DEQ has its Designs on a New ‘Greener’ Building

 

The Department of Environmental Quality is designing a new building for its next-generation workforce that is a shade greener than the typical box-office space.

“This will meet or exceed High-Performance Building Standards,” said Steve Higley, director of Support Services for DEQ.

Higley is a member of a hand-picked committee of DEQ employees currently reviewing the architectural designs for construction of a multi-agency building that will house DEQ and the Department of Human Services to be built in the existing vacant lot west of the Tax Commission.

The 250,000 square-foot building is expected to break ground this summer, with completion anticipated 16 to 18 months later, said Matthias Mueller, program director of facilities construction management for the Department of Facilities and Construction Management (DFCM).

Human Services will be occupying the building first because the lease on their current facility at 150 West North Temple expires in the fall of 2009. Part of the $40 million cost of the first phase of the project may allow some of the DEQ Divisions to move into it. The next phase, finishing the DEQ part of the building, has yet to be funded but the funding is expected to be evaluated during the 2010 legislative session.

Meanwhile, the DFCM, along with the DEQ building committee and Human Services, is meeting with potential contractors in work sessions to review their proposals on the design-build facility.

A contractor will be selected by the end of July. The DEQ Building Committee is confident that all three of the design-build teams vying for the project could do the job well.

“I’m very impressed that all of the potential contractors are creative and innovative in their approach to constructing something that isn’t a typical government building,” noted Ryan Walker, Information Technology (IT) director for DEQ and building committee member.

Bill Sinclair, deputy director of DEQ, couldn’t agree more.

“It will be a difficult process selecting a contractor,” Sinclair said. “That’s why I want employees to provide suggestions on what they want in the building to help DEQ function well.”

A suggestion form, created on DEQ’s InnerWeb, has prompted dozens of employee responses that the building committee is considering.

Of importance to both Human Services and DEQ is a well-lighted spacious building that creates a comfortable environment for employees and visitors, with shared common areas and the use of ‘green’ building design.

“It’s important that we think beyond the typical state building,” said John Hultquist, section manager for the Division of Radiation Control and building committee member. “The new generation likes open space, not so much closed cubicles.”

More information on the multi-purpose building can be found at: www.dfcm.utah.gov.

Click on DEQ’s InnerWeb to provide the committee comments. Members of the committee are also listed.