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Guam Builders Ride the Green Wave
The Coast 360 FCU is what HRP’s Jay Sevilla calls
“the most environmentally friendly private building to this date"
”With the planned military buildup in Guam, green standards are becoming second nature
to contractors. Technology to build sustainably and efficiently is evolving,
and more projects are LEED certified. Derek Maurer, senior project manager of dck pacific Guam, LLC,
says that now it’s more than just a movement. “It’s caught on; people identify with it.
People are doing the actions, not just talking.”
Making Dollars and Sense
Why is so much focus being put on green building? Lance Wilhelm, president of Kiewit Building Group Inc., gives us two reasons: “First, it is simply the right thing to do. Whether we’re talking about Guam, Hawaii or throughout the markets we serve, we are becoming increasingly aware of the impact our built envi-
ronment has on our planet and on our quality of life. And as we learn more, we become more encouraged and energized when it comes to the many opportunities to improve not just the finished structures we are tasked to build, but we also find many opportunities to do a more responsible job of doing our work.
“Secondly,” Wilhelm says, “we know that it is important to our clients. We strive, everyday and in everything we do, to be responsive to the needs and expectations of our clients. And as their attention shifts to green building, sustainability and eco-friendly initiatives, so too do we shift our attention. In other words, it is not just good for the environment, it is good for business.”
“Because of the large military budget here in Guam and due to the military’s push for better green/LEED specifications, Guam’s construction industry is fully engaged,” adds Bill Beery, president of Guam-based Construction Management Services (CMS).
The Navy Fitness Center proposes 50 percent less energy consumption than
the baseline building prescribed by the ASHRAE standard.
Different Shades of Green
In this section, we introduce you to a handful of industry professionals dealing in green construction.
We begin with dck pacific Guam, LLC. With a history of 25 years in Guam, the company is considered one of the locals. Currently, dck’s green projects include the Joint Region Marianas Headquarters, the Navy Fitness Center and the Coast 360 Federal Credit Union.
President Steve Baldridge of Baldridge & Associates Structural Engineering, Inc. (BASE) says that the new Bachelor Enlisted Quarters P-469 (BEQ) is one of BASE’s significant green projects. Baldridge, who has 10 years of experience designing and building for the military in Guam, says this concrete, three-story 140-room BEQ is designed to be the first LEED-gold new construction project in Guam. BASE also is working on the Guam Fitness Center and the Joint Region Marianas Headquarters.
Watts Constructors, LLC, a company we covered extensively in the March 2010 issue, is heavily involved in military construction. It does not have any current active projects on Guam but is expecting a couple to start up in the next few months. Last year, it completed Phases I and II of the North Tipalao housing project.
James Martinez, president of the Guam Contractors Association (GCA), says that once the Record of Decision is signed for the proposed military buildup, “we will see more military projects let out for bid. My understanding is that these new facilities will be built with LEED initiatives at the ‘silver’ level.” (This February, the Joint Guam Program Office held a public hearing on the draft Environmental Impact Study. The people of Guam had 90 days to comment on it. The Record of Decision, which gives the green light to proceed with construction projects for the military buildup, is expected to follow in September.)
According to its web site, Hawaiian Rock Products (HRP) is an advocate of building green. The company uses locally produced materials from coralline limestone quarries and maximizes use of reverse osmosis in its concrete mixes. HRP has supplied concrete indirectly to and done paving for the Coast 360 building project, which, says Jay Sevilla, the company’s marketing engineer, “is the most environmentally friendly private building to this date.”
RIM Architects, a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, has four LEED accredited professionals in Guam. The company’s current green projects in Guam are the Joint Region Marianas Headquarters, the Navy Fitness Center and the Guam Power Authority/Guam Waterworks Authority Multipurpose Authority Master Plan.
Pacific Sustainable Building Science (PSBS), an energy efficiency and sustainability consulting firm headquartered in Hawaii, is accredited in green building certification programs such as Energy Star and LEED. PSBS certified the first Energy Star community, North Tipalao. It completed certification on Apra Phase I and is working on Apra Phase II. “Coming up is Guam’s first LEED for Homes project – North Tipalao, Phase III,” says Co-Founder Mitchell Johnson, “which consists of 15 duplexes (30 units) that are slated to reach at least LEED silver.”
