DPR Construction Has Been Named San Diego’s First & Only Net-Zero Energy & LEED Platinum Office

Nov. 2, 2011 - PRLog -- The dream of a net-zero energy, LEED certified workplace has become a reality for the employees of DPR Construction (DPR). The company-owned San Diego regional headquarters, a 24,000 square foot office located in University City, is the first and only commercial office in San Diego to achieve both net-zero energy status and LEED for New Construction (NC) Platinum certification.

“We wanted to set an example in our industry by changing the way commercial office buildings are designed and built with the goal of improving the world we live in,” said Jay Leopold, regional manager of DPR San Diego. “DPR reached high with our sights set on net-zero energy and LEED Platinum status, and as a company, we are proud to see these goals come to fruition.”  

The DPR office building is the first and only net-zero commercial office in San Diego over 20,000 square feet. To be eligible for a net-zero rating, a building must be capable of producing at least as much energy from renewable sources within a year to compensate for what it draws from the grid. Over the last year, DPR’s San Diego office generated nearly12,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) more than it consumed with the use of the roof-mounted 64 kW-AC photovoltaic system. The solar panels produce enough power to offset the office’s energy consumption annually.

DPR’s San Diego office is also the first and only commercial building to achieve LEED-NC Platinum in San Diego, the highest rating given by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED certification is based on a number of green design and construction features that positively impact the project and the community. LEED standards cover new commercial construction and major renovation projects, interiors projects and existing building operations.

“We set out to transform a typical San Diego suburban office building into a cutting-edge facility that respects the environment, our employees, our customers, and our culture. All of us feel we’ve hit a home run,” continued Leopold.

Facts Behind DPR’s Cutting-Edge Facility

It was important to the company to incorporate natural light and ventilation into the building’s design. Bringing light into the building was achieved from several modifications to the structure, including stripping the film off existing curtain wall, installing 36 Solatubes or high-performance daylighting systems, as well as four roof monitors or large vertical operable skylights, and glass roll up doors around the perimeter of the space. With these additions and new energy efficient lighting fixtures and controls, it has reduced the building’s energy consumption by over 50 percent. Daylight and outdoor views can be enjoyed from every work station as well.

The open platform building management system automatically opens the windows to bring natural ventilation into the structure. When the outside and inside air temperatures meet the set criteria, the system opens the windows and the roof monitors to naturally cross-ventilate and cool the open office area. As windows open, the HVAC system is shut down to conserve energy. This ventilation strategy reduces the number of operating hours of the HVAC system by 79 percent compared to a sealed building.

Other sustainable features include new preferred parking for fuel efficient vehicles, replacing the roof with an Energy Star product, diverting over 80 percent of construction waste from disposal in landfills, installing low flow plumbing fixtures to decrease water usage by more than half, modifying the existing irrigation to reduce landscape water usage by 60 percent, and placing hand dryers in the bathrooms to decrease energy and waste.

DPR also salvaged and reused many materials from its previous office and the existing building, such as 40 work stations and casework. Salvaged wood stripped from pallets from jobsites was used throughout the space for wood trim.  More than 80 percent of the new wood was managed using the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) principles and high recycled content materials were selected including metal studs, ceiling tile, drywall, and steel plate.  The highly recycled content carpet tiles were adhered using adhesive that do not contain volatile organic compounds (VOC), which are harmful to the Earth’s atmosphere. Other no or low-emitting VOC materials that were used included paints, coatings, composite woods, sealants, adhesives and caulking.

The DPR employees are kept apprised of the office’s energy and water consumption through a real-time Building Dashboard that picks up data from the building’s twelve electrical submeters, photovoltaic system, natural gas meter, and the indoor water meter.  

The DPR office contains eleven conference rooms including the circular Delta room and a large training area, a sixteen person video conference room, and a space dedicated to building information modeling technology (BIM). In addition, the open office features over 14-feet high exposed ceilings complete with material that hangs from the ceiling to defuse light, which are artistically designed to resemble the sails of boats.

At the heart of the office sits the 14-foot wine bar, thoughtfully placed with the purpose of bringing staff members and outside guests together. The lobby area features four custom surfboards, each representing one of DPR’s four core values: integrity, enjoyment, uniqueness and ever forward.

The DPR Construction project team was comprised of Elizabeth Barrie, Jeff Cole, Jerry McElfresh and Mark Seidl. In addition, Jonathan Wood of Seattle-based Callison served as the architect of the project. Other consultants and designers included KEMA for bio-climatic design; Hope Engineering for structural engineering; Latitude 33 Planning and Engineering for civil engineering; Howard Associates for landscape architecture; Bergelectric Corporation for electrical services; and Pacific Rim Mechanical for plumbing and mechanical services.  

About DPR Construction

DPR Construction, recently named by FORTUNE as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” is a forward-thinking national general contractor and construction manager specializing in technically complex and sustainable projects. A privately held, employee-owned company, DPR has grown to more than $1 billion in annual revenue, making it one of the largest general contractors in the nation. Locally, DPR is a perennial Top 5 general contractor with annual revenue averaging well over $200 million. DPR’s San Diego office is located at 5010 Shoreham Place. For more information about DPR, visit www.dpr.com.