LITTLE ROCK — ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Peabody Hall’s crumbling mortar and thin pane windows hardly make it a model of environmental efficiency.
The colonial revival building, known for its aged limestone molding, was constructed on the University of Arkansas campus in 1911. A $40,000 contribution from the George Peabody Fund made it the first building on campus financed through private money.
Campus leaders hope to achieve another first with Peabody Hall.
Thanks to an $8.8 million renovation, administrators hope to balance respect for the building’s historic character with an energy-efficiency conversion.
The project will be the first major historic renovation since the university began in 2004 to require LEEDSilver certification on all new buildings. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is an energy efficient standard created by the U.S. Green Building Council. The council awards certification to buildings at varying levels of efficiency, ranging frombasic certification to platinum for the most environmentally friendly spaces.
“This may be our largest LEED Silver retrofit,” said Jay Huneycutt, director of planning and capital projects. “It’s kind of our lifestyle now, our culture.”
The building most recently housed offices and classrooms for the teacher education program. At the end of the fall semester its faculty moved to offices in the former Sigma Nu fraternity house on Arkansas Avenue.
Work is scheduled for completion in August 2011, Huneycutt said.
58 POINTS
LEED certif ication is measured on varying scales, depending on the type of project. There are LEED standards for houses, existing buildings and public schools.
Buildings are awarded points for efficient features like use of solar energy or proximity to public transportation.
Planners from Allison Architects in Fayetteville partnered with historic preservation experts at Boston-based Schwartz Silver Architects to draft plans for Peabody Hall, architect Matthew Cabe said.
Plans show potential for 58 points under the LEED 2009 standards, designed for new construction and major renovations. Under that model, buildings with between 50 and 59 points are awarded silver certification.
Peabody Hall will function differently when it’s complete, Cabe said, but it will be spared some of the super-modern features that have become the hallmark of other “green” buildings.
“Working on campus with their infrastructure and their catalog of structures is very different than a standalone new structure,” he said.
Perhaps the most recognizable LEED Silver building in Northwest Arkansas is the Fayetteville Public Library, the first building in the state to seek the green rating.
The library earned points through a rainwater harvesting system, which captures water from the roof to irrigate landscaping, a reflective solar roof, waterless urinals and a multistory curved facade covered entirely in windows to capitalize on natural light.
But a modern aesthetic isn’t a necessary component of an efficient building, especially in a historic space like Peabody Hall, Cabe said.
“All of those technological gewgaws like in the library aren’t appropriate,” he said.“We’re doing the best we can to keep the character and integrity of a 100-year-old building.”
Major points on the Peabody project were obtained through reuse of the existing building, which saves the energy expense of creating and installing new materials.
“It’s always more economical to reuse a structure than to build a new one,” Cabe said.
Workers also will install new, insulated glass designed to replicate the existing historic windows, as well as upgraded climate systems and motion sensors that control lights, heating and air conditioning as people leave and enter rooms.
Plans also call for increased office space, handicapped-accessible features like ramps and elevators, and additional rest rooms.
DEFERRED MAINTENANCE
Chancellor G. David Gearhart in November 2008 outlined an estimated $215 million in deferred maintenance needs on 75 buildings at the Fayetteville campus. Workto upgrade and restore the buildings could take 10 to 15 years, he told the UA System board of trustees.
In January, Gearhart launched Razors Edge, a campuswide energy-conservation program whose savings will be used to defray construction costs.
Contractors from Energy Systems Group, supervising the $22.9 million facelift to 56 buildings on campus, guarantee UA can repay construction bonds associated with the project through its energy savings over a 13-year period.
The measures include installing sensors that regulate lighting and temperature when rooms aren’t occupied; low-flow bathroom fixtures; more efficient lighting; and more efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. A solar water heater designed for the Health, Physical Education and Recreation building and its pool is expected to save 60 percent of the energy now used for heating.
By the 13th year, the program is projected to save theuniversity about $7.3 million, after factoring in the startup costs, according to university documents.
UA officials hope work on other campus buildings will mimic the savings produced through the program by seeking energy efficient certification.
Construction bonds for many of these projects, including Peabody Hall, will be repaid through a student facilities fee, implemented in 2008. The fee started as a $2 per credit-hour assessment on students, currently stands at $4 per credit-hour and will continue increasing until it reaches $10 per credit-hour by 2012.
Once complete, Peabody Hall should prove that it’s just as possible to find energy savings in a historic brick building as it is in a modern metal-and-glass library, Huneycutt said.
“Historic character is a big aspect of what we’re doing,” he said. “But I don’t think it makes it any more difficult.” To contact this reporter:
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 19 on 12/27/2009