University of California classroom and office building earns LEED platinum certification

Ten years after receiving its first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the University of California (UC), Merced in Merced, California, has earned platinum certification for Classroom and Office Building 2 (COB2).

This marks the campus’ 17th LEED certification for new construction and its eighth platinum designation.
“From day one, we made a deliberate commitment to build to highest sustainable standards,” Assistant Director of Sustainability Mark Maxwell says. “With each new building, we’re proud to demonstrate that we’re keeping that promise.”

COB2 opened last fall, providing much-needed classrooms, tutorial space, research labs and academic and administrative offices to support the campus’s projected growth.

Some of COB2’s sustainable features include:

• 93 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills;
• 51 percent of the building materials are recycled content;
• the building is 43 percent more water efficient than California code requires; and
• energy efficiency is 46 percent greater than California code requires.

Like many of the campus’s other buildings, COB2 pulls chilled and hot water from the Central Plant, which contributes to its high energy efficiency.

Classroom and Office Building 1 is also expected to achieve the campus’s second LEED Building Operations and Maintenance (LEED O+M) certification shortly. The Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library earned a gold certificate in Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance in 2015.