Printer-friendly format

Green Suite Lobby

Going “green” is a concept taking hold in the United States, from cars to homes, and now more widely, workplaces. Being in a green space is about more than just that warm fuzzy feeling, it can save costs and attract new talent, and business owners across the country are recognizing that value.

Locally, there’s a new green suite that adheres to the principles of energy efficiency without breaking the bank. Healthcare Realty Trust, a national medical real estate firm, worked with the Baptist Memorial Hospital Health Care Corporation to integrate the ownership, management and leasing of physician office buildings on Baptist campuses in the Mid-South. The realty company, along with local Askew Nixon Ferguson architect Joe Wieronski, recently completed design on a green suite on the Baptist campus at 6029 Walnut Grove. What’s unique about the project is taking an existing building and renovating a suite to be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Architects are LEED accredited, which stands for leadership in energy and environmental design, a designation created by the U.S. Green Building Council.

“We’re committed to the green space concept,” said Ken Goff, in-house architect for Healthcare Realty Trust. “It has to do with the types of products you use, how those products are manufactured and where they come from.”

The benefits of going green are greater energy efficiency and reduced costs with the added perk of a healthier environment for the people who move through it day in and day out. Clean air, more natural light and sustainable materials are benchmarks of green design. The architects and contractors took on the project with the entire framework in mind. From demolition to the HVAC system to the flooring, nothing is disregarded.

To go green on an existing space, the architects explained, it has to begin with demolition. Instead of throwing everything in the landfill, crews recycle materials that can be reused in the renovation. They had to use the existing HVAC system, but highly efficient filters were added for air cleanliness.

“During the construction process, we used products that could be recycled and products [in which] the manufacturers themselves have adopted green concepts with a lot cleaner production than similar products,” explained Goff.

Flooring, glues and paint with minimal off-gassing of VOC (volatile organic compounds) are used throughout the suite, which means minimal exposure, if any, to vapors and chemicals.

The space is open to allow as much natural lighting, thanks to special transparent recyclable resin panels. It was equally important for artificial light to be efficient, so architects chose T5 fluorescent bulbs, which use less energy. Rooms are also equipped with motion sensors. The lights come on when someone enters and turn off when no motion is detected.

“The materials we used and the layout of the space is a healthy environment, but still has privacy while keeping a sense of openness to it,” said Wieronski.

The 3,750-square-foot suite has a standard medical office design with a contemporary style, although it doesn’t have to look modern to be green.

This suite is set up with two physician offices, six exam rooms, an x-ray suite that could be converted into an exam room, storage and file space.

While it’s true that going green does have a premium, it doesn’t mean the costs are doubled. The architects kept the budget in mind while designing the suite concept, which they say was somewhat of an experiment.

“We wanted to make that premium as small as possible and not give up any of the concepts or (being) green or in terms of how the space feels,” Goff said. “It takes designers that are very sensitive to this issues and are also willing to watch the dollars.”

Fortunately, they were able to make the price point competitive with the market value on a class A medical office suite, combining a successful green space with a reasonable budget.

“You can do a lot of greening without much green,” Wieronski quipped, “however you can spend a lot of money if you want and take it to various levels of green.”

Owning a green space has already proven to attract new partners and employees at local business, said Wieronski, demonstrating the fact that more people prefer to come to work in a healthy building that doesn’t waste global resources.

Healthcare Realty Trust plans to duplicate the green suite in Collierville and other Baptist campus properties.



September 2007

Tags:

None

Login and voice your opinion!