10/15/2019 Mike Koon, Grainger College of Engineering
Written by Mike Koon, Grainger College of Engineering
The $55 million transformation of Everitt Laboratory, the new home to Bioengineering which reopened in 2018, has earned the facility a LEED® gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) rating system is the foremost program for buildings, homes and communities that are designed, constructed, maintained and operated for improved environmental and human health performance.
In the renovated Everitt Lab, the Department of Bioengineering is training the next generation of health care innovators and leaders while conducting research that helps improve the human condition. Everitt provides students and faculty with state-of-the-art instructional and research facilities where they can learn, create and innovate. The Grainger Foundation provided a lead $20 million gift through its Grainger Engineering Breakthroughs Initiative to launch the renovation. In addition, Jump Trading provided a $10 million gift to establish the Jump Simulation Center in Everitt Lab as part of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. The Sim Center trains medical students in various settings, including an operating room, ICU, and hospital or clinic patient room.
“I appreciate the foresight of campus planners and engineers who recognized the opportunity to encourage integration of LEED® principles to the building renovation,” said Mark Anastasio, head of the Department of Bioengineering. “Not only will LEED® certification assist us in being good stewards of our current resources by the inherent lower operating costs of a LEED-certified building, but our students, faculty and staff will benefit greatly from a healthier working environment for years to come.”
Everitt Lab achieved LEED® certification for implementing practical and measurable strategies and solutions aimed at achieving high performance in sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.
“Transforming an existing building, originally built in 1949, into an exceptional modern LEED® Gold facility is a real accomplishment,” said Mohamed Attalla, executive director of Facilities & Services (F&S) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “F&S is proud to add Everitt Lab as the 20th project on campus to receive LEED® certification.”
Some of the highlights of the renovations that helped earn the project the distinction were optimizing energy performance savings of 28 percent and contracting Green Power to procure 70 percent of the electricity. In addition, more than 92 percent of the on-site generated construction waste was saved from the landfill, and the project encompassed water-efficient landscaping, which included the installation of a rain garden.
LEED® efforts are one part of the overall campus sustainability strategy called the Illinois Climate Action Plan.
“Everitt Laboratory’s LEED® certification demonstrates tremendous green building leadership,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO of the Green Building Council. “LEED® was created to make the world a better place and revolutionize the built environment by providing everyone with healthy, green and high-performing buildings. Everitt serves as a prime example of how the work of innovative building projects can use local solutions to make a global impact on the environment.”