Rush plans to go green as part of $800 million transformation
By Stacie Johnson
Rush University Medical Center is going green. In developing a new $800 million building and renovation project, it is following green building standards.
Rush recently registered the Rush Transformation, its four-building project, with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Officials said they are complying with almost 70 criteria in its planning and development to achieve green certification.
These criteria are known collectively as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. They set prerequisites for design, construction, and operations such as using water-efficient landscaping, renewable energy, and tobacco smoke control.
USGBC created the LEED rating system to give the building industry standards for what can be considered a green building. The system has become the standard of choice for federal agencies, state and local governments, and other entities wanting to build environmentally sound structures and landscapes nationwide.
Joe DeVoss, Rush assistant vice president for campus transformation, said following these standards will make Rush one of a few hospitals in the country to receive green certification. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which is nearing the end of a redevelopment project, also has applied for the certification.
Rush officials described the Rush Transformation as a comprehensive construction and facilities renovation program. In the works since 2003, this capital building project includes a patient tower, an ambulatory or orthopedics care center, a central energy plant, and a parking garage.
DeVoss said green registration falls in line with Rush’s mission statement and with the City of Chicago’s push for green building plans. City legislation passed in 2004 required all new City-funded construction and major renovation projects within Chicago to earn LEED certification.
“Chicago has always been a leader in environmental building practices, and we've seen tremendous growth of LEED-certified projects in the city,” said Ashley Katz, USGBC media coordinator. “Chicago has 20 certified buildings and more than 160 registered projects in the works.”
Katz said this trend is part of the national increase in LEED certifications. She attributes the shift to increased public awareness of climate change.
“I think people are looking for ways to turn back the clock on global warming,” Katz said. “Green building is a measured way of doing that.”
Katz said 800 LEED-certified projects are underway nationwide this year, compared to 669 last year and 398 in 2005.
Rush’s project is one of 6,000 registered projects nationwide, versus 4,628 registrations in 2006 and 3,284 in 2005.
Registered projects are those currently “in the pipeline," said Katz, either still in the conceptualization phase or in the building design and construction phases. Such projects have been registered with LEED with the intention of gaining certification upon completion.
In the LEED certification process, registering the project is step one, and Katz said the USGBC encourages building planners to register early. To earn certification, a building project must meet certain prerequisites and performance benchmarks or "credits” within each category.
Once USGBC reviews all the required documents, it awards a final LEED rating within 30 to 90 days of completed submittal.
“The reason why projects are in the 'registered' process for so long is because they are either in the process of building or gathering their documentation," Katz said. "But like I mentioned, we have a quick 30 to 90 day turnaround.”
In the Rush Transformation project, the ambulatory care building will open first in 2009, followed by the patient care tower in late 2011 or early 2012. The new patient tower will replace the current patient care facility, which has been in use since the 1880s.
Prior to launching the initial campus transformation, the central energy plant, which controls all power for each of the buildings, will be ready for operation. The energy plant and the new parking garage are not part of the green registration. DeVoss said they are too complicated to meet all the criteria, but development overseers will meet as many standards as possible.
The parking garage, designed for staff only, will be located at Flournoy and Paulina Streets and will offer at least 600 parking spaces, freeing up more visitor and patient parking in the current lot.
Based on studies Rush has reviewed and from what his team saw in other LEED-certified hospitals, DeVoss said going green will improve patients’ recovery and overall outcomes while it reduces the hospital’s operating costs.
The USGBC agreed, noting LEED-certified projects “go beyond the environment and include improved patient outcomes.” They also “reduce operating costs, increase staff productivity, and [give] a return on profit and distinction in the marketplace.”
Rush’s plans are still subject to approval by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. Rush already has received board approval for a certificate of need to proceed with detailed planning for the project.
