<< 1/3 >>

Coyote Ridge Corrections Center (CRCC) in Connell, Washington recently received LEED® Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) making it the first prison campus in the nation to meet the Council’s standards for sustainable design.

The project applied for and received a unique, campus-wide Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Although the CRCC project includes 21 individual buildings, the project submitted a single LEED® certification submission for the entire campus. The US Green Building Council has awarded 39 points which means that CRCC has received the first LEED Gold Certification for a prison campus.

Coyote Ridge’s Gold certification is the first to be applied to an entire prison campus instead of a single building. John Lynch, an assistant director at the Washington Department of General Administration, confirmed this is the largest LEED® project ever completed by the State of Washington. General Administration manages public works projects for the state.

Construction on the 2,048-bed medium-custody expansion began in June 2006 and was completed in October 2008 by joint venture partners Hunt Construction Group and Lydig Construction (Hunt-Lydig) and designed by Integrus Architecture in association with Rosser International, MW Consulting Engineers and CH2M Hill. There are 21 buildings on the new campus including housing units, medical facilities, administrative space and Correctional Industries operations. “The prison was designed with the LEED® certification in mind,” Director of Capital Programs David Jansen said. “Our Project Director, Jack Olson, worked closely with the builders throughout this process to identify areas where we could incorporate sustainable features and cost savings.

Charlie Paul, the Hunt/Lydig general superintendent for the project states that “Early in the project the DOC challenged the Hunt/Lydig team to “Go for Gold” instead of the mandated goal of LEED® Silver. The subcontractors and suppliers on our team were instrumental in providing the necessary documentation and following the material management requirements on-site. The design team made extraordinary efforts to not only provide a facility that was of the best possible value to the DOC, but also built using the latest in technology and energy efficient equipment. It was an honor to be part of this effort.”