Johnson says that he has nothing but good things to say about the people of Guam and the hospitality they’ve shown him and his firm. “I’ve heard similar good things from our clients and colleagues as well,” he says.
Baldridge says, “People in Guam, like Hawaii, are rightfully suspicious of the motives and promises of outsiders. If you are respectful and have in- tegrity, the aloha will be returned.”
The design/build Joint Region Marianas project has many green features, including a catch basin to
retain storm water and a roof coating with a minimum 78 percent reflectivity.
Spotlighted Green Projects
The following projects – complete and unfinished – merit recognition for their adoption of sustainable resources and development practices. Their designers and builders are leading green building in Guam and promoting the green movement worldwide.
And to those who say building green in Guam can’t happen because it’s in a typhoon area, Maurer responds that it’s more than just wind power and solar panels. “It’s about water reclamation; it’s about using the sun to provide natural lighting, using a shading system to provide cooling so that you reduce your energy consumption, it’s about recycling materials and using recycled materials.”
He adds, “The green building industry is constantly coming up with newer, better, more innovative ideas on how these products can be implemented into a building to make (it) more energy efficient, more sustainable for the environment.”
The Bachelor Enlisted Quarters P-469 building at the U.S. Naval Base Guam in Santa Rita features photovoltaic and solar hot water panels. Other energy-efficient measures are an improved thermal envelope, reduced lighting power density, energy efficient HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system and on-site renewable energy. Building elements are designed to withstand 170-mph winds, and infiltration basins are designed to retain and infiltrate storm runoff. An Indoor Air Quality Management Plan will be implemented to improve air quality.
The $15.4 million Joint Region Marianas Headquarters project on Nimitz Hill is a design/build renovation of existing buildings. The project is mandated to reach LEED silver certification with the U.S. Green Building Council, and therefore has adopted several green features: a catch basin to retain storm water, energy-efficient equipment and lighting, a roof coating with a minimum 78 percent reflectivity to reduce the heat island effect, a bicycle rack and shower and preferred carpool parking spots. To reduce the indoor VOC levels, paints, carpeting and adhesives with a low VOC content are used.
We ask Beery of CMS which kind of projects is becoming greener: commercial, residential or military. He tells us, “Military really pushes green in their … RFPs (requests for proposals), so military projects lead the pack, but because initial upgrade costs are usually easily paid for by the energy-saving dollars … the civilian segment of construction is catching up to the military.”
dck pacific Guam installed a living roof on the Coast 360 FCU building.
Living roofs help absorb rainwater and combat the heat island effect.
Coast 360 Federal Credit Union (Coast 360 FCU), designed by EHS Design and to be built by dck pacific Guam, will be Guam’s first LEED certified commercial building. It will feature a break room with an outside rooftop garden and an exercise room with locker rooms and showers. The center of the structure will house a three-story light well with skylights. The walls will be typhoon rated and have a UV coating. The main domestic water supply will be from Guam Waterworks Authority (GWA) with a 26,000-gallon water tank, and hot water will come from a solar heating system. Irrigation water will be collected from a rooftop collection system and stored in a 29,000-gallon tank, and may receive supplemental supply by GWA in times of drought.
Additional energy-efficient features include low-flow dual flush toilets, low-E exterior glass, a building management system, low-emission vehicle and bike racks, power outlets in the parking area for electric vehicles and preferred parking for car/van pool.
The Navy Fitness Center is a $38 million project designed to meet the LEED silver standard. One of its sustainable design highlights, says Business Development Coordinator Shierly Caceres of RIM Architects, is that the proposed building’s energy consumption is 50 percent less than the baseline building prescribed by the ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers) standard, resulting in 45.1 percent cost savings.
