The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded the Wolf Law Building on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus a gold rating, one of the nation's highest for green building design.
The recently completed 180,000-square-foot building earned the gold rating under the Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, or LEED.
David Getches, dean of the University of Colorado Law School, said it was the first publicly supported law school in the nation to "get gold."
"From planning and design, to construction management, to developing and pursuing the application, this project was done right," said Getches. "We had an extraordinary team of experts, great support from the campus and the commitment to go for the gold and believe in what it represents."
"The LEED Gold certification for the University of Colorado Law School represents a strong statement of the university's values and is a symbol of our national leadership in environmental sustainability," said Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson. "We are committed to making the LEED Gold certification a consistent goal for our future buildings, just as we have made sustainability a guiding value in all that we do at the University of Colorado at Boulder."
The LEED program is considered the U.S. benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. To achieve a gold rating, a building must meet high standards, including sustainable site development; water-saving features; high levels of energy efficiency; use of green construction materials; extensive recycling of construction waste; and high indoor environmental quality.
"The state of Colorado has eight buildings that have achieved the elite LEED Gold certification, and two of them are on the CU-Boulder campus," said Tom Plant, director of Colorado's Office of Energy Management and Conservation. "This environmental leadership should be the benchmark for smart building practices and smart government."
Last December, the Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society, or ATLAS, building achieved the campus's first gold rating. Earlier in 2006, the University Memorial Center received a silver certificate following renovation.
And another CU-Boulder building also has a chance to garner a gold rating. The Leeds School of Business expansion and renovation project, due to be completed in August, has applied for gold certification.
"The designation of the law school as a LEED Gold award winner is the end result of careful planning and deliberate choices," said Mo Tabrizi, CU-Boulder's interim director of planning, design and construction. "Both of these buildings are 20 percent to 30 percent more energy and water efficient than other recently constructed buildings on campus."
The Wolf Law Building features high-efficiency lighting, CO2 monitoring, low-flow water fixtures, waterless urinals, a high-efficiency cooling system and central steam heat. During construction, 91 percent of the materials from demolition and construction were recycled. The school also is powered by 100 percent renewable energy through wind energy credits.
Construction of the $46 million Wolf Law Building was financed through a combination of a new student capital construction fee, federal and state funding, and private donations.