Connecticut College's New London Hall Sciences Building Certified LEED Gold by the USGBC

Online, May 3, 2013 (Newswire.com) - KBE Building Corporation (KBE) (www.kbebuilding.com) and Payette Architects have achieved LEED Gold certification for Connecticut College's new Science Center at New London Hall.

The $15.3 million, four-story project consisted of a 26,000 square-foot renovation and 14,000 square-foot addition. The building, which recently won The People's Choice Award and an Award of Merit from the Connecticut's Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. (CT-ABC), combines spaces for teaching, research, and administration. It provides students with classrooms, seminar rooms, and laboratories for botany, biology, and computer science classes.

Among the many sustainable design features at the New London Hall science facility

- a modernized greenhouse with precision climate controls;
- the geothermal system reaching 500 feet beneath the surface of Tempel Green - the college's most iconic space - to provide 100% of the building's heating and cooling, the first building on campus to be fully heated and cooled through a sustainable energy source;
- reinstallation of the wooden trim from the doors of the original building;
- energy- and water-saving features, including high-efficiency frame hoods, lighting, heating, cooling, and plumbing fixtures; and
- the repurposing of wood from a nearly 90-year-old black oak tree near New London Hall, which was removed for safety concerns posed by its declining health.

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2000, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, provides verification that a building was designed and built using aspects of efficient environmental health conservation strategies. The certification is divided into four categories: LEED, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Each category recognizes a building's performance in specific areas, including: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

KBE has completed, or is in the process of completing 16 LEED-Certified projects. KBE's most recently completed the LEED Gold certified Patapsco Hall student residences at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

Connecticut College Science Center. Photo courtesy of www.paulburkphotography.com.