Feb. 7, 2005

King County adopts environmental building practices for its public buildings

Inspired by "green" buildings such as the King Street Center and the Kent Pullen Regional Communications and Emergency Coordination Center, King County today adopted a green building ordinance for the projects it builds.

"Buildings like King Street Center not only help the environment, they save the county money in energy and material costs," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "It proves that green building practices do not have to come at the expense of businesses' and governments' bottom lines. It's a great example of how we will continue to build countywide with our facilities."

The ordinance formalizes Sims' 2001 Green Building Initiative. The policy adopts a national green rating system for King County's construction methods and techniques - the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) a third-party, performance-based system designed for rating new commercial, institutional, and high-rise residential buildings. County buildings that will seek this green rating include a new office building in downtown Seattle, a solid waste transfer station, portions of the new Brightwater wastewater treatment plant, a power distribution headquarters and a communications and control center.

"I am very proud of the fact that King County is taking a lead role in assuring that any facility we build in the future will be evaluated based on a set of criteria that exists to ensure that we are doing all we can to preserve energy and construct environmentally sound buildings," said King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, Chairman of the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee.

The green buildings in these projects will reflect strategies such as green roofs, incorporation of water conserving plumbing fixtures, reuse of the original structural shell, construction debris recycling, energy efficient lighting, non-toxic building materials, day lighting in occupied spaces and bike rack rooms for employees to safely store bicycles that are ridden to work in lieu of driving cars.

The county will continue to track the savings realized from green building, such as the King Street Center example where the county saved nearly $100,000 in energy costs alone the first two years of operation. Or, King Street Center's on-site water reclamation system which collects storm run-off and reuses the water for flushing toilets, saving an estimated 1.4 million gallons of water a year.

For more information about King County's Green Building policy contact Jeff Gaisford, at 206-296-4484; or Kathy Brown at 206-296-0631.