University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
OP-4: Building Design and Construction

LEED certification was used for the construction process of Starin Hall and Carlson Hall in its transition to Laurentide Hall. Starin Hall is a LEED Gold Certified Building and Laurentide Hall is a LEED Certified Building.

Wisconsin Executive Order 145 directs the Department of Administration to work with the Building Commission and the Energy Center of Wisconsin to ensure that new state facilities are constructed to be 30% more energy efficient than commercial code. It also directs the Department of Administration to establish sustainable building operation guidelines (for owned and leased properties), which shall be adopted by the Division of State Facilities within six (6) months following the date of this order, based on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green building Rating System for New Construction and Existing Buildings and other comparable sustainable guidelines and rating systems. For certification, LEED and other comparable sustainable guidelines and rating systems may be pursued and the Department of Administration will support projects that request certification as part of the initial project request.These guidelines will apply to the operations and construction of all new buildings, additions and retrofit projects, including planning, siting, budgeting, design, construction and deconstruction, in addition, these guidelines will address sustainable operation and maintenance, including green cleaning, green purchasing waste reduction and recycling, pollution prevention, energy and water efficiency, and light pollution in existing buildings. The guidelines should include identifying performance data that will be measured to assess the effectiveness of the efforts and for benchmarking purposes. Progress and Outcomes will be reported annually to the Governor's office as well as the State of Wisconsin Building Commission. Sustainable Facilities Standards are a statewide mandated set of construction practices that govern any significant construction or renovation project on campus. Buildings included in this credit that were subject to enhanced sustainability guidelines include Hyland Hall, Drumlin Hall, Fischer Hall, and Wellers Hall.

The Building Commission Sustainable Facilities Policy, and Division of State Facilities (DSF) Sustainable Facilities Standards (Standards) prescribe the minimum sustainable requirements for state construction and leased facilities and they apply to all DSF projects without exception, regardless of size or budget. The fundamental purpose is to improve the overall quality and usability of state owned and leased facilities and optimize monetary, material, environmental and human resources. The Building Commission Sustainable Facilities Policy sets goals and direction. It does not prescribe a level of “performance”, but makes reference to and relies upon “guidelines and minimum standards”. DSF developed the Sustainable Facilities Guidelines and Minimum Standards following the Building Commission policy statement and prescribed how the Policy was to be implemented. DSF already had policies, guidelines and standards established in the areas of energy conservation, air quality, water conservation, daylighting, recycling construction waste, use of recycled materials, commissioning, erosion control or within the DSF master specifications. Wisconsin Statues and DSF policy and procedures also address sustainability. In some cases, there were conflicts within our policies and standards. This became an opportunity to align everything, eliminate discrepancies and make our standards clearer. A policy was developed but DSF did not take the Policy to the Building Commission until guidelines and standards were identified. DSF reviewed what was available throughout the industry and after careful consideration, chose to write DSF Sustainable Facilities Guidelines and Minimum Standards, basing them on LEED-NC Version 2.1 Rating System.

New construction projects included in this credit include Laurentide Hall, Starin Hall, and Hyland Hall. Drumlin Hall renovation is excluded from this credit because it only affected the main dining area and did not substantially change the other floors of the building.