Building a new tradition

All new publicly funded building projects must meet high standards of environmental sustainability after Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a landmark bill into law on Friday.

Under the law — the first of its kind in the country — all public agency buildings bigger than 5,000 square feet would be required to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Gregoire said in a news release that the new standards not only will help protect the environment, but also will produce energy savings.

A state-funded program at the Community Colleges of Spokane began in the fall to help Spokane’s building industry prepare for the new requirements. Since the program began, more than 233 construction professionals and skilled-trades workers have participated in hundreds of hours of training on environmentally friendly building practices.

“This is a movement that’s been growing over the past 10 years nationally. Spokane is finally starting to step up to the plate,” said Tom Angell, a Spokane architect assisting the college program. “It’s a big change in the way we do things. It’s an education process.”

The standards include everything from using energy-efficient appliances to illuminating buildings by natural light to using building materials that don’t produce toxic gases. They include using drought-hardy plants, capturing and re-using rainwater, and minimizing the distance that building materials are transported.

Learning how to build to these standards will be crucial for any company that bids on public projects. About $500 million worth of publicly funded projects are coming up in Eastern Washington, according to the Community Colleges of Spokane. That includes new schools, new college buildings and a new penitentiary in Walla Walla.

“We are very pleased to see that it passed,” said Kevin Twohig, executive director of the Spokane Public Facilities District, which is building the Spokane Convention Center expansion according to sustainable building principles. The project’s Seattle architects encouraged the PFD to follow the standards months ago, Twohig said, and the new law confirms that it was a good idea.

However, Rep. Lynn Schindler, R-Spokane Valley, said she opposed the bill because there haven’t been enough studies done to show green building designs save money in the long term. She said the state shouldn’t force the construction industry to do something it is already starting to do on its own. And, she said, this law will cause school district construction levies to be higher.

“It’s quite a bit of money up front,” Schindler said.

However, governor’s news release cites state Board of Education and Superintendent of Public Instruction figures showing that sustainable building designs result in 20 percent annual savings in energy costs, 20 percent reduction in water costs and 22 percent less construction waste.

The bill signing was held at Washington Middle School in Olympia, which the governor’s news release said would save $25,000 over 30 years by using natural lighting and lighting controls in its new design.

Spokane Public Schools is embarking on $170 million worth of building projects including three new elementary schools. All the projects will incorporate green building designs, including making use of natural lighting. Studies show students perform better on standardized tests in naturally lit buildings, district officials have said.