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Canal Park

Context

Developer and property manager WC Smith led the creation of the park as a component of the District of Columbia’s Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, which sought to reinvigorate the neighborhood and improve water quality in the Anacostia watershed. Today, WC Smith retains interest in the park and anticipates that the park will mitigate stormwater for the development of an adjacent multifamily property to be developed by the company.

Canal Park’s origins date to 1999, when WC Smith was acquiring properties in the neighborhood. At the time, the paved site was a parking lot for school buses, but it was once part of the Washington City Canal System that connected the Potomac and Anacostia rivers and ran through the National Mall. The park proposal later became a key part of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative and a demonstration project for the District’s Department of Energy & Environment.

To pursue a public/private partnership for the park construction, WC Smith formed the Canal Park Development Association (CPDA) in 2000, which ultimately secured the site from the city and led the development process. A design competition led by CPDA, along with the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation and the District’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development, chose OLIN as the design team to advance the project.

Given the site’s history and the ongoing water quality concerns with the Anacostia River (partially because of combined sewer overflow), water management was a top priority in the design competition. “The park naturally became a focal point of sustainability and a regional stormwater facility,” explains Brad Fennell, senior vice president of development at WC Smith. The potential for the site as a community and social hub also evolved as a number of catalytic developments occurred in the area, including the Washington Nationals ballpark, the U.S. Department of  Transportation headquarters, and the redevelopment of an adjacent public housing site.

Today, WC Smith maintains connections to the park, while the local business improvement district (BID), Capitol Riverfront, manages day-to-day maintenance and programming. WC Smith has continued development momentum around the park and anticipates using the water management capabilities of the park to adhere to the District’s on-site water retention requirements for the development of an adjacent parcel. “We are really  excited for the next ten years, when you will see more buildings fronting on the park and the development of new retail in the area,” says Fennell.

Innovative Water Management Features

  • Stormwater collection and reuse system. Stormwater that falls on site is collected and treated through a bioretention, ultraviolet disinfection, and filtration system that removes 100 percent of biological pollutants and reduces total suspended solids. Collected stormwater then meets up to 95 percent of the park’s needs for irrigation, its ice rink, and its fountain, saving an estimated 1.5 million gallons per year.
  • Rain gardens and bioretention tree pits. Rain gardens run along the eastern edge of the park, and captured rain is subsequently filtered and reused. Forty-six bioretention tree pits also filter out contaminants.
  • Cisterns. Two underground cisterns hold 80,000 gallons of water, in addition to the roughly 8,500 gallons that the rain gardens can hold.
  • Ice rink and water features. The ice rink and 42-jet fountain splash park are among the most popular aspects of the park—and their water needs are met entirely by stormwater.

Value Proposition

Canal Park has greatly contributed to the revival of the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood. Perceptions of the neighborhood have changed with this revitalization; for example, a survey by the BID found that 90 percent of local residents considered the area “clean and safe” in 2015, compared with 30 percent in 2009. For WC Smith, the investment in Canal Park has enhanced the value of adjacent properties, which now overlook a valuable and vibrant public amenity. The park’s ability to manage stormwater for a future adjacent development has been an added bonus.

Lessons Learned

  • Public/private partnerships can be excellent vehicles for delivering innovation in stormwater management. The Anacostia Waterfront Initiative provided the initial vision for the area’s revitalization, and Canal Park came to fruition through a public/private partnership with funds from tax increment financing and New Markets Tax Credits. Today, the Capitol Riverfront BID manages a robust program of activities that draw people to the park from both the neighborhood and the city at large. Fennell describes the BID’s work as contributing to the “energy that helps make the park a special place.”

“Canal Park is a popular meeting spot for residents, workers, and visitors. The project would not have been successful without the partnerships with private developers, the city and federal governments, and the Capitol Riverfront BID.” Brad Fennell, Senior Vice President of Development, WC Smith

  • Water management can inspire community engagement and local conservation. “The whole concept of environmental conservation in the park is what has captured people who live around here,” explains Janet Weston, the park manager at WC Smith. The design and development team proactively developed educational signage about the park’s stormwater management functions and has worked with the BID to get the message out to a wider audience.

