Golden Hill Office Centre Earns LEED®-EB Silver Certification
April 23, 2009
The Golden Hill Office Centre in Lakewood, Colorado, earned LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) Silver certification through the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. LEED is the USGBC’s leading rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient, and high performing buildings. The three-building, 209,000-square-foot Golden Hill complex is the first facility in Lakewood, Colorado, and only the second facility in Jefferson County, Colorado, to become LEED-EB certified.
As the project’s LEED consultant, The RMH Group guided the LEED-EB process from initial registration through final certification with the USGBC. RMH’s LEED consulting services led to such building upgrades as a newly installed elastomeric reflective roof enhancement to seal and cool the roof, expanded recycling program, new green cleaning program, recommissioning of the HVAC system to finetune performance and preferred parking for hybrid vehicles and vehicles used for carpooling.
“It’s amazing how much a LEED-EB certification can enhance a building,” said RMH mechanical engineer and sustainable engineering consultant Jessie Jones, LEED AP, who led Golden Hill’s LEED consulting effort. “The process of LEED-certifying a building encourages operational and maintenance upgrades that might not have occurred otherwise.”
The RMH Group also provided design to integrate three roof-mounted 10 kW photovoltaic arrays into the facility’s existing electrical system. The firm served as the owner's representative and pursued rebates and incentives that reduced capital costs for the arrays by 74%.
“We are very proud to have Golden Hill certified LEED-EB Silver,” said Daryll Propp, owner of Propp Realty, Golden Hill’s property manager which also maintains offices in the complex. “The process is costly both in time and dollars but is the right step to ensure a better future.”
RMH has maintained its offices at Golden Hill since the building’s opening in 1983. The firm engineered the facility’s original design, which was recognized with an ASHRAE international energy award. The facility earned a City of Lakewood Sustainability Award in 2008. U.S. Representative Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) also maintains offices in Golden Hill.
LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.