Representatives from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation broke ground Wednesday, October 23 on a new, state-of-the-art greenhouse in the Research Park.
Illinois Street Residence Hall is receiving a renovation, including a new food hall space. The roof of this food hall will have a green roof installed on top. This green roof was added as part of their plan to improve building efficiency and sustainability, and showcase a vibrant residential experience to students, parents, and guests who visit camps, as well install climate control additions.
Atop the Undergraduate Library is a rooftop terrace that features the building entrances, seating, and look down into the lower courtyard. This rooftop also has tree pockets built into the roof, that are supported by building infrastructure featured in the orginal plans for the building. The trees in these pockets make the terrace into a green roof for the UNdergraduate Library. They provide protection from direct sunlight and the evaporation of moisure off of plant material that can cool the buidling's rooftops and lowering energy costs from cooling while increasing the roofs lifespan.
The roofing material on Bousfield is designed to reduce solar heat absorption, keeping the environment cooler and using less energy for air conditioning. In addition to other materials used to accomplish this, small patches of green roof located on the north and southwest sides of the building were also added. The landscape, including these patches of green roof, is designed with native and drought-tolerant plants to reduce dependency on potable water, as well as reduce the amount of maintenance that needs to be done to support the green roof plants.
On April 11, 2019, Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory (IBRL) was awarded the LEED Silver certification. The Water Efficiency category was IBRL's highest scoring category, gaining 4 out of 5 possible points. These points were prioritized in water efficient landscaping and both the 20% and 30% water use reduction.
Geothermal energy foundations will be installed this summer as part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s (CEE) Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory addition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Substantial completion of the renovation is expected in Summer 2020.
The Lincoln Hall remodeling project consisted of the rehabilitation, restoration, and remodeling of Lincoln Hall on the main quadrangle of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Campus. Three small courtyard additions were also part of the project. Two small green roofs (designed as sedum meadows) were also planted on the coutyard on SE and SW side.
In the Fall of 2012, as a further step to conserve natural resources and encourage sustainability throughout the University of Illinois south campus, a 2,860 square-foot green roof system was developed for the conference center roof, adjoining the iHotel. This eco-friendly system created additional green space and complements the natural landscaping that has already been implemented in the Research Park.
The Chemistry Annex achieved LEED Gold Certification status on October 30, 2018. The project earned 61 out of 110 total points on the LEED v2009 New Construction scorecard. The Chem Annex renovation and addition earned a significant number of points in the Sustainable Sites and Indoor Environmental Quality categories. A further breakdown of points can be found in the USGBC directory and in the scorecard attached below.
The Natural History Building was certified LEED Gold on January 29, 2019. The project achieved 61 out of 110 points on the LEED v2009 New Construction scorecard, with a significant number of points from the Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, and Materials & Resources categories.
