Morrison-Maierle, Inc.’s new Bozeman office building has been awarded LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).  Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is USGBC’s leading rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient, and high performing buildings.  The Bozeman office building is the fifth LEED certified building in Montana and the first LEED Gold certified building.  The 45,000 square foot office building is located in the Bozeman Gateway development and was constructed from January 2007 to April 2008.  The building has 110 offices with 133 work spaces; six conference rooms, with 40,000 square feet (sf) in the main building; 5,000 sf in the garage for eight fully-equipped survey vehicles; and concrete/soils lab.

The Morrison-Maierle Bozeman office complex was designed by a team of the company’s engineers (Structural, Mechanical, Electrical and Civil) and ThinkOne Architects to achieve LEED certification for energy and water savings, local and recycled material utilization; and fresh air and natural lighting in the employee environment as well as incorporating a variety of other sustainable strategies.  LEED verifies environmental performance, occupant health and financial return.  LEED was established for market leaders to design and construct buildings that protect and save precious resources while also making good economic sense. 

LEED certification of the Morrison-Maierle Bozeman office building was based on a number of green design and construction features that positively impact the project itself and the broader community. These features include: 

• Thermostats in each office space provide individual temperature control and optimize the building’s occupants’ comfort and performance.
• The HVAC system utilizes high-efficient hot water boilers, variable speed fan air handling units, radiant floor garage slab heat and a high-efficient chilled water system to provide a “high performance” building and reduce the consumption of non-renewable energy.
• The building envelope has been designed using roof and wall insulation values far above the energy code minimums, which reduces the HVAC heating and cooling loads and consumption of non-renewable energy.
• All the exterior offices have high-efficient, low-emittance windows and interior door sidelights to allow maximum use of daylight in the interior and provide excellent mountain views.  Interior workspaces are also provided with natural daylight through the use of high-efficient skylights (Kalwal© glass).
• High-efficient lighting is being used throughout the building along with induction lamp lighting being provided for exterior site lighting.  To conserve energy most office lighting fixtures have four settings.  This provides extremely efficient (low energy) overall lighting design.
• All the paint, adhesives and carpeting are certified as low-emitting volatile organic compound (VOC) materials, to ensure high air quality for the building’s occupants.
• A section of the second story roof will be a green roof plaza, consisting of a sedum vegetation and paver patio area with tables and chairs for employees to coordinate work, meet with clients, eat lunch, or socialize.
• An onsite well provides irrigation and vehicle wash water (non-potable), reducing the necessity to use processed, potable City of Bozeman water. The well utilizes a variable-frequency drive pump to reduce energy and maintenance costs.
• Landscaping was designed to reduce the water usage requirements.
• Local, regional and recycled materials were used on both the interior and exterior of the building.

About the U.S. Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Since UGSBC’s founding in 1993, the Council has grown to more than 13,000 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED® green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry’s popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 72 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.

About LEED
The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ is a feature-oriented rating system that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria.  The six major environmental categories of review include:  Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation and Design.  Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category.  LEED can be applied to all building types including new construction, commercial interiors, core & shell developments, existing buildings, homes, neighborhood developments, schools and retail facilities.  Incentives for LEED are available at the state and local level and LEED has also been adopted nationwide by federal agencies, state and local governments, and interested private companies.  For more information, visit www.usgbc.org/LEED.

Linda Donaldson Photography.  The “LEED Certification Mark” is a registered trademark owned by the U.S. Green Building Council and is used by permission.