ENR2

Designed by GLHN Architects and Engineers in Tucson and Richärd+Bauer architects in Phoenix and built by Hensel Phelps Construction Company, the $75 million building integrates innovative solutions to architecture for a desert environment, with many sustainable components that minimize the use of energy and water while protecting the structure from the effects of extreme weather. Slated for LEED Platinum certification, the building’s key resiliency features are its passive energy systems, building orientation, and courtyard design. Completed in July 2015, ENR2 was designed to further interdisciplinary research in earth and environmental sciences, natural resources, and math and related sciences. The building includes faculty offices, conference space, research and work space, and instructional dry laboratories. A 600-seat auditorium and a coffee café meet the needs of a growing student population.

The building serves as a living model of evolving ideas about environmental sustainability and resilience—especially appropriate considering that the lead tenant is the Institute of the Environment, which conducts research on effective adaptation and mitigation factors related to climate change. “We also house the university’s environmental groups, so this building had to be the most environmentally responsible building on campus,” says May Carr, senior architect in the university’s planning, design, and construction department and project manager for the building.

Mitigating Risks

Resilience measures for the building included fortifying the exterior to address high winds, sun and monsoon rain exposure, and summer temperatures that can reach more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Many of the important features of the building are passive systems and design strategies that require little if any assistance from renewable energy sources. These passive strategies include configuring the building around a central courtyard that integrates exterior circulation and interaction space and reduces the interior’s need for air conditioning by about 30 percent.

The building minimizes the impacts of summer heat with the building mass, which is constructed of poured-in-place concrete, and has shading and strategically reduced openings. Vertical metal fins and overhangs shade the building on the south facade. In the courtyard, garden terraces and balconies form overhangs that create comfortable shaded microclimates for year-round outdoor meetings and socializing. These building features also evoke a desert slot canyon atmosphere with curvilinear lines, light, and shadows. “The way we are protecting the building is through shading,” says Carr. “Our harshest exposures are on the east and west sides, and those have limited openings with a lot of building mass.”

The building was designed to perform well and consistently at a comfortable temperature of 74 degrees Fahrenheit to save on energy costs and provide resilience, given the likelihood of increasing hot spells. The dedicated outdoor air system combined with overhead induction coils known as “active” chilled beams provide the primary heating, ventilation, and air conditioning for perimeter office spaces on floors two through five. The interior open-office spaces rely on an underfloor low-velocity air displacement system, which costs less to install and operate. On the courtyard balconies and terraces, large fans help circulate cooler air, and plants temper the building through evapotranspiration. Heat gain and energy costs on the building have been greatly reduced, compared to other campus buildings.

“We are looking to see how the building responds to higher heat and longer heat events, and how increasing drought conditions are going to affect how the building works,” says Carr. “If the grid goes down and it’s 110 degrees outside, opening all the doors will not help cool the interior significantly.” Although so far, she says, even when it is very hot, “the courtyard space has been doing what we wanted it to do.”

Drought-prone areas like Tucson also face the risk of flooding, as less frequent but more intense rainfall runs off sun-hardened ground. Although the university does not build in the floodplain, the risks of storm-related flooding and power outages still exist. ENR2 resilience strategies included elevating the mechanical equipment above the 100-year-flood plain and providing backup power and on-site generators to allow the building to continue to be used even during a power outage.

The building also addresses drought risks with water harvesting and green infrastructure featuring native and drought-tolerant plants. When it rains, the water free-falls to the courtyard, drips through balcony and terrace planters, and flows into catch basins before being collected in the 52,000-gallon holding and filtration tank installed underground. Landscaped beds are irrigated with the stored stormwater runoff, captured building condensate, and reclaimed water. “There is always recognition of the presence of water, but it is being done in a way that acknowledges our desert environment,” notes Carr.

