Environment at work-Warehouse renovation follows green concepts

Design aims for healthier work environment

Idaho Statesman
11/3/2004

What was once a warehouse serving the railroad line to downtown Boise is poised to become an example of maintaining a building's historic character while adding the latest environmentally friendly improvements.

Erik Oaas and Steve Laney of Oaas Laney Commercial Development, along with Cole & Poe Architects and the construction firm Petra Inc. are renovating the historic warehouse on the southwest corner of 5th and Front streets to meet the standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

More commonly knows as LEED, the program gives developers and builders guidelines on how to build or renovate a building to meet higher environmental standards.

Steve Laney believes the building will be the first commercial office building in Idaho to be LEED certified.

Becoming LEED certified means complying with a list of standards. Topping the list is the goal of bringing more natural light into a building.

In the case of the warehouse, light is the key design factor for the building. Skylights have been installed on its roof, and both the front and rear entrances will be made of glass, allowing natural light to flow into the building. Once the light is inside, openings on the walls at the roofline allow the light to flow throughout the building.

"Everywhere you go you'll have daylight," Steve Laney said.

With that daylight also comes an important fringe benefit -- a happier and healthier work environment.

There are numerous studies that show the addition of natural light to a workplace is better for workers.

But If you're an employee who's laboring under the constant glare of a fluorescent light while enclosed in a jungle of windowless cubicles, you probably don't need a study to tell you that.

Although building a LEED-certified building costs more, Eric Oaas says the extra cost is worth it if it brings tenants to a building. And that's just what's happening with this old warehouse.

Although it won't open until Dec. 15, the building is already 85 percent full, and Oaas and Laney predict 100 percent occupancy by opening day.

"When you have happy building tenants, they remain with you," Oaas said. "And once people realize what a great working environment this will be, we'll probably have a waiting list."

Light isn't the only feature of the building. Unlike most offices, this one is designed with many windows that actually open to allow in fresh air.

During the construction process, the builders have also been using recycled bricks and timbers from the warehouse in its reconstruction.

One interesting feature of the building is its floor. The original concrete floor is being ground down to expose the aggregate -- that's the mixed rock that forms the base of the concrete. Because of the age of the warehouse, the aggregate that was used is brightly colored, so the builders are staining and sealing the aggregate so that its red color shows through.

Carpet using recycled content is being used on the building's upper floors.

Currently, LEED-certified buildings are still a small part of the overall building mix. At last count only about 4 percent of the nation's commercial buildings are LEED certified.

For Oaas and Laney, this is their first LEED building, but based on the response from tenants it won't be their last.

The two also think that once tenants see the benefits of such a building, they'll start demanding that builders use the LEED standards, so that eventually they will become the rule, not the exception.

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