A Battalion headquarters complex construction project at Camp Humphreys, Korea, designed and overseen by engineers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Far East District, achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification Jan. 21 from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The buildings in the complex are the first in both the Far East District and United States Forces Korea history to be designated with such a rating.
Sang Lee, an electrical engineer and a key member of this project’s delivery team, said the facilities were designed and constructed with the intent to reduce environmental impact through green design measures.
“Our goal was to reduce water and energy usages, reduce construction waste and increase recycling while increasing the use of regional and recycled content materials and increasing indoor environmental air qualities,” said Lee.
The silver certification designation offers third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at reducing energy and water usage, promoting better indoor air quality, and improving quality of life. LEED provides what essentially is a rating system for buildings, equivalent to a gas mileage rating for cars. Buildings accumulate points for things such as saving energy, having accessible mass transit, and mitigating storm water runoff.
Lee said buildings with silver certification not only help the environment but also increase the productivity of those who use the facilities.
“There are an array of benefits including increasing worker production and reducing potential liability resulting from indoor air quality problems,” said Lee.
Sung Ho, a member of the project delivery team for the complex credited Lee with spearheading the team that achieved the certification. He said Lee was one of the key players from the beginning of this project and led the LEED team which included the LEED consultant, the contractor, project engineer, project manager and quality assurance representative.
“He set up and hosted coordination meetings to explain how we can achieve the certification,” said Ho. Then he guided us through the successful certification process which included job-site inspections, corrective measures taken and a LEED documentation review.”
Ho said during the U.S. Green Building Council review Lee answered their every inquiry, which was essential to successfully achieving the certification.
“Also after the review he was instrumental in the follow-up actions that were completed necessary for the LEED Silver certificates,” said Ho. “Without his unselfish effort, this would never have happened.”
The Far East District continues to stress green solutions to all of its projects. The LEED solutions are part of the district’s commitment to building future facilities that substantially minimize environmental impact in Korea.
“Everyone in FED is committed and onboard and complying with FED’s Sustainable Design and Development (SDD) implementation and compliance,” said Lee.
The LEED rating system is the industry’s gold-standard for environmentally sustainable buildings and is recognized industry-wide by architects, engineers, developers and other building professionals.