Fort Bragg’s Sustainable Community Team made remarkable strides towards sustainability through their successful efforts to integrate Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards in the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of installation infrastructure.
Fort Bragg set aggressive performance targets, requiring the installation to meet at least LEED Silver standards by FY 2012, Gold by FY 2017 and Platinum by FY 2020 for 100 percent of all new military construction (MILCON).
The first phase of Fort Bragg’s existing buildings program includes 43 buildings encompassing more than 5.2 million square feet and is the second largest contributor of square footage to the U.S. LEED-Existing Buildings program in the entire U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) inventory.
Fort Bragg entered into a partnership with USGBC as a part of their LEED Portfolio Program under which the base registered 43 buildings (over 5.2 million square feet). The unique Program assigns “automatic” LEED credits based on the installation’s pre-approved baseline standards and policies. This process eliminates the need for supporting documentation on certain pre-specified credits and on many associated costs.
Another 2007 milestone for Fort Bragg’s sustainable design goals was the construction of a permanent container building on the installation. The two-story, 4,322 square feet 249th Engineers Company Operations Building was constructed using 12 reclaimed, 14-gauge steel, shipping containers. Not only does this building boast superior resistance to wind, fire, moisture, and other damaging elements and require only a fraction of the time and materials to construct, Fort Bragg is expected to save tens of thousands of dollars on labor and construction, as well as operation and maintenance costs. Converting these used shipping containers also conserves substantial energy, as only 5 percent of the total energy required to melt down the containers for reuse is needed to convert them.
In addition to an innovative program performance monitoring module, Fort Bragg developed a Best Practices Database to assist project managers and designers unfamiliar with LEED Reference guides. A user-friendly LEED Vendor Database was also developed to help project managers and local Army engineers identify local and regional suppliers of building/construction products and materials meeting LEED requirements.
For more information, please contact Paul Wirt at 910-396-3341 or paul.wirt@us.army.mil.
