A prudent second look at ‘platinum’ laboratory
THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Tacoma City Councilman Jake Fey raises a good question about the city’s planned Urban Waters laboratory:
Will the cost of the lab’s “platinum” design make it harder to sell any kind of environmentally conscious building to the public in the future?
At Councilwoman Julie Anderson’s request, the City Council has ordered another cost review of the $40 million project to be built on the east side of the Thea Foss Waterway. It’s a smart move.
By any reckoning, this will be an extremely expensive piece of architecture. The 56,000 square foot building – which would house Urban Waters and the city’s environmental services – will cost an average of $580 a square foot. That’s maybe twice the cost of deluxe, Class A office space in this area.
Laboratories do cost a bundle. The planned Environmental Services Building will have 8,500 square feet of advanced lab space for the environmental science to be done there; Urban Waters will be conducting groundbreaking research on how to clean up and protect Puget Sound. The needed labs are expected to cost $1,007 per square foot.
But most of the building will be devoted to offices, not labs. And the office space averages $506 per square foot – a truly astonishing number.
Why that astronomical cost?
The city staff maintains that the projected expense is largely driven by the relatively narrow strip of land the lab must be built on.
But it’s hard to believe that the project’s unusual architecture isn’t a major factor. When the lab was planned, the city decided to seek the Green Building Council’s highest possible rating for environmental friendliness. The council bestows four Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – LEED – ratings: certified, silver, gold and platinum.
A LEED platinum rating is very hard to get. It essentially requires a design that protects the environment in every possible way – with minimal emissions, for example, and extremely limited parking to discourage automobile use.
The Environmental Services Building plan fits the bill. Among its green features are a plant-covered roof, an underground heat pump, no air- conditioning and only 35 parking spaces for 140 employees.
The city’s last consultant concluded that the winning bid on the project was a good deal. But no one knows how much less “silver” or “certified” building would run; such cost comparisons have never been done.
As Fey notes, a budget-busting platinum building could lead to a backlash and give all LEED projects a bad name. The council should think long and hard about the design. As fun as it is to spend other people’s money, Tacoma’s utility ratepayers – who will be footing the bill – deserve more due diligence than this.