Creating Value

“We are looking to maximize the longevity and efficiency of our buildings,” says Pete Dourlein, associate vice president for the university’s planning, design, and construction department. “As an institution, our goal is to build 50- to 100-year-life buildings.”

Even with the latest energy-systems technology and high-quality materials, the cost of building ENR2 was comparable to other university buildings, he says. Separating the building with a central courtyard cost more than constructing a solid block building because of more exterior surface area, but the advantages included reducing heat, solar gain, and the amount of interior space that needed to be cooled. Greater exposure to natural light and views also has been proven to boost people’s productivity.

“ The way we are protecting the building is through shading.” —May Carr

Energy-efficient features such as chilled beams and underfloor electrical distribution systems cost an estimated 2 percent more than conventional construction features to install. Projections show the building’s energy-saving features alone will save 30 percent on energy costs compared to conventional buildings.

Early responses indicate the building is boosting the university’s and departments’ images, a benefit in recruiting staff members and students. “Some of the faculty and researchers are already talking it up with their colleagues across the country and creating a buzz about this phenomenal new environment they are going to work and collaborate in,” says Dourlein. “Our assets are our people. That is what the space is for, even if we may not be able to put a price to that.”

Gaylord Opryland / Grand Ole Opry

The performance stage of the Grand Ole Opry, the world-renowned country music venue, was covered with four feet of floodwater. At Gaylord Opryland, electrical switch rooms the size of small gymnasiums, all technology and communications infrastructure, miles of electrical wiring, and most of the facilities’ enormous kitchens and food storage areas were destroyed by the flood. Between the Opry House and the hotel and convention center, damages totaled more than $200 million. Flood remediation and refurbishment of the facilities took five months for the Opry House and six months for the resort and convention center.

During recovery, the company continued to pay employee wages for six weeks after the flood and also provided three months of health care coverage to the more than 1,800 employees who were temporarily laid off during the rebuilding. The out-of-service period for the Opryland properties, one of Nashville’s largest employers, had a huge impact on the local economy, negatively affecting suppliers, outsourcing companies, cleaning crews, transportation providers, and city revenues (the company at the time generated more than 20 percent of the city’s hotel taxes).

Mitigating Risks

In 2012, Ryman Hospitality Properties completed construction on a combined $17 million perimeter flood protection system around the hotel and the Opry House, to protect the 100-plus-acre site from another monumental flood. The large floodwall, which stands 10 feet tall in some places, is built of brick and concrete; the barrier system is completed with aluminum planks stored on the property that groundskeepers can install quickly to stop water from coming through pedestrian and vehicle gates. The new wall was built on top of a previous flood protection system constructed to a 100-year event standard following a 1975 flood. The owners reached out to the public to help alleviate fears that the floodwall could adversely affect surrounding properties.

Ryman Hospitality Properties built to the 500- year standard after the 2010 flood because of “the enormity of the damage and the fact it was so far-reaching,” says Bennett Westbrook, senior vice president of investments, design, and construction for Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. “The idea of going through that again was unimaginable.” By exceeding the customary 100-year-flood protection level, they also “future-proofed” the property against changing federal flood regulations and increasing risks related to climate change. Ryman Hospitality Properties was the first U.S. company to install the flood barrier technology manufactured by EKO Flood USA LLC, using a flood protection system that has been proven effective in Europe for more than 20 years. The floodwall now offers better protection for two backup emergency generators, which are capable of powering facilities for five days. The property owners also increased the floodwater pumping capacity in the protected area from 50,000 gallons per minute to 125,000 gallons per minute to remove a greater volume of rainwater in the event of a flood.

