SACRAMENTO -- Redwood City-based DPR Construction Inc. and LPA Sacramento Inc have completed a 52,300-sq.-ft. building for DPR and co-owner ABD Insurance and Financial Services.

It is the first privately owned, high-performance green building in Sacramento to pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

DPR is targeting silver-level certification of the structure, which requires between 33 and 38 points of the U.S. Green Building Council's 69-point LEED program for new construction. The general contractor is also aiming for gold certification for the interior build-out, as part of a pilot program.

The two-story facility is one of 30 projects nationwide that is being used to help create a new LEED certification category for commercial interiors.

"One of the first questions often posed by owners and developers is regarding the additional costs associated with green building," said Craig Greenough, one of DPR's 42 LEED-accredited professionals and director of sustainable construction for DPR's Sacramento office.

"To help us and ABD make informed decisions," Greenough added, "we utilized our own LEED preconstruction management tool to clearly identify credits that made the most business sense from a cost savings and potential return on investment perspective."

The additional outlay for the new building will be paid back within two-and-a-half years through water and energy savings and will generate an estimated $435,000 in savings in 10 years based on a minimum energy, water and maintenance inflation rate.

"There is also the added benefit that green buildings are known to help boost employee morale and productivity, often upwards of 20 percent," Greenough added.

DPR Project Manager Trish Timothy said one of the biggest challenges of pursuing LEED projects is the documentation process essential for achieving certification.

"Determining which LEED credits we were aiming for from the very beginning helped a great deal as we assemble all the documentation," Timothy said. "Our company's technical building expertise, especially in the biotech, healthcare and semiconductor arenas that often require extensive documentation for commissioning and validation, also proved instrumental in expediting the collection process."