Glen Allen High School Receives LEED Gold Certification

Glen Allen High School recently received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council for its sustainable design and construction methods. KBS worked in conjunction with Moseley Architects, the project designer, to implement 45 points toward the school’s certification.

The Glen Allen High School is a 256,000-square-foot educational facility is located on Staples Mill Road in Glen Allen. The building includes an auditorium, gymnasium, commons area, media center, specialty laboratory spaces, classrooms, administrative offices and a cafeteria. The athletic facilities consist of baseball, softball and field hockey fields, football and soccer stadium accommodating 3,500-people, six tennis courts and a gymnasium with three full basketball/volleyball courts.

Glen Allen High School’s sustainable design and construction efforts include:

• More than 60 percent of the site is preserved as open space for recreational and instructional purposes;
• Low-flow plumbing fixtures and a 50,000-gallon stormwater collection cistern reduces water usage;
• More than 90 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills by salvage or recycling;
• Building materials contain about 35 percent recycled content and 30 percent regionally extracted, processed, and manufactured materials;
• Indoor air quality was protected through the use of low-emitting materials such as paints, adhesives, carpet and composite wood.

In 2009, KBS completed the Walter L. Rice Education Building at the VCU Inger & Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences in Charles City, Va., the first LEED Platinum certified building in Virginia and awarded the Mid-Atlantic Construction magazine’s Best of 2009 award. The building serves as the focal point for administrative, educational and outreach activities conducted by faculty, students and staff of the Rice Center, VCU’s environmental field station.

LEED is the nationally-accepted benchmark for the design, construction, maintenance and operation of green buildings. LEED ratings are based on a point system that measures the impact on the environment and those who use the building.