Leading with LEED™: L.A. Community College District's First Environmentally Responsible Building Receives National Certification From U.S. Green Building Council

New energy efficient building also provides healthier indoor space for students and employees at Los Angeles Valley College

Nov. 9, 2006 (LOS ANGELES) The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) today announced that the first “green” building constructed under the Proposition A/AA bond program has received LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). The Maintenance and Operations facility at Los Angeles Valley College, which opened in April of this year, has numerous features designed to reduce energy, water, and light impacts.

“Obtaining this LEED™ certification is both a final step and the first of many steps,” noted Mona Field, member of the LACCD's Board of Trustees. “For the M and O Building this completes the LEED™ process, but it is only the first of many buildings we are constructing that will save resources while providing the facilities our students need and deserve.”

The new $6.6 million facility totals 28,000 sq-ft. The one-story complex consists of three connecting structures with an inner courtyard, housing office space, maintenance equipment, shipping and receiving, and warehouse offices, along the campus's Sheriff’s Station operations and personnel.

“The M and O Building is a physical manifestation of our Board’s commitment to environmental stewardship,” said Darroch "Rocky" Young, chancellor of the LACCD. “As we construct even more LEED™-certified facilities, both the Earth and our students will be the winners for decades to come.”

Green buildings benefit not only the environment, but also the building’s occupants and local community. The Maintenance and Operations building has numerous design elements that optimize energy performance and efficiency: the interior contains low-emitting materials to improve the overall indoor air quality; the exterior includes skylights to maximize natural light and rooftop photovoltaic panels to generate electricity. When not in use, the power generated by the panels is redirected into the city’s power grid.

The building’s exterior landscaping includes a selection of drought-tolerant native plants and was designed to use water efficiently and to conserve it where possible. Water is distributed to landscaping with bubbling type of heads that do not spray, reducing the water use for landscaping by 50 percent.

The USGBC, a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. that works to promote environmentally responsible buildings, certified the building under its LEED™ program. The LEED™ rating system provides a national benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings.

The Los Angeles Community College District is one of the largest community college districts in the country, educating nearly 200,000 students at its nine campuses each year. The LACCD is currently undertaking the largest public sector sustainable building effort in the United States, funded by the Proposition A/AA Bond Program. The LACCD has shown strong leadership in its adoption of sustainability practices, which have been recognized by numerous organizations, including the U.S. Green Building Council, California Climate Registry, Global Green USA, and Flex Your Power. The LACCD is the first community college district in the nation which is planning to generate all its own electricity, with efforts underway to build photovoltaic panels that will produce enough electricity to meet daytime power needs at each of its nine colleges. For more information, visit www.PropositionA.org.

LEFT: The Maintenance and Operations facility at Los Angeles Valley College is an environmentally sustainable building, certified by the United States Green Building Council. The building's ' green' design elements include drought-tolerant native plants and solar panels on the rooftop to generate electricity.