Environmentally Efficient

New Police Station in Woodland Is a Green Gem

The $12 million facility is one of the nation's first police stations to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The 52,300-sq.-ft. building should be 30-percent more efficient than conventional buildings that meet California's tough energy requirements. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. awarded Woodland a $30,000 energy rebate for the cooling,
heating and lighting efficiencies.

By Thomas York

In late February, the Roseville office of McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. finished constructing a $12 million police headquarters complex in the Central Valley community of Woodland, about 20 mi. from downtown Sacramento.

The structure is one of the nation's first police stations to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LPA INC.

The environmentally friendly, 52,300-sq.-ft. complex houses all of the city's police operations, training and administration, plus a community meeting room and emergency operations center. The complex includes a shooting range and armory in the basement and protected parking areas for police cars and motorcycles.

Jeff Greene, McCarthy's project director, said the two-level structure was designed and built with a number of features aimed at lowering utility bills for the city.

For example, the main building takes advantage of natural light with a three-story-high atrium that runs the length of the structure. The atrium space makes the best use of sunlight and cuts down on electrical interior lighting.

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Each interior office receives natural lighting, either from wall windows or from the atrium.

"The end result was far greater than we could have ever imagined," said Woodland Mayor Matt Rexroad. "This building is clearly an improvement over what we had before, and we couldn't be happier."

Paul Breckenridge, senior designer for Roseville-based LPA Inc., the architecture firm for the design-build project, said the base proposal did not have an atrium. "We added the atrium to bring natural light into the interior of the building and as a beacon at night for the community," he said.

Greene said a successful completion of the project required unusual teamwork on the part of St. Louis, Mo.-based McCarthy, its architect and three principal subcontractors.

Before entering the competitive bidding in fall 2002, Greene said McCarthy realized it would have to work closely with the architect and the electrical, HVAC and plumbing contractors—West Sacramento-based Rex Moore Electrical Contractor & Engineers, Cal-Air Inc. and J.W. McClenahan Co., both of Sacramento, to achieve the energy savings and "sustainability" features sought by the city in its request for proposals.

Boring, Ore.-based Gordon Nelson Masonry Inc. installed the brick facade that covers the exterior walls of the Woodland Police Station (photo courtesy of LPA Inc.).

"Bringing the subcontractors on board early in the prebidding process helped us snare the contract for the project," Greene added. "The five team members were able to work out many of the energy-savings features that make the police station unique. By the time we started construction we were a cohesive unit."

He added that team members, including those from the city and its Davis-based executive architect, INDIGO/Hammond & Playle Architects, "spent most of their time discussing key elements, not arguing over details. There was no fighting over designs and other issues. It was refreshing."

The most challenging aspect of the 13-month building phase was the cast-in-place brick masonry walls, a technique of adding the thin red clay veneers to the concrete panels that comprise the exterior walls of the new police headquarters.

After researching subcontractors for three months, McCarthy called on Gordon Nelson of Boring, Ore.-based Gordon Nelson Masonry Inc. to install the façade that would cover the exterior walls of the structure. Tile workers laid out plastic sheets to hold the brick in place, then placed each veneer by hand before concrete was poured to form the panels. The concrete actually becomes the mortar, and the bricks become part of the wall, Nelson said.

"It is a much less expensive way to install brick in concrete tilt-up structures and the technique saved five to seven weeks compared to the time for construction that traditional masonry construction would have required," Nelson added. "The cost savings is 40 to 50 percent over conventional brick," said Nelson. Innovative Brick Systems of Broomfield, Colo., developed the system.

Nelson's tile workers laid the brick from the top down rather than from the bottom up, a process that made correct placement of the brick veneers a tricky job. And all joints, transitions and corners had to be custom cut once the panels were lifted into place.

Nelson said working from the top down enabled workers to keep the rows of bricks straighter than working from the bottom up. "It's a better way of working, and it's an easier way of keeping the bricks straight," he said.

LPA senior designer Paul Breckenridge said using brick was important in order to blend with the historic Woodland railroad depot across the street and several brick buildings in the area.

"For cost reasons, we couldn't afford full brick construction, so the idea was to make it look like brick," he said.

Despite its historic facade, the police station meets all the latest earthquake and security requirements for public safety buildings.

For example, the first-floor windows are raised so the public can't see police officers while they're working, and the concrete wall panels can withstand an explosion. The complex also is designed to withstand a high level of seismic activity during an earthquake.

Greene said the building should be 30-percent more efficient than conventional buildings meeting tough new state California energy requirements. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. awarded the city a $30,000 energy rebate for the cooling, heating and lighting efficiencies built into the project.

"We're quite proud of the whole project," Greene said. "The police chief was very pleased that he got a building so aesthetically pleasing yet so sound and secure."

Richard Kirkland, Woodland's city manager, said the community of 52,000 is thrilled with the new police facility, and how it ties into the city's past.

"This is a community that lives the history of where we have been," said Kirkland. "Now we have a wonderful building that provides a good connection to that history."

The new police station replaces a block concrete structure that had been constructed in the 1960s, and has room for expansion for the city's police department, which consists of 64 police officers.

"We had exceeded the design life of that building 20 years ago," Kirkland said. "The new building will meet our needs at least for the next 40 years."