Alameda County officials and the project team who delivered the highly successful new justice facility received the news they had been waiting for this past August: the facility has been certified LEED Gold, making it the first and only detention center in the nation to achieve this status.  It has exceeded the County's goal of a LEED Silver building. 

Opened in April 2007, the Juvenile Hall (providing capacity for 360 minors), administration building, and courts building cover 379,000 sq. ft., forming the full service justice center in San Leandro, California.  Leading the success of the design-build project was Vanir/Cornerstone (construction manager); Hensel Phelps/HOK (Design/Build Firm); and Beverly Prior Architects (associate architect).
 
The United States Green Building Council awarded the project 43 points (out of 45 submitted) towards the certification, with a perfect score in the categories of Energy and Atmosphere, and Innovation and Design Process.  Exceptional levels of efficiency were achieved in the following areas:

• Water-efficient irrigation technology reduces site water consumption by more than 50 percent, saving over 5,000,000 gallons annually
• Waterless urinals and water-efficient plumbing fixtures reduce water consumption by 41 percent, saving more than 2,000,000 gallons annually
• The building complies with Title 24 requirements (more stringent than national standards), but is nearly 66 percent more efficient than the baseline, saving 500 kW annually
• An 850 kW solar panel array on the rooftop provides over 60 percent of the building energy demands, over 1000 MW annually
• The project contracted to purchase 100 percent of the building energy needs equivalent to 2,629 MWh from wind generation
• 93 percent of construction waste was recycled and diverted from landfill disposal
• 23,800 gallons of bio-diesel fuel were used in the site grading equipment saving 200 tons of CO2

Along with meeting LEED requirements, additional challenges with the project included the availability of specified products, unforeseen site conditions, and inclement weather.  The team provided sound direction to minimize these impacts and the project was delivered under budget and 57 calendar days ahead of schedule.