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Green Building
WKYC story
Features | Contractors
The ranger/resource management building in Sand Run Metro Park is the greenest building in the state, according to the U.S. Green Building Council. The building received 55 points – out of 69 – and "Platinum" LEED certification in February 2009.
LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the benchmark for green buildings. Points are earned based on water and energy efficiency, materials, the building site, indoor environmental quality and innovation/design.
"We don't have the first 'Platinum' building in Ohio, but we have the greenest," said Dave Whited, the park district's chief of planning and development. "And we're the first to receive 'Platinum' in Northeast Ohio."
A structure near Cincinnati earned the state's first "Platinum" rating, with 53 points, in late 2008.
To earn "Platinum," Metro Parks took a 2,200-square-foot former private residence, expanded it by 1,700 square feet to make room for park rangers and biologists, and added numerous green features including geothermal heating, waterless toilets, solar panels, a rooftop rain garden, lumber from downed trees in the Metro Parks, and recycled carpet, furniture and cabinetry. Outside, the features include porous pavement, a rain garden, rain barrels and native landscaping.
The green features made up about 18 percent of the project's total cost, which also included site work, parking, walkways, drainage, utilities and landscaping.
The park district completed the building with help from Peninsula Architects and Akron construction company Thomarios, the general contractor.
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