The University of Florida is adding its 75th LEED-certified campus building, strengthening its push toward a greener campus.
UF is building to LEED standards an addition for the Career Resource Center and Weil Hall. LEED is short for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,” according to the LEED website. It does not take largest green building rating system worldwide. The certification provides a framework to build environmentally-friendly design and has for any building, whether residential or commercial.
Dustin Stephany, the sustainable building coordinator at UF, said that the university has worked on certified LEED projects for the last Fifteen years, having a total of 73 buildings on campus having these requirements. UF has got the third-most certifications for your university.
“A LEED reviewer will essentially obtain a range of construction and designs documents wherein he/she verifies than a selection of sustainability requirements have already been met. Each credit comes with an associated point value into it plus the more number of sustainability requirements which can be met, the better the range of points an assignment receives, placing the project at the LEED level rating (certified, silver, gold, or platinum),” Stephany said.
These buildings have certain design elements directly to them such as saving energy, using less water and waste and being more affordable, in line with the website.
“It’s essentially the most widely used green building system on the planet. The Heavener Football Complex is usually a platinum LEED facility…the initial athletic facility in the state as a platinum building,” said Allison Vitt, outreach and communications coordinator for UF’s Office of Sustainability.
The LEED program at UF was voted top in the united states this season, in line with the Office of Sustainability. The UF campus has three platinum, 27 gold, 12 silver, 14 certified and 18 registered LEED buildings, at the time of April 2014, totaling 74 LEED buildings on campus.
“UF has necessary that any new building built on campus need to be developed to LEED standards that produces the campus better for future generations,” said UF interior design student Pari Kemp. “This can be a technique to ensure that buildings will work a bit longer of their time.”
Ally Kayy, an inside design student at UF, said that its impressive that UF is working towards more sustainable designs money. Kayy can also be a sustainability studies minor and features passed the LEED certification exam.
“It’s interesting that a place like Gainesville is definitely the largest density of LEED buildings round the area,” Kayy said. “We structures in Gainesville that promoted sustainable acts of construction. The Reitz Union was the largest university renovation within Florida.”
Jade White, an indoor design student that has a sustainability studies minor at UF, revealed that there needs to be more LEED education for the school and community.
“Having LEED buildings on campus is practical but there needs to be a consistency on keeping the buildings up. With LEED, there are a variety of evaluations and keep the certification, so so the buildings have methods in position could be ideal,” White said. “It truly is interesting overall for the people to know the systems built in to a LEED building.”
UF has multiple projects prearranged in the future, and improving and remodeling buildings already on campus. There are 12 projects inside works.
“UF continue to find ways to design and construct resource-efficient buildings, which but not only reduces our operating costs, and allows us to in reducing our overall carbon impact to be a university,” Stephany said. “Further, we’re looking at strategies to review and certify our existing building stock to make certain that, as a whole, our campus can be as efficient and healthy as is feasible.”
