Over the past few months, there have been an increasing number of LEED certified projects in the Los Angeles area. Among these projects, Symantec Culver City and the Valley Bomb Squad Facility have been two of the highlights from Southern California based sustainability consultants CTG Energetics, Inc.
Symantec Culver City
The Symantec Culver City office complex is a new construction project comprising 497,000 square feet of office space and a 6 level parking structure. Sustainability has been a key concept throughout the design and construction of the building, and the project has achieved a LEED-NC v2.1 Gold rating.
The building has been designed to provide a healthy working environment for occupants with low emitting interior finishes, CO2 sensing and control technology, and an advanced under floor ventilation system delivering optimal thermal comfort control for building occupants. In addition, an advanced window curtain wall system has been installed to maximize occupant access to natural daylight and views.
Through the installation of low-flow water fixtures, the building has achieved a potable water savings of 40% compared to a baseline case using conventional fixtures. Further water savings are achieved through the use of a sophisticated pH control system installed at the cooling towers, which reduces the amount of potable blow-down water required to flush out the system. Additionally, the landscape design utilizes adaptive and native plantings that require minimal artificial irrigation, resulting in over a 60% water savings compared to a conventional landscape and irrigation design.
The energy efficiency measures incorporated into the building design include variable speed controls for electric chillers, cooling tower fans, VAV systems and CRAC unit fans. Additionally, an energy efficient underfloor air delivery system was installed, along with energy efficient lighting to reduce overall cooling demand. Using the LEED Energy Cost Budget Method, the project achieves a building performance of 28.7% beyond Title-24 2001.
Valley Bomb Squad Facility
The Valley Bomb Squad Facility is a 6,700 square foot building located outside of the City of Los Angeles in Granada Hills, CA. The building is owned by the City of LA and serves as a training and education center for LAPD bomb squad responders. The project has achieved a LEED-NC v2.1 Certified rating.
The building is intended to provide a healthy working environment for occupants with low emitting interior finishes, CO2 sensing and control technology, and prohibition of smoking in interior spaces. The building was constructed with materials with the highest possible recycled content sourced from nearby manufacturing and harvesting sites. Nearly 90% of the waste generated during construction was diverted from the landfill and recycled. The design also includes a vegetated bioswale to capture and filter stormwater runoff before it leaves the site.
