Overview

Owner: Alberici Corporation

Sustainability Consultant: Vertegy

Architect: Mackey Mitchell Associates

Builder: Alberici Constructors, Inc.

Location: Overland, Missouri

Building type(s): Commercial office building (corporate headquarters)

Size: 10,100 m²

Project scope: Partial adaptive reuse and new construction

Completion date: December 2004

With this adaptive reuse of an existing manufacturing plant, Alberici Corporation has created a healthy and beautiful environment that fosters teamwork, creativity, and collaboration. A 50-year-old structure on a brownfield site once used for manufacturing has gained a new life. A 38-meter high, power-generating wind turbine integrates with the high performing design technologies within the building and has become a trademark in the surrounding community.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
U.S. Green Building Council website
(hosted and managed courtesy of BuildingGreen, Inc.
with case studies database information provided by the
U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technology Program, High Performance Buildings (http://leedcasestudies.usgbc.org/overview.cfm?ProjectID=662)
Contact:
Thomas Taylor, General Manager
Vertegy, an Alberici Enterprise
Phone: 314.733.2666
tomt@alberici.com
www.vertegyconsultants.com
Photo credit: Debbie Franke

Visitors are welcome to the site, where they are educated about the project through environmental graphic displays. A large conference facility is available for internal training needs and community use. The adaptability and flexibility instilled into the planning and construction of the building will permit Alberici, a large construction company, to make productive use of the space for many years to come.

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS
The "saw-tooth" addition to the original structure reoriented that portion of the building due south. External sunscreens and passive solar technology are used to block unwanted solar gain during the summer months. The interiors are organized around three large atria, designed as thermal flues. All of the building occupants enjoy direct views to the outdoors. The space inside of the building is flexible; designed to accommodate visiting staff, internal growth and reconfiguration determined by workloads. With the exception of five enclosed offices, all Alberici employees work in an open environment, utilizing a low-wall modular furniture system.

During construction, the owner/developer/contractor developed many construction compliance programs, including erosion and sediment control during and after construction, a storm water pollution-prevention plan creating a “zero” run-off site, an indoor air quality plan and a waste management plan that diverted 93% of all the construction and demolition waste from landfills.

Through a partnership with the Missouri Botanical Garden, the suburban, brownfield site was restored with native, drought-resistant plant species. This partnership continues, as the site has become a seed bank for the region. The site, which was covered with more than 50% impervious surfaces now acts as its own watershed. The retention ponds and constructed wetlands retain all of the storm water runoff. This natural system of filtration removes suspended solids and phosphorous from storm water in the unlikely event of discharge from the site. 

Rainwater collected from the roof is used for sewage conveyance and for the “make up” water for the building’s mechanical system. This strategy of rainwater use in conjunction with the use of water-efficient plumbing fixtures results in a 100% reduction of potable water used for sewage conveyance and an overall reduction of the buildings potable water use by 70%.