The Regional Transportation District has been awarded LEED Gold certification for the Union Station Bus Concourse. The agency held a plaque dedication Nov. 18 to recognize the achievement. The LEED rating system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is the foremost program for buildings, homes and communities that are designed, constructed, maintained and operated for improved environmental and human health performance.
“RTD continues to be a leader in the transit industry—there are less than a dozen transit centers in North American to be LEED Certified, and the Union Station Bus Concourse is the second transit center in Colorado to receive this certification,” said RTD Board Chair, Chuck Sisk. “We are thrilled to be a part of this list and hope that more transit centers follow in our footsteps.”
RTD’s Union Station multi-modal transportation hub is a $500-million-dollar project that includes the new 22-gate underground bus concourse, light rail, free MetroRide bus service, Amtrak and commuter rail beginning in 2016 – all in one location – providing riders with easy connections.
The Union Station Bus Concourse achieved LEED Gold certification for implementing practical and measurable strategies and solutions aimed at achieving high performance in: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
LEED is the foremost program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. Over 44,000 projects are currently participating in the commercial and institutional LEED rating systems, comprising over 10.3 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 135 countries.
“With each new LEED-certified building, we get one step closer to USGBC’s vision of a sustainable built environment within a generation,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “As the newest member of the LEED family of green buildings, RTD’s bus concourse is an important addition to the growing strength of the green building movement.”
Many elements and strategies went into achieving LEED Gold Certification for the bus concourse including:
- Recycling or salvaging 92 percent of all construction/demolition debris
- 27 percent of all building materials came from within 500 miles of the building site which reduced the use of fossil fuels during transportation.
- The concourse is a part of a multi-modal transportation hub that offers riders a variety of alternative transportation options.
- The final building design is 30 percent more energy-efficient than a building of comparable size.
- During construction, RTD reduced the use of raw materials by using 26 percent of all building materials from recycled content.
- The facility’s water efficiency is improved by the use of low-flow appliances in the public restrooms, resulting in a 35 percent water-use reduction and 150,000 gallon potable water saving a year.
- Ventilation is increased by 30 percent through a state-of-the-art ventilation and air monitoring system.
Plaques designating the bus concourse as a LEED Gold building will be installed at the entrances of the facility.
