Q&A: Trends in Green Design

Today’s commercial market offers a wide variety of green and sustainable products with the demonstrated ability to help facilities of all types save money, energy and maintenance. These environmentally friendly systems, materials and initiatives have long since become a staple in correctional and justice projects, from new construction to renovation and expansion. While many justice and correctional facilities have embraced a variety of green technologies, some once heralded as significant energy- and resource-saving breakthroughs are already falling to the wayside.

Correctional News spoke with two industry experts about green technologies that provide the best return on investment, up and coming technologies, and how the LEED certification process could be better adapted to these unique facilities.

Mark Meaders serves as the sustainable leader for the Dallas office of HDR, where he is responsible for leading and guiding the firm’s project teams on sustainable and LEED matters. He has worked on more than 30 LEED projects with HDR, with a focus on adding value by seeking ways to improve energy and water efficiency and provide healthier buildings. Scott McMillan is a senior mechanical engineer and a professional associate for HDR in Dallas. He served as the mechanical designer for the Wake County Detention Center in Raleigh, N.C.

Q: What can jails and prisons learn about sustainability from more commercial facilities?

Meaders: In a basic sense, a building is a building. What is different is how it’s used inside. It is known that certain features are not desired in a correctional facility due to security concerns, but maximizing energy and water efficiency, using LED lighting and lighting controls, and maximizing daylight to reduce lighting and improve occupant comfort are a few items that can be learned from commercial facilities.

McMillan: Jail and prison owners and operators can learn that almost all of the sustainable concepts that apply to other building types can also apply in a correctional environment and to their facility. If they are determined to see sustainable initiatives implemented and fully support them, there is no reason that they cannot be successful.

Q: Do you think there is a belief among jail or prison officials that green products can’t deliver the same level of safety or security as more traditional products?

Meaders: This would mainly affect the secured areas — administrative areas, public areas or building-facility spaces are not really impacted with such concerns. There are some items (like a thermostat or CO2 sensor) which helps improve occupant comfort, but are not generally placed in inmate areas because they can be tampered with and may cause a security issue. However, there are many items that can be implemented in a correctional facility that provide the same level of performance as a normal building. The key is to design and find materials that are durable or made for correctional facilities (e.g. plumbing fixtures).

McMillan: I think those owners just need to be educated. Many times they are carrying perceptions, things that they have heard, etc. I also believe they fear what they do not understand or know much about. They also do not want to be a guinea pig. One owner once told me that they “like leading-edge technology, but not bleeding edge.” Like engineers, owners want proven approaches, technologies and systems for their projects that will deliver for many years to come. After all, we are designing 50-plus-year buildings. They need to last.

Q: In your experience, is sustainability generally a higher priority among new construction or as retrofits in renovation and modernization projects?

Meaders: We generally work on new construction projects. However, implementing sustainable features in renovation projects is important. Paybacks are looked at more closely in our opinion. So, lighting modernization projects, such as changing to LED lighting, has an excellent payback and drastically reduces lighting energy use. It is also important to note that the building owner is the main driver with sustainable efforts (not the designer or contractor). If the owner values sustainability, it will be done regardless of the type of the project.

McMillan: It is typically a higher priority in new construction and greenfield sites; however, I would like to see more incentives for retrofit and brownfield redevelopment, as those are typically the greatest consumers of energy due to the age of the equipment alone. When owners are faced with the cost of a gut and replacement — particularly the first cost for the replacement of the major heating and cooling equipment — plans are often scaled back for the project or funds are appropriated towards finishes and other amenities, not the inefficient energy consumers that are 40 years old. It turns into a “What can we afford?” argument in lieu of a “Where should we spend the money that we have?” solution.

Read more of this Q&A in the September/October issue of Correctional News, available soon.

By Lindsey Coulter