, the USGC has added an annual inspection process to newly certified buildings so they can make sure the energy conservation efforts that were designed and certified are still in place and in good working order. This item will be mentioned again in the section on the LEED process's impact on municipal buildings. Page 3 To further confuse the situation, there is an alternate code named ASHRAE 90.1-2016 that will be effective in the State of Illinois for all permits approved after March 1, 2019 that goes even farther beyond both the USGBC and current Illinois Energy Conservation Code. Statistics provided by the State's training program on energy efficiency, the ASHRAE 90.1-2016 will be 9.8% more efficient than a base LEED certified building. In the end what all of this code information documents is that the original idea of the USGBC and the LEED certification program to incentivize the construction of energy conserving buildings, and the use of responsible design and construction methods, has now become the standard in the State of Illinois codes. While these code enhancements have impacted the cost of construction, the amount of documentation, computer modeling, and oversight required by the LEED program continue to cost more than a non-LEED certified building. In this State, the USGBC and the LEED program have become obsolete. Impact on Municipal Buildings As the Village has previously participated in the LEED certification program in the form of a LEED Gold Fire Station 14, staff has reviewed this process and its impact on the building and operations to this point in the building's life. This project was a good example of some building systems that were installed that may not have been in the best interest of the Village or its staff, but were installed because a certain number of points were required to get to a level high enough to achieve a Gold Certification. A few examples of these are as follows. A grey water collection system was installed to collect, process, and filter water used within the building (not including toilet water) and stored for reuse as water to wash the fire apparatus. This is a costly system with great intentions. Grey water collection systems are most commonly used for lawn irrigation throughout regions where water shortages make it difficult to keep a lawn. The real impact on the staff and the building was that the reclaimed water smelled significantly and was making the staff sick to their stomachs when being used. This system has since been decommissioned and regular tap water is used to wash the apparatus. Occupancy sensors on the lighting system are a standard in any code now, but the LEED program required them in the sleeping areas. Again, while this is a great idea for a single occupancy room, the impact to the Village staff was great in the fact that when one person had to get up in the middle of the night, all of the lights in all of the bunks turned on because the bunk walls don't go all the way to the ceiling. This system has since been decommissioned in the bunk rooms and the lights are controlled by switches only. In addition to occupancy sensors, more LEED points can be gained for higher end lighting controls and dimming fixtures. Computerized lighting controls have a long history of failures and user difficulty in operation. Generally these types of lighting controls are located in conference rooms and training rooms where multiple lighting level may be warranted. A similar adjustable lighting system can be achieved with a series of standard dimming switches, but are not worth as many points. These systems have been modified in Station 14 for reliability purposes. Water saving faucets are a staple of all codes today. Automatic faucets are not required by code, but the LEED program gives points for their use. While this is a great idea for public restrooms and toilet facilities, a locker room for firemen should not apply. Shaving and brushing one's teeth can be difficult tasks when the water continually shuts off and is controlled by a sensor. These faucets were installed Page 4 because they were worth more points on the LEED scale. These faucets have since been replaced with standard water conserving manual faucets. These 4 examples apply to Mount Prospect's Station 14. Staff's previous experience in a LEED Gold building for the Bensenville Police provided for similar results. The lobby of the building was required to have an occupancy sensor under the LEED program, which in theory makes sense. If no one is in the lobby, then the lights should be off. The real impact to the building was that at night the building looks closed because the lobby may be empty and the lights are off, making it uninviting to residents that may need help. Numerous times the Village would get complaints that the Police Station was closed at night, when in fact it was open. The sensor has since been removed. The training room lighting in the community room in Bensenville continues to be a mystery to staff as to how it works. Buttons need to be pushed and held for a certain timeframe to make the lights come on, or dim, or shut off. It is common to see the lights go on, then off, then on again in an effort to get the right level of lighting. In this case the lighting system was so expensive it will not be removed until it breaks. The staff just tolerates it. With the new LEED annual recertification process, the removal of these items from the building would result in the decertification of the project. So all the extra cost and effort that has been put into those buildings would be wasted and the plaque on the wall would have to be removed. Conclusion Taking all of this information into account, including the additional costs of the program to architectural and construction management fees, the overall construction cost increases, the new energy code impacts to the efficiency of all buildings, and the impact on the usability of municipal facilities, it is staff's recommendation to not pursue a LEED certification for either the Police or Fire headquarters. We have also talked extensively with the architects for both projects and both groups agreed that the new energy and building codes have largely made the LEED certification process obsolete. While it is a nice feather in the cap of the owner to be able to have a glass plaque on the wall of a new building, it doesn't mean anything anymore as the code requirements have largely surpassed the LEED standards.