The two recently completed and LEED certified buildings have been designed by US-based design practice Moseley Architects and built by Nielsen Builders.
The Health and Human Services Building has received LEED Gold certification and has been built within an existing, single storey vacant supermarket building. The interior spaces were reconfigured and renovated to accommodate the county’s social services and health departments, as well as the Community Services Board.
The building won LEED points for reusing the walls, floor slab, and foundations of the existing building. Other work involved installation of new building systems and improvement to the building envelope, which brought about a reduction of almost 28% in the building’s energy consumption.
Old plumbing fixtures have been replaced with low-flow plumbing fixtures, resulting in water saving of 40% that amounts to approximately 80,000 gallons of water per year. Skylights and new windows have been added to the old building to bring in more natural light into the interior, thereby reducing the need for artificial lighting.
The all-new District Courts Building is a 30,000 square feet building, whose design is an amalgamation of both traditional and contemporary architecture. Built in close proximity to the county’s administration building, the building offers space for the county’s General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations (J&DR) courts; as well as houses the Commonwealth Attorney and the J&DR Court Services Unit.
The sustainable elements of the court building include geothermal ground-source heat pump system, which provides efficient heating and cooling system; and highly-reflective roofing materials, which aid in reducing heat island effects. In addition, the developer has also diverted 81% of construction waste from landfills.
