WATERLOO, Ont. -- The new Waterloo Regional Police Service Investigative Services Building in Cambridge, Ont., was able to be LEED Gold certified while also fulfilling the needs of a difficult project: meet stringent sustainable building standards and design a reliable, secure facility. The 44,132-sq.-ft. building (below) houses office space, meeting and interview rooms, and forensic laboratories that require very specific indoor conditions and airtight rooms.
"Forensics buildings present a challenge for design teams on conventional projects, let alone LEED projects. However, creating an efficient, well-functioning facility with airtight rooms is a priority for both LEED and the police, so there is great symbiosis," explains Stephen Carpenter, president of Enermodal Engineering, the firm that served as the LEED Consultant, Energy Engineer, Mechanical/Electrical Engineer, and the Measurement and Verification Specialist. Rebanks Pepper Littlewood Architects was the architect on the project.
Among the many indoor air quality measures, superior ventilation conditions are provided through the use of carbon dioxide sensors that are mounted in the return air plenum and meeting rooms. The building's low velocity displacement ventilation system is another design measure that affords high ventilation effectiveness year-round.
Through multiple design and construction measures, the WRPS building is expected to achieve a 60 per cent reduction in annual energy costs, a 65 per cent reduction in indoor water use and a 68 per cent reduction in the water used for sewage conveyance. Careful construction waste management strategies diverted 84 per cent of construction waste from landfill. Approximately 30 per cent of the materials used in this building have high recycled content.