11/27/2006 by Richard Thomas

The new $5.7 million Whole Foods Cooperative, at 610 E. 4th St. in Duluth, is the first building in the region and just the third in the state to receive LEED certification, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

The nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council awards certification to buildings designed for energy efficiency and low environmental impact.

Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson presented a plaque for the certification to the co-op in an Oct. 18 ceremony.

It’s the first of many LEED-certified projects to come in the area.

The $76 million, 250,000 square foot downtown Duluth Clinic expansion opened in April. It will be the largest LEED-certified U.S. healthcare project, said James Brew, building performance specialist for Duluth-based LHB, Inc., the LEED consultant for the Duluth Clinic and designer of the co-op building.

The clinic already has been certified at “silver level,” but SMDC is appealing for a higher “gold level” certification. A building may receive up to 69 points, ranging from 26 for a basic certified level to 52 for platinum. Only 24 buildings in the country have achieved platinum level.

Buildings achieve certification through the incorporation of design aspects including energy conservation, enhanced indoor air quality, use of recycled materials, reduced outdoor light pollution, water efficiency, and use of carpets, adhesives, and paints that emit low amounts of toxic fumes.

Other LEED-registered, but not yet certified, Duluth projects are the UMD Labovitz School of Business & Economics, UMD Life Science Building, and Lake Superior College Academic and Student Center.

In the region, LEED projects under development include the U.S. Forest Service Kawishi Ranger Station in Ely and the Bad River Band’s community center in Odanah. LHB is involved in all of these projects, except for the Labovitz School.

Mayor Bergson told BusinessNorth the planned Duluth Entertainment Convention Center expansion, awaiting a state funding commitment, will be designed for LEED certification, and will include a storm water garden.

Earlier this year the city of Minneapolis committed all new buildings to LEED certification.

In May and September, LHB held LEED education workshops for contractors in Duluth and St. Paul, expecting audiences of 30 to 40. Instead, 140 contractors showed up and some were turned away for lack of space.

Not everyone is enthused about LEED, given the cost and required documentation.

“We’re concerned that LEED has become expensive, slow, confusing, and unwieldy, a death march for applicants administered by a Soviet-style bureaucracy that makes green building more difficult than it needs to be,” wrote Auden Schendler and Randy Udall in the October 2005 issue of Grist, an online environmental magazine.

“It’s no easy process,” said Brew. He’s impressed that clients are willing to go through with it. “They say it’s about doing the right thing, or marketing.”

The rationale for the Duluth Clinic expansion was geared more towards creating a healthy building, said Harvey Anderson, vice-president of facilities at parent St. Mary’s/Duluth Clinic Health System.

The new Duluth Clinic building also uses 32 percent less energy than a building of comparable size that simply meets code requirements, Anderson said.

“There are obviously some extra costs and extra paperwork,” said Mark Poirier, architect for LHB and project manager for the Whole Foods Cooperative design. He added the cost to achieve LEED-certification is a matter of scale; the relative expense is less for a larger project.

SMDC’s Anderson said LEED standards added $400,00-$500,000 in cost, about $1.80-$2.00 per square foot.

LEED certification added $15 per square foot to the co-op project, according to one estimate. But Sharon Murphy, Whole Foods general manager, questioned that figure. The added expense is hard to estimate because the project would have incorporated green design even without the LEED certification; also some subcontractors were unaware of the paperwork involved when they bid the project, she said.

Useful Links:

Green Building Rating System

U.S. Green Building Council

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