Net Zero Project to Create 300 Jobs

 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new $111 million, net-zero East Campus facility planned for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District is expected to be one of the larger redevelopment projects in Sacramento and will create 300 construction jobs.

 

The District’s board of directors contracted Turner Construction Co. to build a new 51-acre corporate yard, which the Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce reports as being one of the largest commercial complexes in North America.

 

The new East Campus Operations Center will replace the existing 19-acre corporate yard that sits behind the District’s headquarters, which they will sell to developers sometime after 2014.

 

The project is expected to “produce a ripple effect in the economy,” according to Ryan Sharp, director of the Center for Strategic Economic Research.

 

While plans for the new corporate yard have been on the agenda for more than a year, new details about the project emerged with the hiring of Turner Construction. 700 of the 2,100 employees will be relocated to the East Campus when it is completed in 2013, said Gary King, chief work force officer of the utility district.

 

The District purchased the land for its new corporate yard — a former gravel quarry site — from Granite Construction Inc. last year for $7.1 million.

 

The 350,000 square feet of building space will include a six-story building occupying 203,000 square feet on the land and several low-rise structures.

 

The new campus will be built according to LEED Platinum standards, and use half of the energy required by traditional offices by employing special concrete slabs to cool the building and advanced lighting technologies, said Christopher Wilson, principal of Stantec, the architecture and engineering firm working with Turner.

 

The facility will feature photovoltaic and thermal solar panels to provide on-site renewable energy, and various measures for low energy heating, cooling and lighting – displacement and evaporative cooling, heavy use of external shading, light louvers for enhanced daylighting, and geothermal energy storage.

 

These and additional features, such as the use of build exhaust air to precondition incoming air, and a heat recovery heat pump system, are part of the District’s efforts to serve as a leader in in green building.

 

“The new East Campus Operations Center is a much needed and important step that will allow us to better and more safely serve our customers, while also building a facility that is as environmentally friendly and cost effective as possible,” said Gary King, chief workforce officer at SMUD.  “The project will serve as a nationwide model for customers and public utility leadership peers in the ongoing sustainability movement.”