St. Louis, Mo., December 19, 2011… Already well known for its award-winning work in the educational arena, St. Louis-based Vertegy will soon add another LEED certified educational facility to its portfolio. The firm has been tapped to lend its sustainable design and construction consulting services to an addition of an existing building on the campus of Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, Ill. The facility will bring the total number of LEED certified educational facilities that Vertegy has had a hand in to seven.
Southwestern Illinois College has three campuses in the Illinois communities of Belleville, Granite City and Red Bud. The new 74,000-square-foot, three-story addition at the college’s main campus in Belleville will include a large elevated roof terrace, conference center, student lounge and will house classrooms, a computer lab, a data center, a screening room, a film production lab, and administrative offices. The new facility will also be home to the school’s Success Center, which offers career counseling. The new addition is expected to earn LEED Gold certification upon completion and will include the following environmentally friendly features:
- low-flow sinks and toilets
- native landscaping in the parking lot
- low-VOC interior finishes, including paints, adhesives, coatings and sealants
- high efficiency lighting
The project team will also work to recycle most of the construction waste, and will monitor and test the air quality during construction. A comprehensive stormwater collection and management plan will also be put in place for the new building.
Vertegy will work alongside St. Louis-based architect William B. Ittner. Other members of the project team include MEP engineer Hurst-Rosche of Hillsboro, Ill., civil engineer Hoelscher Engineering of Fairview Heights, Ill., and construction manager Holland Construction of Swansea, Ill. Construction has already begun, with the completion scheduled for winter 2012.
“Green-minded operators of educational facilities are becoming increasingly aware of all the benefits associated with sustainable design and, as a result, we have seen an increase in demand for LEED services when campus expansion is planned,” said Vertegy General Manager Thomas Taylor. “Southwestern Illinois College is a perfect example.”
“As a founding member and regional center for the Illinois Green Economy Network of community colleges, Southwestern Illinois College is dedicated to leading by example,” said SWIC President Georgia Costello, Ph.D. “To that end, last year we added an IGEN Sustainability Center at our main campus, and this sustainably-designed expansion of our Liberal Arts Building will serve as a community-wide template for us to follow in the future.”
For more information about the project or Vertegy’s services, call 314.733.2666 or visit www.vertegyconsultants.com.
Founded in February 2005, Vertegy provides clients with design, procurement and construction consulting services for green and sustainable facilities. One of the key ways Vertegy serves clients is by helping them gain certification for their projects from various nationally and internationally recognized certification bodies, such as the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which provides LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification. Vertegy — which is derived from combining the Latin root for green and strategy — is based in St. Louis at the LEED Platinum Alberici Corporate Headquarters.
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For more information, contact:
Pamela Powell, The Hauser Group, 314.436.9090
Thomas Taylor, Vertegy, 314.733.2666