Alexandria Police Headquarters Building Earns LEED Gold Certification

The City of Alexandria’s new Police Headquarters Facility has been awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification. The Green Building Certification Institute administers the LEED certification program, which provides independent, third-party verification that a building was designed and constructed using strategies that achieve high performance in the following areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

Alexandria’s Police Headquarters building was designed to attain more than 30 percent energy savings, due to its improved building envelope, high efficient glazing, occupancy sensors, and energy efficient mechanical equipment. Stormwater quality and quantity control are achieved through several bioretention ponds, which allow the water to be filtered before draining slowly into the ground. A 30,000 gallon irrigation tank was also installed to collect the stormwater and reuse it for irrigation. The facility incorporates water efficient fixtures that reduce water usage by 30 percent.  Additionally, during construction, more than 90 percent of the waste was diverted form the landfill and recycled.

These are a few of the environmentally-friendly strategies that were used to earn LEED Gold Certification, which is the second-highest level of certification that can be achieved through the evaluation process. In addition to the LEED Gold Certification, the Police Headquarters facility was also recently chosen by Environmental Design + Construction Magazine as the winner of an Excellence in Design Award  in their 2012 awards program. The facility, a winner in the Government/Institutional category, will be featured in the magazine’s October print and online issues.