2004 Closing the Circle Award Winner, Sustainable Design

Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia embraced the principles of sustainable design and worked with the surrounding community in order to develop the Herbert H. Bateman Educational & Administrative Center (HHBEAC). This center pursued a plan with LEED standards in mind. This project was funded by numerous sources through fundraising and donations.

• Siting: The development of HHBEAC disturbed less than .1 acre of additional habitat because it was constructed on a site that had been previously disturbed. This site housed 5 buildings and a parking lot; however, now it houses the HHBEAC and the parking lot, while the rest of the area will be restored to the native habitat.

• Materials and Recycling: Building materials for this project were selected because of their low impact on the environment. The developers chose wood from sustainable forests; engineered wood, which is manufactured from younger trees and wood strands; cork flooring from the bark of the trees; and recycled content materials (carpet, rubber flooring, dry wall, Tectum panels, etc). In addition to using recycled content to build, the developers also minimized construction waste and recycled what they could. Since HHBEAC was built on a site with existing buildings, the old buildings had to be torn down. Deconstruction techniques were used to salvage lumber from the existing buildings to use on further projects.

• Energy Efficiency: HHBEAC uses natural lighting, natural ventilation, energy efficient electricity, and various forms of renewable energy like solar and geothermal. The geothermal system draws heat from underground water in the wintertime and does the reverse in the warmer seasons.

• Water Efficiency: To be water efficient, the refuge created "natural looking" wetlands filled with native species. These wetlands are actually ecologically based wastewater treatment systems that tend to the facility's on-site wastewater. The bacteria and other organisms that live on the roots of the plants treat the wastewater. The treated water is then reused as toilet flushing water.

  Additionally, the facility uses waterless urinals, which reportedly saves more than 100,000 gallons of water per year. The parking lot surfaces are gravel instead of pavement to allow rainwater to percolate into the ground, reducing storm water runoff.

• Other: To promote both the building and the idea of sustainable development, HHBEAC displays numerous educational exhibits around the site explaining sustainable building techniques and systems used in the facility. There is an average of 1.5 million visitors per year to Chincoteague, so numerous people will encounter this information on the wastewater treatment, geothermal heating and cooling, and recycled content materials used in the building.

For more information please contact, John D. Schroer at (757) 336-6122 or John_Schroer@fws.gov.