Johnson County
Sunset Drive
Office Building
Environmental Stewardship
for Public Buildings
Neal Angrisano, AIA
Deputy Director of Facilities Management
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Johnson County Facts
Part of the Kansas City Metro area
Rapidly growing (sprawling) suburban
community
Population of 520,000 growing by 10,000/yr
County government made up of 40 different
departments. Annual budget: $800 million
County owns and operates 2.2 million square
feet of facilities
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County Facilities Department
Facilities Department plans, designs,
constructs and operates County buildings
Planning and Design Group
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Staff of seven architects, three interior
designers and other professionals
Currently managing $120 mil in design or
construction with another $700 mil proposed
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Project Facts
High performance building
129,000 square feet
Procured with “Best-Value”
Design-Build
$30,050,000 total project
budget
17 acre site
High level of environmental
stewardship (LEED Gold)
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“We do not inherit the earth from
our ancestors; we borrow it from
our children.”
Buildings are responsible for
almost half of all energy
consumption and green-house
gas emissions annually
There are hundreds of coalfired power plants currently on
the drawing boards in the US.
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Seventy-six percent of the
energy produced by these
plants will go to operate
buildings.
But whatever your feelings
are about topics like the
environment and global
warming, there is one
overriding fact:
Environmentally responsible design and
construction practices save money, lots of
money….and in the public sector, this
means taxpayer’s money.
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Financial Impacts of Green Design
and Construction
Short-term
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Strategies that have beneficial results right
away and have quick return on investment
Mid-term
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Approaches that build or provide value over
time
Long-term
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Strategies that have significant impact when
considered over the life of a building.
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Financial Impacts of Green Design
and Construction
Short-term strategies include:
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Highly efficient heating and air conditioning
systems
Very efficient “building envelope”.
High efficiency lighting
Day-lighting
All of these things continue to provide
efficiencies into the mid and long-term also.
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Financial Impacts of Green Design
and Construction
Mid-term strategies include:
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High quality systems that reduce
maintenance costs and have long service
lives
Materials that are durable and easy to clean
and maintain
Other methodologies that reduce labor or staff
time to “live with”
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Financial Impacts of Green Design
and Construction
Long-term strategies include:
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Approaches to design that maximize the
efficiency and productivity of people
Good quality design and construction
practices that make a building last a long time
Flexibility and adaptability built into a
building’s design that permit it to adapt to
change over time easily and efficiently.
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Financial Impacts of Green Design
and Construction
Other issues that may not have financial
impact to the building owner but have a
“cost to society”:
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Rainwater runoff rates and quality
Light “trespass” and dark skies
The effects of not using renewable energy
Land-fill space depletion
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Sustainability Matrix
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Design-Build
Single source contract
Can be contractor, architect or developer
led
Single, integrated team for delivery of
project
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Johnson County
Rationale for Using Design-Build
Ability to factor in qualifications of builder
Best value rather than lowest bid
Speed of contracting and construction
Single point responsibility
Integrated team promotes innovation
Balanced, collaborative team
Competition drives innovation, quality &
values at all levels.
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Advantages of Design-Build for
Public Green Projects:
Integrated, collaborative team
Ability to evaluate the qualifications of all
team members right down to subconsultants, sub-contractors and suppliers
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Having a project superintendent, for example,
who understands how to build green is a big
deal.
