FAYETTEVILLE — The Fayetteville School Board, satisfied that planning for a new high school will stay sufficiently focused on an energy-conserving approach, approved a contract for architectural services Tuesday.
The board delayed the decision at its meeting Thursday over concern about whether the resulting building will meet federal standards for so-called “green” buildings, most often through designation as certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED.
Rudy Moore Jr., the board’s attorney, said there was “a meeting of the minds” after last week’s discussion. The new wording in the contract states the architects will “accept LEED principles” in their designs for upgrading the school, the oldest portion of which is 57 years old.
The end product will be a LEED-equivalent building, said Gary Jackson, one of the principals in Hight-Jackson Associates architectural firm of Rogers. DLR Group of Overland Park, Kan., and Marlon Blackwell of Fayetteville are associated with Hight-Jackson for the project.
LEED is a designation indicating the building has met stringent standards put forth by the U.S. Green Building Council for energy savings and other sustainable or conservation features.
LEED-equivalent means the same features are incorporated in the construction but without seeking the official designation from the building council.
School board member Steve Percival said he was not as interested in an official plaque or certification as he was in the savings the district will achieve by building to LEED standards.
School board members have said for months they want the design and construction to be LEED certifiable at least to the silver level. Platinum is the highest level of certification, followed by gold and silver. Through Tuesday’s action, they agreed the LEED equivalency is adequate.
Many of the steps listed by the Green Building Council for LEED certification are part of the normal design process for the high school, such as the building shape, placement on the site or placement of windows, Jackson said. The architectural firm will follow a checklist from the building council for the steps to be taken during design and construction to make the building LEED certifiable.
Jackson said a high school in Oak Ridge, Tenn., was certified LEED silver, but the formal designation cost the district about $200,000 in additional fees during construction just to achieve the certification. Hight-Jackson partnered with DLR on that project.
The Tennessee high school project was similar in scope to the Fayetteville project, he said.
School board member Jim Halsell, who has pushed the LEED certification issue since joining the board in 2008, said, “I’m comfortable with LEED equivalency ... as long as the building is being designed with energy modeling for air quality.”
Superintendent Vicki Thomas said DLR Group has estimated that about $15,000 the district will spend on an energy study as part of the high school project will be recouped within four years through energy savings.
Moore said the only change in the contract wording was the addition of “acceptable LEED principles.” Otherwise, the language is the same as presented last week.
The fee for the architectural services is set at 6.25 percent, according to the contract.
Even though the contract approval was delayed by nearly a week, the project timetable wasn’t affected by the delay. The district anticipates work starting as soon as school is out for the summer in 2010, with project completion in 2013.
The school district has been conscious of energy savings since installing a computerized energy management program in all the schools more than 10 years ago.
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AT A GLANCE
Save the Date
Plans for the renovation of Fayetteville High School will be unveiled by architects for the Fayetteville School Board at 5 p.m. Jan. 14. Public forums are scheduled Jan. 18, 19 and 20 to hear public comment on the three sets of plans that will be submitted by architects. The forums are at 6 p.m. at Woodland Junior High School on Jan. 18; Jan. 19, Ramay Junior High, and Jan. 20, Fayetteville High School.
Source: Staff Report