The Gatton College of Business and Economics Building at the University of Kentucky in Lexington has received LEED Gold certification as an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly facility.
The university says Gatton is the third building at UK to receive a LEED Gold.
The 210,000-square-foot building underwent a $65 million renovation and expansion that was completed in fall 2016. The project incorporated and remodeled both the 1963 original Gatton building and its 1992 addition, and increased learning spaces by more than 40 percent with technology-enabled classrooms, advanced lecture space, a real-time finance learning facility and collaborative study spaces.
Sustainable design elements in the building include water-efficient plumbing fixtures, which reduce water use by 42 percent compared with a baseline model. The facility is 26 percent more energy-efficient than the baseline model; more than 40 percent of materials used in the renovation were regional; and all adhesives, sealants, paints, composite woods, sealers and floor systems were low- or no-VOC-emitting materials.
"Our campus buildings are critical components of our sustainability initiatives," says Shane Tedder, UK sustainability coordinator. "The newly renovated and expanded Gatton Building is a great example of how human health and well-being, environmental stewardship and fiscal responsibility can be integrated in the design, construction and operation processes."
The university says it has several projects under construction that have been designed with an aim of receiving LEED certification. If those facilities achieve a LEED rating, UK will have 24 LEED-certified buildings—which equates to more than 15 percent of the university's building stock.
