Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas W.H. and Elaine McCarty South Tower earns Platinum under one of LEED’s newest rating systems.
PRLog - Jul 24, 2013 - AUSTIN, Texas -- The new W.H. and Elaine McCarty South Tower at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas is the first building in the world to achieve LEED for Healthcare (LEED–HC) Platinum certification. Built by The Beck Group, the $48 million 75,000 SF addition opened to the public in early May 2013.
The designation underscores Seton Healthcare Family’s continuing commitment to sustainable design. In addition to this most recent accomplishment, Dell Children’s Medical Center was the first hospital in the world to achieve LEED Platinum certification under the LEED for New Construction rating system in 2007.
Introduced by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in January 2011, LEED–HC acknowledges the unique attributes and specifications of health care facilities. To achieve LEED-HC certification, buildings must exceed environmental standards in five key areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
The bed tower, which opened in May 2013, was awarded for its environmentally sensitive design, which not only conserves water and electricity, but also positively impacts the health of the children it serves by eliminating chemicals in building materials that are known to be toxic.
The following sustainable features were key to the project’s certification:
- Waste reduction and diversion. An aggressive construction waste plan diverted over 96 percent of demolition and construction debris from the landfill—more than 3,000 tons.
- Sustainably sourced building materials. Nearly 60 percent of the building materials were salvaged, refurbished, reused and regionally sourced and contained recycled content.
- Water efficiency. All landscape drip irrigation uses reclaimed water except in the patients’ healing gardens. Efficient plumbing fixtures reduced water use by over 38%.
- Healthy building materials. The team used a variety of strategies to minimize the use of building materials known to cause negative health impacts. Materials, furniture and medical equipment containing persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals such as mercury, lead, cadmium and copper were avoided.
The new bed tower increases Dell Children’s capacity to treat Central Texas children by 40 percent. Featuring 72 beds, a state-of-the-art epilepsy monitoring unit and landscaped spaces to reflect, rejuvenate and heal, the expansion enables more Central Texas children to find the care they need in Austin.
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World’s First LEED for Health Care Platinum Certification for Dell Children’s South Tower
July 24, 2013 at 14:30 PM EDT
