St. Martin’s University Receives High LEED Honors

LACEY, Wash. — Receiving 97 out of the 110 possible LEED points, Cebula Hall at St. Martin’s University has received the highest LEED score of any building on the Western Hemisphere.

School officials announced last week that the building, which houses the Hal and Inge Marcus School of Engineering. Received LEED Platinum certification and secured the third highest rating of any newly constructed LEED-certified building in the world.

The building was designed by McGranaham Architects, based in Tacoma, Wash., and constructed by Forma Construction of Olympia, Wash. Locally headquartered Sunset Air managed LEED standards throughout the design and construction of the building.

“Cebula Hall is living proof that the implementation of green building techniques can be very economical,” said Joseph Bettrudge, project executive with Sunset Air, in a statement. “It doesn’t take a lot of ‘green’ to be green — just smarter choices and the commitment to optimize the design for the maximum benefit at the lowest cost.”

The new building, constructed at only $225 per square foot, will double the capacity of the engineering school to accommodate the growing student population. The new school of engineering features a geothermal ground loop, which is coupled to water source heat pumps and in-flood radiant heat; energy-efficient fixtures and equipment that reduces water usage by 48 percent; a rooftop solar panel system that will be used to educate students on solar energy; a rain garden; and a photovoltaic array, which provides 15 percent of the building’s power and also provides power back to the electrical grid.

Sustainable systems and structures are exposed throughout the building in order for the building to serve as a learning tool for students and visitors.

“With this wonderful facility, we are showing our students that they can be outstanding engineers and, at the same time, they can leave the world a better place than the one they came into,” said Zella Kahn-Jetter, dean of the Hal and Inge Marcus School of Engineering, in a statement. “This is the kind of engineer St. Martin’s University aims to create.”

Energy use at Cebula Hall can be tracked in real time through an interactive, online building dashboard.