King County, Wash., Presents Greening in Place Awards

Environmentally sustainable building design and construction in King County, Wash., took center stage recently when King County Executive Ron Sims announced the 2008 Greening in Place awards.

The annual awards honor the planning and design teams of public facilities that reflect environmental sustainability. This year, eight design and construction projects were honored with awards for what Sims called “exceptional leadership in sustainable design and construction.”

“Green building planning, design and construction helps achieve so many goals that are important to the future of King County,” Sims said. “By building green, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce energy use, create healthier workplaces for employees and reduce operating costs for heating and cooling, lighting, water use and more.”

The 2008 Greening in Place award winners are:

• Sammamish Commons Project. This project earned recognition for its design, which preserves open space while providing active and passive recreation areas for the community. Pervious paving was used in much of the site to limit storm water runoff.
• Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center. Low-impact development (LID) techniques used to protect water quality included a constructed wetland, bioswales off the parking area and pin foundations that minimize site disturbance and disruption of site hydrology.
• Jim Wiley Community Center.This renovation project saved an immense amount of energy and construction material by "recycling" the building rather than demolishing it and starting again with a new structure.
• Metro Atlantic/Central Base Expansion. The demolition project maximized material reuse and recycling, with more than 90 percent of the 30,000-plus tons either salvaged for reuse or recycling.
• Chinook Building. The county's newest office building targets LEED Gold for core and shell work and Platinum for commercial interiors work.
• Power Distribution Headquarters. Power Distribution Headquarters was the first building that Transit designed with LEED certification goal, with the project achieved in 2007.
• King County Road Services Division-Southeast 304th Street at 124th Avenue Southeast Intersection Improvement Project. LID storm water management techniques included using porous concrete cement for new sidewalks at the intersection and native, drought-resistant shrubs and trees in the roundabout's center.
• Transit Custodial Green Cleaning & Conservation Program. The Transit Custodial Maintenance work group's green cleaning program received an award for implementing a sustainable program that meets U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards and guidelines as well as those recognized by the governor's committee on green cleaning from the Washington State Cleaning Industry Professional Association.

Source: King County Natural Resources & Parks