Creating Value

Westbrook says spending $17 million on the two flood protection systems was “an easy call” considering the alternatives that another devastating flood could entail, such as massive property damages, business interruption, human toll, and implications to the company’s investors if the rebuilt facilities were not adequately protected. Such resilience measures also were a wise investment, he says, given the value of the assets—it would cost an estimated $2.5 billion to rebuild the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center and $100 million to replace the Grand Ole Opry House. The new flood protection wall and EKO flood system helped Ryman Hospitality Properties meet the requirements of the property insurer, FM Global, to qualify for insurance rating advantages and better coverage for roughly the same premium Ryman paid before building the wall. Although the owners’ financial commitment to employees resulted in very low turnover and saved significant costs in training new employees, Ryman Hospitality Properties believed that future-proofing the building against a similar expenditure was a wise move.

The Grand Ole Opry facilities represent “a lot of assets, a lot of expensive capital, and a tremendous amount of investment,” says Westbrook. He says the variety of measures Ryman Hospitality Properties has taken—building the floodwall, acting swiftly to fix damages, taking care of employees, and enhancing the public spaces during recovery construction—all have improved public relations, marketing, and the bottom line for the property. From this more positive perspective, Westbrook adds, the resilience process allowed for investments in the property that would not have been possible before the flood: “We took the opportunity to do extensive renovations during the dark period, which would have been far too disruptive to do had the hotel and Opry House been operational with customers in house.”

Westbrook says spending $17 million on the two flood protection systems was “an easy call,” considering the alternatives that another devastating flood could entail.

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

Partners HealthCare remained committed to the brownfield waterfront site it had found at the Charlestown Navy Yard, despite its vulnerability to similar risks of hurricanes, storm surges, and sea-level rise and the potential coastal flooding and power loss. But the harbor site and the events of Hurricane Katrina and other coastal storms caused the company to fundamentally shift its approach in designing and constructing the hospital to focus on sustainability and resilience. The shift has led to Partners working more consistently in all its healthcare facilities toward integrating sustainability with adaptation. “This is what the resilient hospital is about and [what] we should all be embracing,” says John Messervy, corporate director of design and construction for Partners HealthCare.

Completed in 2013, the eight-story, $225 million, LEED Gold–certified Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is built on the remediated site. The hospital is exceptional not only for the care it provides—it is recognized as one of the nation’s top rehabilitation facilities for survivors of strokes and accidents, particularly those involving spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries—but also for its careful planning for resilience.

Located where the Little Mystic Channel meets Boston’s Inner Harbor, the 132-bed hospital’s greatest risks are wind and flooding from coastal storms. “[With the hospital] being on the waterfront, it is likely to be a nor’easter or a hurricane that will create the most difficulty in continuing to provide services,” says Messervy.

Lessons from Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy, which hit the East Coast while the Boston hospital was being constructed, were critically important to Partners’ resilience planning. “We were committed to learning all we could, not only from Katrina, but from subsequent river floods in Louisville and other events around the country that had impacted hospitals,” says Messervy. Partners identified the ability to withstand extreme weather as a key business strategy that should be replicated at all Partners HealthCare facilities, especially in acute hospitals where patients continually rely on emergency services and access to treatment programs.

Partners created a library of documented evidence: data on Boston Harbor’s rising tide levels attributable to climate change and passing hurricanes, first-hand stories from Hurricane Katrina and other events, and information about the kinds of systems failures that had affected other hospitals’ abilities to provide services. Partners assembled a panel of experts to advise on building resilience and used data to guide design—with the intent of being able to inhabit the building through a Category 3 hurricane—with winds from 111 to 129 mph and storm surges of between nine and 12 feet above normal.

