November 27, 2002—Third Creek Elementary School, designed by Moseley Architects / Moseley Wilkins & Wood, is the first K-12 school in the nation to be certified by the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System at the Gold level.
The LEED Green Building Rating System(TM) is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.
The school features a significant percentage of recycled materials, low- flow plumbing, a functioning wetland that also serves as a student learning lab, and many other features that make the school an example of the “sustainable building” movement.
Third Creek Elementary School scored a total of 39 points, in addition to meeting seven (7) prerequisites, in order to secure a LEED(TM) 2.0 Gold Certification. The points were awarded in the following categories: Sustainable Sites (9 points); Water Efficiency (4 points); Energy and Atmosphere (4 points); Materials and Resources (6 points); Indoor Environmental Quality (12 points); and Innovation and Design Process (4 points).
Fourteen other facilities have been certified under the LEED 2.0 standards. Currently there are 106 other educational facilities registered to go through the process once construction is complete.
Among the key features at the school are a constructed wetland that will not only slow and cleanse stormwater before it leaves the site but also serve as an outdoor classroom where students will study science, math, writing, and art. Learning Gardens are incorporated at each of the classroom wings where children will learn about nature through color, texture, and scent. An Integrated Pest Management program has been adopted at this school to ensure that the least toxic methods are used to control pests both on the site and within the school building.
Low flow plumbing fixtures, including waterless urinals, have been installed throughout the facility, and will reduce water consumption at Third Creek by more than 30 percent.
Computer models indicate that this building will exceed the requirements of ASHRAE 90.1-1999 by approximately 25 percent. Many of the materials used to construct this facility were selected because of their environmentally friendly characteristics: more than 50 percent of the dollars spent on building materials were used to purchase recycled content materials; all of the casework in the building is constructed out of strawboard, a rapidly renewable and formaldehyde free alternative to particleboard; and all of the doors in the building are constructed from wood certified according the Forest Stewardship Council’s guidelines for sustainably managed forests. Low VOC finishes, which protect the quality of indoor air, were also used throughout the facility.
More than 50 percent of construction waste was diverted from local landfills and sent, rather, to local recyclers. In addition, a Construction Indoor Air Quality Management Plan was also adopted on the construction site to ensure that the construction process did not compromise the future quality of indoor air in the occupied building. At the completion of construction, the air within the building was tested for several key criteria to confirm the success of the Construction Indoor Air Quality Management Plan.
