City of Calgary: Water Centre Project

Changing minds, changing┬áplaces┬áWhen the designs for the Water Centre project were first released, the reaction was not all favorable. But the City of Calgary has come to recognize the project for the cutting-edge sustainable design solution that it represents, as Keith Regan learns.  When the idea first surfaced to consolidate workers in the City of CalgaryÔÇÖs water divisions and create space for future growth, the assumption was that a traditional office building would be constructed to create the necessary space.   What rose instead is the Water Centre, a green building that has prompted the cityÔÇÖs leaders as well as its design, engineering and building industries to rethink what a building should look like and what it can be capable of doing for energy costs and the environment. The four-story, 183,000-square-foot Water Centre is anything but traditional. Designed with sustainability in mind from the outset by a partnership between Edmonton-based Manasc Isaac Architect and Sturgess Architecture of Calgary, the building is a striking glass-dominated addition to the downtown streetscape, with an arching canopy protecting the south-facing side against overheating from the summer sun. ÔÇ£The initial reaction was pretty strong,ÔÇØ recalls Russ Golightly, a project manager for the city who oversaw the Water CentreÔÇÖs design and construction. ÔÇ£We had to do some public education to help people change their thinking about what a building is supposed to look like.ÔÇØThe building had a compelling story to tell about why it was not only different but also better than a regular square office building, Golightly says. Designed from the beginning to exceed the cityÔÇÖs Sustainable Building Policy requirement, enacted in 2003, that all buildings achieve Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) Silver-level certification, the $43 million structure is expected to pay for itself in as little as 15 years from energy and other savings. The building gets 95 percent of its daytime lighting from outside, uses nearly 60 percent less water and 60 percent less energy than a traditional building of its size, and produces 72 percent less wastewater. City officials skeptical at first about the design were quickly brought around. ÔÇ£We told them they were getting not only everything they wanted but also all these other benefits they didnÔÇÖt even know they could ask for,ÔÇØ Golightly adds. The big-picture idea behind the Water Centre was to enable the city to shed some of the multiple locations it was leasing in the city to house its various municipal departments. Originally, a plan was floated to construct an office building to handle some of the overflow, but it was soon apparent that if done right, the project could cost-effectively consolidate both water departments, and by pushing the envelope in terms of incorporating sustainable principles, it could also pay for itself in a relatively short time period. The building was even positioned to maximize energy savings and uses rising air and convection to heat and ventilate the building. Most of the windows in the structure openÔÇöa novelty in many modern office buildings. Storm water that hits the roof of the building is diverted into a constructed wetland that cleans the water before it enters a storage cistern, where it is kept until it is used to irrigate the landscaping around the building. An integrated art piece helps highlight the water system and underscore that the structure is now home to the cityÔÇÖs two water-focused departments. The project also saw more than 90 percent of its construction waste recycled or diverted from landfills, Golightly adds. The city has applied to the Canada Green Building Council for Platinum designation under LEEDÔÇöthe highest levelÔÇöand Golightly is confident it will at least achieve a Gold-level rating. If it does, it will be the first City building to obtain that level of achievement. The city sent several workers through the LEED-accredited professional training process to help with the building, experience that is being translated to all new projects now under way. The building was designed starting in 2003, and constructionÔÇöunder the guidance of general contractor Dominion ConstructionÔÇöwas in full swing in 2005, when ChinaÔÇÖs building boom and the early stages of an energy-prices-driven boom in Alberta helped push up costs of steel and concrete, the two main components of the buildingÔÇÖs structural skeleton. ÔÇ£We were looking at 25 percent escalation rates, and there was a need to do some cost-cutting measures, but through it all we always kept those elements in place that would give us the long-term savings.ÔÇØ Helping to keep costs in check was the use of the SMART project management process developed by civil engineering faculty at the nearby University of Calgary to feed savings back into the design process. The cityÔÇÖs project management team worked hand-in-hand with the contractor and architect throughout the construction to find ways to value-engineer savings to offset the rising prices. Because sustainability had been ingrained in the design from the outset, the costs were not appreciably higher than a traditional version of the building. In fact, the city completed the construction for under $200 per square foot at a time when prices for comparable projects soared past $350 per square foot.The project has become a touchstone for the city, a sustainability success story that is encouraging the city to find similar energy and environmental savings elsewhere, and it is inspiring the design, architecture and construction sectors to follow suit. The feedback from employees who work in the building has been positive, and the city is currently in the process of gathering data on the operational savings the building is generating. ÔÇ£The building itself has had some very positive impacts on the industry, whether itÔÇÖs with architecture, architecture students, all the way to engineers, cost consultants, contractorsÔÇöa lot of people are hungry to know about the building,ÔÇØ Golightly says. ÔÇ£The good news is that all the major elements can be replicated for any new building. ItÔÇÖs not only a unique project; itÔÇÖs an example of whatÔÇÖs possible.ÔÇØ┬á