Builders develop a green thumb

Corrected Jan. 31, 2007.

The Watershed Committee of the Ozarks’ December unveiling of its Lakeside Learning Station is a prelude to future developments at the Valley Water Mill Park site northeast of Springfield. It also foreshadows developers’ interests in green building, the industry term for environmentally friendly construction.

The $250,000 Lakeside Learning Station – now open to the public – is part of Phase I of the Valley Water Mill Park, which eventually will include a 10,000-square-foot Watershed Center, three other learning stations focused on spring, stream and wetland environments, and the Springfield-Greene County Parks Department’s Equestrian Center.

The first learning station, or outdoor classroom, focuses on the lake environment; each of three subsequent stations will feature its own aquatic environment: a spring, a stream and a wetland. Bullard said the spring and stream education centers will open in the spring. The wetland center could open by summer.

“This is not only a learning center; it is a becoming center,” Watershed Committee Vice Chairman Dan Chiles said of the lake station. “We will become a little bit of the things we are studying.”

Chiles knows about environmentally conscious building – he and brother Mike Chiles are integrating several techniques into their downtown Emerald Building at 309 South Ave.

Other projects in and around Springfield are using similar materials and techniques in construction, including Matt O’Reilly’s Green Circle shopping center at Republic Road and National Avenue; the new Cycles Unlimited building on East Republic Road; the planned Botanical Center in Nathanael Greene-Close Memorial Park; and the recently completed addition to the Discovery Center of Springfield.

Following the LEED

A feature of the Lakeside Learning Station is its environmentally friendly construction. Watershed Committee of the Ozarks Executive Director Loring Bullard said the station could be LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certified.

LEED, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, is a holistic approach to construction that attempts to minimize the environmental impact.

There are varying stages of LEED certification – from basic to silver, gold and platinum. But even if a building is not seeking certification, there are techniques that LEED has helped to mainstream.

“All of your major plumbing fixture manufacturers are offering very low-flow fixtures that are equivalent with anything else you’d get,” said Jason Hainline, director of green building services at the Springfield office of Environmental Market Solutions Inc. “It’s easy for a designer to select a low-flow or even a dual-flush toilet, because it looks and feels – and in many cases costs – the same.”

Certain materials also have been advanced by the LEED cause.

“There are so many companies – both existing and startups – that are offering materials that are nontoxic, recyclable, renewable, just environmentally friendly,” Hainline said, adding that energy efficiency and water reduction are the two green features catching on fastest, due to their immediate monetary returns.

The Watershed station incorporates multiple green materials, including sustainable and/or recycled hardwoods and steel in construction; concrete with a high content of fly-ash or recycled material; a collection system for roof water runoff; and a parking lot that makes use of pervious concrete, which allows water to soak through to the soil below.[[In-content Ad]]