RMH on Design-Build Team Selected to Modernize Byron G. Rogers Federal Building
March 22, 2010
The design-build team for the modernization of the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building, located in downtown Denver and home to 11 Federal agencies, has been officially selected by the General Services Administration. The team is being led by Mortenson Construction, and The RMH Group is serving as the project's mechanical/electrical engineer. Work on the 500,000-square-foot Byron G. Rogers Federal Building will include complete design and construction for upgrades to all major building systems including mechanical, electrical, lighting, fire protection, and plumbing. The building upgrades are projected to reduce energy use by more than 80 percent over current levels and attain the facility LEED Platinum certification.
Several innovative strategies are being proposed to significantly increase the energy efficiency of the building's systems. They include implementing a cutting-edge method to move heating and cooling around the building with very little wasted energy and installing super-efficient LED lighting, high-performance building/lighting controls, and thermal storage tanks to preserve building energy. Utilizing regenerative drive technology for the building's elevators is anticipated to reduce elevator transportation energy by 15 percent. |
The proposed design also features several renewable/alternative energy technologies to offset energy typically produced with fossil fuels. Solar thermal collectors on the roof are planned to provide all of the building's domestic hot water, and solar photovoltaic collectors covering the roof of the neighboring Byron G. Rogers U.S. Courthouse are anticipated to provide a significant portion of the building's electric power. Other proposed alternative energy technologies include distributed generation systems utilizing fuel cells and on-site wind turbines to provide additional power.
"Our goal is to set a new standard of energy efficiency for upgrading our nation's vast supply of existing building stock," said Bill Green, president of The RMH Group. "If we are to dramatically reduce our nation's energy use, existing buildings are the greatest opportunity since they are abundant and use so much energy. Refurbishing an existing building is also more environmentally friendly than tearing one down and building a new facility."
In addition to saving millions of dollars in operating cost each year, planned sustainable upgrades will make the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world. It will even rival the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's new Research Support Facility (NREL RSF), touted as potentially the most efficient building in the world.
The total project budget is $129,569,364 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
The entire design-build team consist of Mortenson Construction (design-builder); Bennett Wagner & Grody Architects (architect of record); HOK (design architect); The RMH Group (mechanical and electrical engineer); Rocky Mountain Institute (high-performance green building consultant), and Martin/Martin (structural engineer and blast consultant).
Work is scheduled to begin in October 2010, with construction completed in December 2012.