DENVER (March 22, 2013) – In July 2012, the WellPower opened its new Recovery Center at 4455 E. 12th Ave. in Denver. Recently, the Recovery Center was awarded the highest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), helping the WellPower fulfill its vision of being the greenest mental health facility in the country.
“We believe that the Recovery Center is the only mental health facility in Colorado and the second in the nation to receive the Platinum designation,” said Jim Fasano, facilities services director of the WellPower. “We wanted a sustainably designed building that was filled with natural light and beautiful finishes, somewhere that people felt good about walking into and that reinforced our belief that people can and do recover from mental illness. Knowing that the Recovery Center accomplishes this while upholding the highest standards of environmental sustainability is especially rewarding.”
LEED® certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. LEED-certified buildings are designed to: lower operating costs and increase asset value; reduce waste sent to landfills; conserve energy and water; be healthier and safer for occupants and reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
The Recovery Center is the first major project to commence the re-use and revitalization of the former CU Health Sciences District. The relocation of the Health Sciences Center to the Fitzsimons campus in Aurora had left behind a cluster of vacant and outdated buildings. The Recovery Center is the very first investment in restoring this neighborhood to a new vitality.
In December 2011 the WellPower purchased the four-story 92,000 gross square-foot property, which was built in 1952 to house the Mount Airy Psychiatric Center and in 1989 became the North Pavilion outpatient mental health treatment and research facility run by the University of Colorado. Vital as its services had been, this psychiatric facility was long overdue for thorough rehabilitation even before the Health Sciences Center decamped. Total costs for acquisition of the property, renovation and furnishing totaled $15.5 million.
The Recovery Center was awarded with the Platinum certification for a number of reasons, including the deliberate way that the North Pavilion was deconstructed with a strict commitment to salvaging building materials. An impressive 72 percent of construction waste was recycled. Other key factors in securing the Platinum certification include:
rooftop 40kW Solar PV array generating 10%-14% of the building’s energy needs – enough to power 5 single family homes
- renovation of all major building systems and increased energy efficiency will reduce energy consumption by approximately 1,000,000 kWh per year – enough to power 94 single family homes
- Landscaping that incorporates low water and native plants combined with efficient irrigation systems will produce outdoor water savings of over 50 percent; efficient water systems will lower indoor consumption by at least 37 percent annually
- low VOC-emitting finishes and added ventilation will provide superior indoor air, which in a typical building can be eight times more polluted than outside air
The Recovery Center construction team consisted of City Projects, Inc. serving as owner’s representative, along with Davis Partnership as the architect and Taylor Kohrs as the general contractor. Group14 Engineering served as environmental consultants.
According to Carl Clark, M.D., CEO of the WellPower, “In 2007, we challenged ourselves to become the greenest mental health center in the country because we believe a focus on being green at the office helps us be better stewards of our limited resources and sets an example for our community. The Platinum certification is a testament to our dedication to this vision and we are thrilled to be recognized.”
For more on this story, check out Healthcare Design Magazine’s article here.