Dell Children’s Become World’s First LEED Platinum Hospital With Assist From Siemens
Buffalo Grove, IL, Wednesday, November 11, 2009
APOGEE® building automation assures energy optimization, air quality points
Unique among its peers, Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas is the first healthcare facility in the world to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Platinum Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). In close collaboration with healthcare provider Seton Family of Hospitals, the Building Technologies Division of Siemens Industry, Inc. provided its APOGEE® Building Automation System (BAS) technology and the implementation and project management skills necessary to achieve many of the points needed to win the unprecedented LEED Platinum Certification.
LEED certification standards are difficult to meet for any building, but are especially tough for hospitals. Because they operate around the clock, hospitals are tremendous energy users—according to Seton, hospitals comprise some 4% of the world’s building stock, but consume 8% of the energy. Many LEED certified buildings—typically commercial office structures—are designed for specific occupancy hours and will not face fines or other regulatory sanctions if indoor air quality slips below specified levels.
Stringent regulatory codes, 24/7 occupancy and patient care requirements make the achievement all the more significant, according to Phil Risner, PE, LEED AP project manager and building systems network engineer for Seton. “We had a vision for LEED Platinum from the outset of this project, as we sought to create the optimum environment for our patients as well as our employees. There was no doubt in our minds,” Risner explained, “that being green had real, positive effects on both the environment and our healthcare delivery capability.”
Alan Bell, AIA and Seton’s LEED AP director of Design & Construction, offered this about Dell Children’s pursuit of Platinum: “To achieve this goal, we were rated in the six key LEED categories: Sustainable Site development, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Air Quality, and Innovation & Design.” Of the 69 total possible points obtainable, Seton and its team of A/Es, General and MEP contractors plus Siemens, collaborated to earn a total of 54 points, enough to win the prestigious LEED Platinum Certification for New Construction.
Building Automation and LEED
Of critical importance to Dell Children’s achieving the LEED designation was attaining the points associated with Energy & Atmosphere and Indoor Environmental Quality. Central to this aspect of the project was the engineering, integration and implementation of the building automation system (BAS). Not only was the overall BAS implementation pivotal in achieving two of three LEED prerequisites in the Energy & Atmosphere category (Fundamental Building Systems Commissioning and Minimum Energy Performance), the control technology and its proper integration were also an essential part of achieving many of the remaining points available. Of the 17 total points in this category, Seton was able to generate 14, 10 of which have to do with optimized energy performance.
Building automation and control are essential contributors to another key LEED category, Indoor Air Quality. For Dell Children’s the BAS was elemental in Seton’s achieving one of the two prerequisites (Minimum IAQ Performance) as well as the acquisition of 4 of 11 total points—enough points in this category to anchor this portion for Platinum certification.
Located in Austin, Texas, Dell Children’s Medical Center, at 503,000 square feet, the 169-bed facility is the largest hospital dedicated to the care of children in the region. The 32-acre campus opened in July 2007 and is part of the Seton Family of Hospitals, the largest provider of healthcare in the region.