An interview with ThedaCare's Albert Park

A culture of sustainability and a desire for a greener built environment are common ground between The Boldt Company and the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance. That’s why it seemed natural to partner in the process of documenting the construction of a LEED registered project. As the industry voice in sustainable building for Wisconsin, the WGBA saw opportunity in partnering with The Boldt Company, a leader in sustainable construction, to journey through the LEED certification process on the new ThedaCare Physicians Clinic in the Fox River Valley (Darboy). Albert Park is the Director of Facilities Planning for ThedaCare. What follows is a question & answer session between Albert and the WGBA about how ThedaCare has integrated LEED design into their building model:

WGBA: Could you describe what set of events took place that moved ThedaCare to start designing environmentally responsible buildings?

AP: "Environmentally Responsible" is really a relative concept. We have been designing buildings for many years that are far in excess of minimal code requirements. Most projects included design characteristics intended to minimize energy consumption and maximize building performance. These design decisions were typically made based on life cycle cost discussions and on factors related to indoor air quality. The goal was to be good stewards of our financial assets. In the past few years, I'd say we really started to focus on being good stewards of our environment as well. The learning was, that financial stewardship and environmental stewardship go hand in hand. They are not exclusive of each other.

WGBA: How long did it take from the first discussion to building the first LEED registered building?

AP: We considered LEED Certification in a couple of early projects, but chose not to pursue the official certification. However we spent a great deal of time and energy discussing design issues as they relate to sustainability and in fact had sizable line items in the budget with funds dedicated to investment in longer term "green" investments. The Encircle Health Project completed last fall, will likely be LEED Gold. The Darboy clinic will receive LEED silver certification.

WGBA: How important is it that each project ThedaCare builds be LEED certified?

AP: Honestly, to me LEED certification is desirable, but not necessarily required for all projects. We have learned that if LEED certification is desirable for any given project, that decision needs to be made early on in the project development. The business case and the stakeholders are different from project to project, and each project must be evaluated based on its particular opportunities and constraints. That being said though, sustainability is an aspect of the building design that will absolutely be discussed and integrated into all of our projects regardless of LEED level of certification.

WGBA: Could you explain what the biggest challenges have been for you and your staff as ThedaCare made the leap to the LEED new construction model?

AP: Stakeholders vary from project to project, and these individuals have different levels of knowledge regarding sustainability. The assumptions that initial investments in LEED certification would be at the expense of program or other building amenities had to be addressed.

WGBA: Does ThedaCare have any plans to quantify results or changes that would be related to the new buildings, like enhanced job performance, decreased employee absences, increase in patient recovery time, etc.?

AP: We are currently planning to perform a Post Occupancy Evaluation on these projects. Defining metrics that can point to clear cause are difficult, but we believe possible. More on this in the future.

WGBA: Does the Darboy Clinic have any unique features in the design or construction that will make this LEED certified Clinic a different experience for employees and patients?

AP: I think the most obvious to our employees and staff is the natural daylighting. Health Care facilities can often be lacking in natural daylight due to the deep floor plates. Attention was paid to allowing much daylight into patient and staff areas.