The Guam Power Authority/GWA Multipurpose Authority Master plan will represent a modern facility that meets requirements for a LEED silver certification, according to Caceres. “The exterior walls will be reinforced concrete with metal cladding for accent areas,” she says. In addition, an atrium from the main lobby extends up to each floor level to allow softer daylight into the building while promoting an open atmosphere. Energy-efficient mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems will be used to help reduce power consumption by approximately 20 to 30 percent and water consumption by approximately 40 to 50 percent. Low-maintenance landscaping also will be provided around the site.
Watts Constructors completed Phases I and II North Tipalao housing project last July, consisting of 204 new homes on 33 acres. “The A/C system was sized to provide the tenant a comfortable environment without wasting energy by being oversized for the floor space. Each unit was also commissioned, tested and balanced by a third-party HVAC testing company which provided energy-efficient cooling designed into the project,” says President Denny Watts. The project was the first community on Guam to receive the Energy Star certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Cost of Going Green
Watts feels that people are generally positive about companies committed to being green. “However,” he says, “there is an initial cost that is associated with some of the work. Some owners see it as an investment in the future; others may see it as cost prohibitive to their project.”
“On an island roughly the size of Molokai, in one of the furthest parts of the world from America, everything must be shipped in,” says PSDS’ Johnson. “Prices can greatly fluctuate depending on the cost of oil. Additionally, all buildings, including homes, are built with reinforced concrete and stainless steel fasteners. As a result, project costs range from roughly 2.5 to three times the cost of standard construction on the mainland.
“Next, the unique environment in Guam can wreak havoc on building materials. We always hear that Hawaii has a unique climate. We have cool breezes, great weather and relatively manageable humidity. Guam has its own unique climate. They have extremely high humidity, category four and five typhoons (little-to-no breezes at other times) and earthquakes. Things like solar panels or solar water heating, wind power, green roofs, etc. ... are definitely a challenge to spec on a project, simply because next year, they may be destroyed or gone. With a 175-mph wind rating requirement, 90-plus inches of rain per year (average), and around 80 percent humidity most of the year, some products, including green, just don’t make the cut.”
Steve Baldridge of BASE advises companies to “have a good understanding of the additional costs and logistics of working in Guam.”
He also warns builders against ‘chic-green’ – the fashionable incorporation of systems that have the appearance of being green but are not. “Pushing green for awards or recognition will only have a negative impact on sustainable design efforts,” he says.
In the LEED
GCA’s Martinez says that building ‘green’ to LEED standards is a relatively new concept to the island but that it’s trending toward being the building standard. He brings up a course curriculum available through the National Center for Construction Education and Research that the GCA Trades Academy can use to offer training in green building. “The demand is minimal at the moment, but I see this as something that will increase over the next few months,” he observes.
Last year, there were three LEED accredited professionals on Guam, says RIM Architects’ Caceres. Now, Guam has 49 LEED APs. “That staggering increase reflects the market trend we are seeing in the construction field and the response it is receiving from architects, engineers and contractors on island,” she says.
Wilhelm of Kiewit finds that achieving a particular level of LEED certification will be challenging, given the extreme weather conditions and limited resources available on Guam. Baldridge says, “In reality, a LEED silver project in the islands may be more green then a LEED gold project on the mainland.”
What Lies in the Future?
“The military buildup will bring huge developments on the island, which means many of Guam’s raw land will be touched due to increase in population and need for infrastructure improvements,” says Caceres. “With the demand to build according to LEED standards, owners and developers will be motivated to prioritize building on developed lands, protecting undeveloped lands and water resources and decreasing environmental impact on Guam.
“Jobs such as environmental consultants will be in demand, suppliers of water and energy-efficient technology will create new career opportunities, need for green design and alternative energy professionals will increase continually. We will see educational opportunities to study sustainable methods increase in Guam’s community college and university.”
“I think that the Guam community has been waiting for something big to happen for a long time,” says Watts, adding that most people he has talked to expect the military buildup, along with the increase in green building, will benefit the people in Guam in the long term. “There are concerns about the buildup impacting the quality of life and use of their natural resources, but we feel the mood is positive,” concludes Watts.
By Leilani Rapaport
Additional reporting by Jason Soeda
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