Mitigating Risks

Working with architects Perkins+Will, Partners took innovative steps to prepare for climate change and storms. The hospital was built with 90 percent of the resilience strategies Partners identified, including the following:

  • The first floor is 30 inches above the 500-year flood level to safeguard against projected sea-level rise over the life of the building.
  • All mechanicals—boilers, chillers, air handlers for ventilation—were installed on the roof or in a penthouse above the eight hospital floors to ensure operation during flooding.
  • High-voltage electrical service is run to a penthouse transformer and is encased in a concrete chase.
  • The primary diesel storage is in the basement, as per fire code, but it is housed in a floodproof vault with a 150,000-gallon tank. A pump delivers the fuel to the penthouse to power generators for at least four days, or longer if electrical loads are conserved.
  • High-efficiency mechanical systems, including a cogeneration system for heat and power that provides about 25 percent of the total power needed, reduce the building’s energy requirement to half that of comparable hospitals. These systems also help extend the supply of on-site power generation in case of outages.
  • A secondary combined chiller and HVAC system provides redundancy in case of outages, thereby allowing either system to keep the building warm in winter and cool in summer. An enhanced free-cooling (economizer) system provides most of the winter cooling load to save energy.
  • The building envelope is super-insulated with foam in the walls and triple-paned glass in patient rooms, thus avoiding the need for baseboard heating, which is typically required for Boston’s cold winters.
  • Operable windows in patient rooms and activity areas allow for natural ventilation during power outages.
  • Landforms such as swales and earth berms constructed of large granite blocks uncovered during the site excavation act as barrier reefs and deflect waves from hitting the building directly. An extensive drainage network allows floodwaters to dissipate quickly during flooding.
  • A two-level, 200-car underground parking garage is protected by a berm and a barrier system. Spaulding is designed to operate for at least four days in “island mode,” with diesel fuel for emergency generators, natural gas cogeneration capability, and ample stores of food and other supplies. The entire first floor of the building— including spaces for physical therapy and meetings, a swimming pool, and a cafeteria—could be flooded with only minor impact on operations, while the upper floors for patients remain fully occupied and operational.

Partners is conducting a resilience study of 30 of its clinical and research sites in Massachusetts for their exposure and ability to withstand extreme weather events. New buildings have communications, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems placed on higher floors, and older buildings are relocating them. “It is not an inexpensive proposition, and in many instances there is no payback, but we have to be able to provide medical service in the face of extreme events, and it is not acceptable for a facility to shut down,” says Messervy.

Creating Value

The premium for Spaulding’s resilience measures was about $1.5 million on construction costs of $160 million; half of that premium paid for encasing the high-voltage electrical riser through the building. The other $750,000 paid for building systems upgrades, such as high-efficiency pumps and chillers, for which Spaulding received partial reimbursement through utility company rebates.

Investments in the building envelope and more efficient energy systems have had a relatively rapid payback. The cost of the on-site cogeneration, for example, will be recouped within eight years. The hospital shaved about $400,000 off its first-year operating costs and anticipates consistently reducing costs by $500,000 per year through additional fine-tuning of the mechanical system and an LED lighting retrofit.

“The mayor uses Spaulding as a poster child for resilient building design in the city of Boston. It is receiving recognition at a number of different levels, most importantly directly with the patients, who benefit from the services there.” —John Messervy

Partners is one of the largest electricity consumers in the state, so the sustainability and resilience strategies that drive down day-to-day energy costs provide immediate return and also enable Partners’ hospitals to function longer in emergencies on their backup resources. Spaulding’s 250-kilowatt gas-fired combined heat and power plant provides power for the hospital and the local utility during peak periods and also heats the hospital’s water from the waste heat captured in the cogeneration process. Another sustainability/resilience strategy, the hospital’s green roof helps insulate the building and absorb stormwater runoff.

The highly energy-conserving building envelope, natural daylighting, gas-fired cogeneration system, and other features combine to keep the carbon emissions of the building far below those of most hospitals.

Resilience measures also are doing double duty to help heal patients, says Messervy: “Swales and berms will deflect waves from a direct hit on the building, and those landforms have become part of the therapy landscape that patients use during good weather to regain balance and mobility.”

These unique attributes are contributing to public recognition and driving demand for Spaulding’s services, which has resulted in a patient waiting list.