Inside Iowa State

April 18, 2008

Morrill Hall in the spring of 2007 following its renovation. Submitted photo.

Certifiably green

by Anne Krapfl

A $10 million renovation of the 115-year-old Morrill Hall has landed Iowa State its first "green building" recognition.

Morrill Hall received a silver rating in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) program certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED® is a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance sustainable buildings.

The LEED® silver rating is third highest among four ratings, and is based on points awarded in five areas:

• Site development
• Water savings
• Energy efficiency
• Materials and resources selection
• Indoor environmental quality

Morrill Hall is the first building at an Iowa regent institution to achieve LEED® certification and just the seventh building in the state with the designation. It is one of just a handful of LEED®-certified buildings in the country that also are on the National Register of Historic Places.

"This is an important first step for us," said project manager Kerry Dixon-Fox of facilities planning and management. "We have been judged against a set of national standards on sustainability, and this certification says the building is doing what it was intended to do."

Dixon-Fox estimated that four years ago, when plans to restore Morrill were under way, sustainable measures added 5 to 10 percent to construction costs. A move toward sustainability in the industry probably would add less than 2 percent to the project today, she said.

Some of the achievements that earned Morrill Hall its rating include:

• 88 percent of the building's structure and shell were kept and rehabilitated
• Energy-efficiency measures will result in a 35 percent savings over standard energy codes
• 27 percent of construction materials (by cost) were manufactured within 500 miles of Ames; of these, 64 percent also were locally harvested or mined
• 18 percent of the new construction materials contained recycled materials (including drywall and ceiling and roof tiles)
• More than 80 percent of the interior workspaces receive acceptable levels of daylight
• Native plants were used in the landscaping, so no permanent irrigation system is needed
• The heating and cooling system contains no chlorofluorocarbon-based refrigerants (which deplete the ozone)
• Custodial staff use "green" house-keeping products and methods

Dixon-Fox said that LEED® silver certification (or better) will be the standard for new construction projects on campus.

Other university projects for which Iowa State will seek LEED® certification are the College of Design addition, Hach Hall (new chemistry facility) and the Biorenewables Research Laboratory (phase I of the biorenewables complex).

Morrill Hall is the first building at an Iowa regent institution to achieve LEED® certification and just the seventh building in the state with the designation. It is one of just a handful of LEED®-certified buildings in the country that also are on the National Register of Historic Places.