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New hall earns national sustainability award
This July, Sitter Family Hall received LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The building, completed in Spring 2017 to house the Geosciences and Physics & Engineering Departments, received the nationally-recognized certification for implementing strategies and solutions for environmental and human health performance.
“The work of innovative building projects such as Sitter Family Hall is a fundamental driving force in transforming the way buildings are built, designed, and operated,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO of USGBC. “Achieving LEED Gold certification is more than implementing sustainable practices. It represents a commitment to making the world a better place and influencing others to do better.”
Sitter Family Hall was more than a decade in the making, involving a creative alliance of faculty, administration, and state representatives, along with the support of friends, alumni, community and corporate donors, and the Jaynes Corporation, which built the Hall.
It was worth the wait: In Spring 2017, students and faculty moved into the College’s newest and grandest facility, filling the corridors, research labs, study nooks, and classrooms, and breathing life into a structure unlike any other at FLC.
The prestigious LEED Gold certification recognizes Sitter Family Hall’s efficiency, sustainability, and environmental impact through both the design and construction process and its daily operations. It acknowledges the Hall’s water efficiency, its indoor environmental quality, its use of materials and resources, its energy performance and use of green power, and its innovation in design.
“The LEED Gold certification demonstrates the College’s commitment to sustainability initiatives,” said Mark Gutt, manager of Planning, Design, and Construction for FLC. “This building has a whole range of sustainable features. It conveys our dedication to the general public and prospective students in a measurable, documented way.”
Sitter Family Hall is the fourth facility to earn LEED Gold certification at FLC, continuing the tradition started by the Student Union addition (2011), the Biology Wing of Berndt Hall (2011), and the Animas Hall residence building (2010).