Parkland earns LEED® Gold award for new hospital
Second Gold award for new construction project
The new Parkland Memorial Hospital has been awarded the LEED® Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, which sets voluntary standards for buildings. This is the second LEED Gold Certification Parkland has received. In 2013, it received LEED Gold for its Tower Garage located at the corner of Harry Hines Boulevard and Medical District Drive.
The LEED rating system offers four certification levels for new construction — Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum — that correspond to the number of credits accrued in five sustainable design categories. The U.S. Green Building Council says LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building, home or community was built to “achieve high performance” in sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
“We have had a focus on sustainability throughout the planning, design and construction of the hospital,” said Lou Saksen, Senior Vice President of New Parkland Construction. “Throughout design and construction we were tracking a solid LEED Silver. As we neared the end of construction we saw an opportunity where we could make some changes to achieve LEED Gold. This is a huge accomplishment.”
The new 2.1 million-square-foot acute care hospital, which opens on August 20, was designed to promote excellence in clinical care, teaching and research in a technologically-advanced and easily accessible environment.
“The integrated design and construction team approach was critical in the overall sustainability success that was achieved on this project,” said Mark Meaders, Sustainable Design Project Manager, HDR+Corgan.
“The entire hospital was designed with the patient in mind,” Saksen said. “With 10 acres of glass covering the building, natural light radiates throughout the new hospital. Each patient room includes a window, and many treatment areas throughout the hospital also incorporate the use of windows and natural light to assist in the healing process.”
The entire healthcare campus, Saksen said, was sustainably designed. In doing so Parkland can efficiently manage and control solar heat gain, and by using recycled, local building materials it has reduced the carbon footprint.
Learn more about the new Parkland and sustainability at Parkland.
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