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Advantages of Design-Build for
Public Green Projects:
All stakeholders are
“on board” with the
project goals
Ability to maximize
innovation
Financial issues are
well developed and
defined
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Disadvantages of Design-Build for
Public Green Projects:
In constructor-led D-B, design
professionals don’t always have their
accustomed control of the design process
Owner can be more removed from the
normal architect / client relationship
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Building Environmental Highlights
Water
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Bioswales to clean parking lot run-off
Rain catchment and Bio-filter in lobby cleans
rain water from roof
Grey water recycling for toilet flushing
Low-flow, hands free faucets and fixtures
No permanent irrigation
Native or adapted species for grass and plantings
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Waterless urinals
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Building Environmental Highlights
Energy
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Highly efficient mechanical systems
Floor plenum displacement ventilation
Sophisticated building automation system
Significant day lighting
High efficiency indirect computer controlled
lighting
Designed for 45% energy use reduction
below a code minimum building
Seeing more like a 57% reduction
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Building Environmental Highlights
Site
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Reduced site
disturbance
Existing tree and habitat
preservation
Site water feature is rain
fed
Full cut-off lighting
fixtures to minimize light
pollution
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Building Environmental Highlights
Materials
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Constriction waste management
Diverted 90% of construction waste
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Local/Regional materials
20% of building materials manufactured within 500 mile
radius of site
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Reclaimed cedar from demolished building
Recycled glass content terrazzo floor
High recycled-content steel structure, carpet fiber and
other materials
Corn based fabrics
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Building Environmental Highlights
Indoor Air Quality
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Use of low-emitting materials
Containment of source
pollutants
High amount of fresh air
intake
Individual employee HVAC
control
Other
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Green housekeeping
Building as teaching tool
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The Outcome
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Performance Monitoring and
Research
Detailed utility use monitoring and
comparison to other County buildings
Work Culture and Human Performance
Material Performance and Sustainability
Workspace Comfort and Configuration and
Building Energy Performance
Evaluation Methods and Dissemination
Systems
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Things Accomplished
Accomplished what we believe is an exemplary
process and project:
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2005 Achievement Award – “Making the Design-Build Process work for County Government”
National Association of Counties
2005 Public Technology Institute Award
2006 Excellence Award, Design-Build Institute of America
2006 Merit Award for Excellence in Architecture, Kansas Chapter of the AIA
2006 Excellence Award, Mid-America Chapter of the Design-Build Institute of America
2006 Award for Merit, Kansas City AIA Committee on the Environment
2007 KC Business Journal Capstone Award
2007 Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) Environmental Stewardship Award
2007 Achievement Award – “Setting a New Standard for Public Capital Investment”
National Association of Counties
2007 EPA Blue Skyways Partnership Award
2007 Bridging the Gap Environmental Excellence award for Business
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Things Accomplished
Assembled a team that was as committed
to excellence, quality and environmental
stewardship as we are.
Pushed innovation and value to new levels
Have made a statement for Public Capital
Development as it can and should be done
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Web Resources
facilities.jocogov.org
Questions
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Design-Build Constructor Led
Predesign/Design
Owner
Documentation
Bid/Construction
Architect
Consultants
Design-Builder
Subcontractors
Contractual
Relationship
Agency
Primary
Relationship Involvement
Secondary
Involvement
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Design-Bid-Build
Predesign/Design
Owner
Documentation
Bid/Construction
Architect
Consultants
General Contractor
Subcontractors
Contractual
Relationship
Agency
Primary
Relationship Involvement
Secondary
Involvement
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Procurement Concepts
Performance specification RFP process
chosen rather than bridging
Qualifications Based Selection
Best Value proposal evaluation
Stipends
Process was, in many respects, a design
competition, or really an “innovation
competition”.
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Other Procurement Goals
Balance throughout team:
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Role of all design components
Role of subcontractors
Universal understanding of
environmental stewardship
throughout team
Finding a Design-Build partner that shared
the County’s philosophical approach to
development and capital investment
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Lessons Learned
Design-Build has the potential for
outstanding Green results – if it is
approached properly.
Reduced chance of highly successful
project if we had relied on low bid.
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Lessons Learned
Organizations and constituencies can be
educated about the advantages of building
“Green”. The press can be educated also.
The general public is very interested in this
topic.
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Lessons Learned
Environmental stewardship is no longer a
special interest – it is mainstream.
It is appropriate and good for the public
sector to be leading this approach.
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Lessons Learned
Green design is just basically just good
design.
We achieved a high level of environmental
performance with mostly standard
approaches – just applied in sensitive and
creative ways.
As good as our building is, it is still just “less
bad”.
The next horizon – Carbon neutral and
environmentally restorative buildings.
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