You might not expect the United States Army to employ sustainable construction practices. But in fact, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) adopted the LEED Green Building Rating System in 2002.

The military version is called SPiRiT, which is the acronym for Sustainable Project Rating Tool.
Looking forward, USACE has mandated that all new U.S. Army projects be LEED certifiable starting in the federal government’s 2008 fiscal year. Project owners need not apply for certification, but the buildings must be constructed according to SPiRiT criteria, which would make them LEED certifiable.

Even now, with the SPiRiT rating system, the USACE occasionally puts out requests for proposal (RFPs) specifying that a particular project meet the criteria for a Silver or Gold rating. For example, the new Command and Control Facility being constructed for the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell in Kentucky will meet Gold certification requirements.

The SPiRiT rating system works much the same as LEED by identifying categories and then specifying ways in which the building might be constructed to acquire points toward a rating. LEED identifies five categories. The SPiRiT program includes eight categories. But don’t think that the three new categories allow the SPiRiT rating system to allocate more points than LEED and make it easier to collect sufficient points. Instead of adopting the LEED 69 point system, SPiRiT scoring uses a 100-point system and requires more points than LEED to qualify for different ratings.

The SPiRiT categories are as follows (the new categories are numbered 6, 7, and 8):

1. Sustainable Sites
2. Water Efficiency
3. Energy and Atmosphere
4. Materials and Resources
5. Indoor Environmental Quality
6. Facility Delivery Process
7. Current Mission
8. Future Missions

What SPiRiT Adds to LEED

Ft. Campbell installation of raised access flooring being utilized as HVAC supply plenum with individual diffusers at each workstation. Credit: Mason & Hanger Inc.

The three additional SPiRiT sections — 6, 7 and 8 — concern the way the military uses buildings. Different groups rotate constantly through military facilities. As a result, military facilities are constantly remodeled and re-delivered. The USACE has developed a holistic and sustainable delivery system to manage the turnover. Categories 6, 7 and 8 describe the system.

Category 6, entitled Facility Delivery Process, lays out an organizational approach to delivering a building. Among other issues, this category discusses assembling teams and team leaders, the kinds of training that must be developed for cleaning and maintenance crews, and identifying goals and measures of success.

Category 7, Current Mission, recommends actual commissioning, operational, and maintenance procedures appropriate to the facility’s use.

These recommendations ask for written maintenance and cleaning instructions as well as training programs for occupants, facility managers and maintenance and cleaning staffs. Instructions include sustainable cleaning and pest control practices as well as comprehensive waste management and recycling plans.

How will the occupants ensure indoor air quality in light of the kinds of activities they pursue in this building? How are the air ducts cleaned? How is the lighting system maintained? Designers develop programs for virtually all of a building’s systems and then communicate these programs during training sessions and written materials.

A second part of the Current Mission category discusses an approach to protecting indoor air quality, while providing a functional, healthy and safe working environment.

Category 8 covers Future Missions and encourages designers and architects to develop long-lasting, durable facilities amenable to adaptation, renewal and many different future uses. Recommendations include open floor plans, service corridors, interstitial space, access floors, demountable walls, modular furniture, and other adaptable features. Category 8 also recommends selecting materials that are recyclable, while avoiding composite materials such as reinforced plastics and carpet fibers and backing. Another recommendation calls for labeling construction materials with identification information to facilitate recycling.

SPiRiT and LEED Similarities

Other SPiRiT categories mirror LEED practices in covering site issues, mechanical systems, material storage, off gassing, exterior day and night lighting, and landscaping.

Some issues come with a military twist. For example, military bases typically cover many acres but centralize infrastructure in a well-developed and maintained area. SPiRiT recommends selecting sites between existing roads and utilities so as to require minimal new infrastructure.

SPiRiT also provides points for using brownfield sites, which are prevalent on military bases.

Lighting is treated similarly, too. SpiRiT, as well as LEED, offers points for efficient lighting systems, such as light shelves, which help to manage natural light more efficiently, and so reduce the need for electric lighting. The Army Research Training Facility at Fort Meade, Md. — a 110,000-square-foot, two-story structure that uses lots of glass — employs a number of light shelves.

Some LEED practices won’t work for military structures. Take nighttime light pollution. Given the current environment of the War on Terror, most military buildings forego the SPiRiT systems offer of points for reducing the amount of exterior lighting used at night and crank up the lighting.

The 101st Airborne Command and Control Facility

Ft. Campbell construction photo of operable windows for air ventilation and control of indoor thermal comfort. Credit: Mason & Hanger Inc.

When completed in late spring of 2007, the 101st Airborne Command and Control Facility at Fort Campbell, Ky., will meet SPiRiT’s gold certification standard. The $24 million building covers 98,904 square feet on two above-grade floors and a below-grade basement. It has been designed in the shape of a “V” with a cylindrical tower or hinge placed at the point of the “V.”

Functionally, the building will support the 101st Airborne’s fast response mission. On one side of the building, for example, large bays will accommodate the loading of vehicles that will carry equipment aboard cargo planes moving the 101st to a combat zone. Design elements such as this enable the 101st to depart on assignment within six hours of being called.

Sustainable processes and features range from site selection to mechanical equipment to carefully controlled indoor air quality. To satisfy the site selection requirements, a building site adjacent to available electrical, water and transportation infrastructure on the base was chosen.

The mechanical design includes a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system that uses raised access floors as supply plenums. Blowers pressurize the entire space beneath the floors and push air out of the vents. The design places round adjustable diffusers about six-inches in diameter on the floor of each cubicle. Individuals working in cubicles can adjust the diffusers to personal comfort settings.

This feature earned SPiRiT points. So does the mechanical system itself which heats and cools from the floor up to about six feet. The area above is left warm and so reduces energy use — unlike conventional systems that push air through vents set just below the ceiling.

Materials were chosen carefully from an approved list of sustainable vendors. Once on site, the materials were stored in dry enclosures, protected from the elements to prevent mold from being installed in the building during construction. Before delivery, both LEED and SPiRiT suggest opening the doors and windows and airing out the building completely. Since that is often unrealistic given strict military schedules, both systems specify an alternate method of changing all of the filters in the HVAC system.

While some might be surprised to see the U.S. Army carefully airing out the 101st Airborne’s new Command and Control Facility before anyone takes up residence, the SPiRiT rating system has been fully integrated into the Army’s approach to new construction and renovation projects. For years now, the Army has been about as green as it can be.

101st Airborne Command and Control Facility

LOCATION: FORT CAMPBELL, KY.
SIZE: 98,904 SQUARE FEET — TWO ABOVE-GRADE FLOORS AND A BELOW-GRADE BASEMENT
COMPLETED: SPRING 2007
COST: $24 MILLION BUILDING
CERTIFICATION: SPIRIT GOLD