U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters Earns LEED Gold Certification

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters has received a LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The project, completed under a design-build contract, sits on the west campus of the former St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and is the first phase of the Department of Homeland Security’s planned relocation. The new headquarters features a 1.2-million-square-foot, 11-level office building, an 800,000-square-foot, 1,973-space parking garage and a central utility plant. Under a separate contract, Clark also delivered the Department of Homeland Security’s National Operations Center—a mission critical space located within the U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters campus.

During construction, the General Services Administration increased its green building requirements for all newly constructed federal buildings from LEED Silver to LEED Gold. Despite the change, the team secured the Gold certification.

Clark Project Executive David Pastrick stated, “Clark worked alongside the design team to develop a clear roadmap, ensuring the headquarters earned LEED Gold certification. Through our concerted efforts, the design-build team devised solutions which ultimately earned the project USGBC’s second highest certification.”

A number of features contributed to the project’s LEED Gold rating, including 450,000 square feet of green roof installed on top of the headquarters and garage. A massive retention pond at the lowest level of the headquarters collects runoff from the entire West Campus and feeds the roof and courtyard irrigation system. Mechanical and electrical systems are the most energy efficient available.

In addition, 20 percent of the construction materials were salvaged, harvested, extracted, mined or manufactured within 500 miles of the jobsite, helping to further reduce the project’s carbon footprint.

For more information on the project, visit http://www.clarkconstruction.com/our-work/projects/us-coast-guard-headquarters.