How low can you go? Southland Industries, a design-build mechanical firm based in Garden Grove, Calif., has participated as a designer-builder on many complex LEED-oriented projects, but few compare to the job it worked on at a Los Angeles community college.
Southland Industries, a design-build mechanical firm based in Garden Grove, Calif., has participated as a designer-builder on many complex LEED-oriented projects, but few compare to the job it worked on at a Los Angeles community college.
Southland collaborated with the Los Angeles Community College District, architect GKK Works and electrical contractor Cupertino Electric to design and build a Near-Net Zero facility at Pierce College, located in Woodlands Hills, Calif. The Los Angeles CCD has nine colleges throughout Los Angeles - making it one of the largest community college districts in the nation. The district received a bond from the state of California several years ago and decided to retrofit all nine campuses with a focus on sustainability and green-building technologies.
The project originally included only the maintenance and operations facility. However, Southland devised a more energy-efficient solution using a central plant. The system is designed to provide 100% of the summer cooling and winter heating loads through the use of solar energy or utilizing the boilers when solar energy is not available.
While solar thermal has been used at other colleges, this system uniquely implements a single source of cooling for the building. Therefore, the solution addresses the ability to even the heating and cooling loads. The result is the state’s first Division of the State Architect-permitted Near-Net Zero facility using the design-build method.
The design-build method spurs innovation and collaboration among the design team to identify previously unrecognized synergies and solutions. This cooperative effort leads to an efficient construction project that saves the owner time and money.
“We used a particularly innovative approach for this project,” Southland Project Engineer Shane Stanfield says. “An actual renewable energy source was integrated into Pierce College’s HVAC system.”
The Near-Net Zero central plant at Pierce College is designed to service the maintenance and operations facility as well as a planned horticulture building. The 40,000-sq.-ft. maintenance and operations facility houses the electrical, plumbing and carpentry shops, a gardening area, offices and an administrative area.