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The EPA Research Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C. earned an environmental award from the General Services Administration. The awards ceremony will be held on April 22nd, Earth Day, at Rawlin Park in Washington, D.C.
Recognizing achievements for outstanding contributions to waste prevention and sustainable design, GSA’s Non-Hazardous Model Facility award distinguishes the EPA Campus Project as a model for recycling construction waste. The project features many unique environmental requirements including the use of high recycled content materials, low VOC finishes, sequencing the installation of finish materials to reduce indoor contaminants, and a ban on burning debris.
Designed by HOK of Washington, D.C. and The Roberts/Stacy Group of Raleigh, N.C., the 1 million-square-foot, $207 million complex incorporates four research buildings and a central office building connected by an atrium. Housed within the research buildings are laboratories specifically designed for EPA’s research programs, with flexibility to allow for changes and developments in environmental science.
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is seen throughout the complex and the campus. Motion-sensor light switches, daylight dimmers and other conservation-oriented switches will save an estimated $8 million per year. Largely maintenance-free landscaping of wildflowers will be planted, instead of the heavily fertilized and irrigated lawns that are so popular in the region. And, over 5,700 tons of debris, or 80 percent of construction waste, was recycled.
“We didn’t just build a building,” said Chris Long, EPA’s project manager for the complex. “We did something to educate people.”
In addition to Clark and the architects, the project team includes Weidlinger Associates of New York City, structural engineers and R.G. Vanderweil Engineers of Boston, mechanical/electrical engineers. The EPA Research Center will be completed this summer.
Clark Construction Group, LLC is headquartered in Bethesda, Md.
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