CW2020 Employee Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 2
On Tuesday, October 17, the City of Columbia and Columbia Water celebrated the opening of its new water and wastewater administration building, the City of Columbia’s
first building registered with the certification goal of LEED® Gold level.
“This is a classic example of what we can do when we’re working together and we dream big – when we focus on neighborhood revitalization, when we focus on sustainability, when we focus on sustainability and adaptive reuse, when we focus on just being smart in what we do,” said City of Columbia Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin during opening remarks.
“I see the beauty of this building. What it’s going to do to our neighborhood. Crime has decreased just because it started being built,” shared Diane Wiley, a community leader from the nearby Belvedere Neighborhood. “I thank you very much for this, the beauty of this. I never thought this could be, because the building was just run down,” Wiley told City representatives as she thanked them for efforts to improve the West Beltline corridor.
The project renovated a brownfield site on West Beltline Boulevard, converting a blighted former auto dealership with acres of concrete and empty service bays into a beautiful work space designed to improve the local community. The new 15,300 square foot administrative building, renovated existing outbuildings, and improvements to the over 10-acre site feature:
- Removal of over 2.5 acres of asphalt from the site with drainage designed to allow rain to filter naturally into the soil to improve water quality and stormwater control;
- Water efficient landscaping to reduce water use by 50%;
- Light fixtures designed to reduce light pollution at night;
- Low flow toilets and fixtures to reduce building water use by 30%;
- A green roof and building design to reduce building energy use;
- Reuse, salvage, or recycling of 75% of site building materials and use of recycled content in new materials.
You can watch the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new water and wastewater administration building and highlights of the site at youtu.be/Z6LHNVFCsM4.