Keeley Sheehan
Managing Editor
USF St. Petersburg is tentatively scheduled to break ground on the new student center this spring, in either March or April. Earlier this month, the Student Government Senate passed a resolution to commit approximately $50,000 to making the new building meet national standards of environmental efficiency.
SG President James Scott hopes the building will meet LEED Platinum standards. LEED—Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design—is an internationally recognized set of standards developed by the U.S. Green Building Council that classifies buildings according to their environmental efficiency. It looks at categories like energy and water efficiency and reduction in carbon emissions. LEED Platinum is the highest rating a building can achieve. The USF St. Petersburg Science and Technology building has a LEED Gold rating.
LEED is based on a point system. Buildings are inspected after they are constructed and points are awarded on a number of features related to environmental efficiency. Because of this, there is not yet any guarantee that the new student center will achieve LEED Platinum rating. Eighty points out of a possible 110 are needed to achieve platinum status.
The Tampa-based Rowe Architects have drawn up plans for the building, and Creative Contractors, Inc. of Clearwater are developing cost estimates for the project, which Scott said should be available later this month. After the cost estimate for the building is complete, the university will have a better idea of whether it can afford the types of features a LEED inspection looks for.
“This is an opportunity for our campus to show leadership,” Scott said. A LEED Platinum rating would “distinguish the university as being a responsible leader when it comes to energy efficiency and reducing our environmental impact, and … being smarter about the way that we use our resources, our water and our energy.”
Students incurred a fee increase to finance the new student center. The fee increase was higher than anticipated, leaving extra money that SG dedicated to enhancing the campus. The Clean Energy and Resource Conservation Commission was created to research the best way to use the extra money, which is approximately $50,000, with the primary goal being to achieve a LEED Platinum rating on the new building.
The extra fee came from an additional 50 cents per credit hour charge. The university has an annual output of about 100,000 credit hours, according to Scott.
The new student center will house 200 beds in six stories—two students to a room, with no kitchens. The building is set to have a food court, outdoor patio space, and a ballroom, as well as features to make it more efficient and environmentally friendly, including a lot of glass, solar hot water panels and systems to recycle water. The building will also feature educational components on the first floor describing these features.
“There will be an information system on the first floor looking at energy usage patterns, water usage patterns, mechanics … The building can be a teaching tool,” Scott said.
One building in the Florida public university system, at the University of Florida, currently has a LEED Platinum rating. UF’s Heavener Football Complex received platinum status in 2009. The $28 million complex was “the first building in Florida and the first athletic facility in the nation to achieve platinum status,” according to University of Florida News. According to the 2009 UF News report, there are 130 platinum buildings in the U.S. and 141 worldwide.
