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Two UCSB Buildings Receive LEED Certifications
UCSB’s Life Sciences and Engineering II buildings have been awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
LEED is the USGBC’s rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient and high-performing buildings.
A recent addition to the Engineering II building received LEED Gold certification in the new-construction category, while the Life Sciences building received a LEED Silver certification in the existing-buildings category.
“We are very proud that UC Santa Barbara continues to lead the way in sustainable design and environmental best practices,” Chancellor Henry Yang said. “The new LEED Gold certification for our Engineering II addition and LEED EB Silver certification for our Life Sciences building are a testament to our campus’ unwavering commitment to green buildings. I would like to thank all of our faculty, students and staff who have demonstrated such tremendous dedication and creativity in helping to make our campus a ‘living laboratory’ for the research, teaching and practice of environmental sustainability.”
Bruce Tiffney, dean of UCSB’s College of Creative Studies and co-chairman of the Chancellor’s Sustainability Committee, said the committee is “delighted” with the LEED certifications, adding that the recognition reflects the dedication and hard work of many UCSB staff members.
“These awards are a tangible monument to the selfless work of the many staff who have labored on behalf of our campus,” Tiffney said. “With continued effort, many more UCSB buildings will achieve similar certifications for both new and existing construction, underscoring UC Santa Barbara’s leadership in sustainable construction.”
Campus sustainability officials said that the Life Sciences building certification is a result of a collaboration between UCSB’s Physical Facilities division and the campus’ Laboratory Research and Technical Staff program. It is also because of the work of a handful of student volunteers, they said, and the commitment of faculty and staff from two academic departments based in the Life Sciences building: Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology; and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.
“Early collaboration between our design teams, contractors and on-campus engineers has been the key to building and running resource-efficient facilities,” said Jordan Sager, UCSB’s LEED program manager. “Achieving these two LEED green building certifications is a welcome acknowledgment of UCSB’s focus on bringing sustainability through each building’s life cycle — from design and construction, to operations and maintenance.”
Construction on the Life Sciences building was completed in 2003. It features 80,000 square feet, with 35,000 square feet of laboratory space. It has a 150-seat lecture hall, state-of-the-art biology research laboratories, a National Institutes of Health-funded Alzheimer’s research laboratory, and other faculty research labs.
Among the achievements noted during the LEED assessment of the Life Sciences building were water savings of 29 percent; waste minimization strategies, including copy paper reuse; and design for day lighting of lab and office spaces. Integration with UCSB’s chilled water loop put the Life Sciences building in the 90th percentile in energy efficiency among lab facilities in its climate zone.
Construction on the 20,000-square-foot Engineering II addition was completed earlier this year. The building includes classrooms, as well as the laboratory and administrative offices for the Solid State Lighting and Energy Center, led by professors Shuji Nakamura and Steven Den Baars.
Among the achievements noted during the LEED assessment of the Engineering II addition were water savings of 40 percent; more than 20 percent of building materials extracted and manufactured in and around the South Coast region; and recycling of 90 percent of construction waste from the project, diverting 150 tons of materials from landfills.
These are the seventh and eighth UCSB facilities to receive LEED certification.
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