Detention Center Has 'Green' Heart

Sustainable construction elements highlight $125-million San Mateo County Youth Services Center.

By Robert Carlsen

A progressive, family friendly design coupled with sustainable building are important pieces to San Mateo County's ambitious juvenile detention center project.

The $125-million center is aiming for a LEED-certified rating, according to Jim Sowerbrower of the San Mateo county manager's office.

"We're meeting many of the U.S. Green Building Council requirements, but being a government detention center means our hands are tied about other design elements," said Sowerbrower.

Sowerbrower added that the project needs to meet the security requirements set forth by the California State Board of Corrections.

The Oakland office of Turner Construction, following a design plan by KMD Justice Architects of San Francisco, just passed the halfway point on the facility, which is located in the hills of an unincorporated portion of San Mateo County at the Interstate 280 and Highway 92 on Tower Road.

The new facility will consist of 10 buildings, including a juvenile hall, 180-person secure housing complex with separate assessment center, school, dining area, gym and exercise areas.

There also will be a girl's camp, staff-secure residential program for 30 females; receiving home, a shelter to temporarily house, supervise and meet the needs of abused youth; group home cluster, a residential program for 30 juveniles; and a Community School, a Probation Department/County Office of Education collaborative program for 60-90 youth with school-based delinquency problems.

In all, the complex will encompass 295,285 sq. ft. on approximately 27 acres.

Completion is scheduled for September 2006.

The county's current youth facility, Hillcrest Juvenile Hall, is 55 years old and will be demolished after the completion of the new complex.

Greg Smith, engineering manager for Turner, said the KMD design team focused on energy savings and environmental issues when planning the facility.

Among the energy savings, Smith said the design features a central plant with a sophisticated computerized building management system to help use energy efficiently. A cogeneration system is being used and will recycle the waste heat from electrical generation and use it for heating and cooling the buildings.

There also will be energy-efficient electrical and mechanical equipment, larger overhangs and sun shading of the windows, and lots of natural lighting that reduces the need for artificial light.

"On the environmental side, construction waste and demolished buildings are more than 70 percent recycled," Smith said. "And we've produced a recycling plan for the facility's operation."

Not only will the tenants of the new buildings have lots of fresh air due to the use of products with lower vapor emissions, but Smith said Turner integrated green building practices into the construction process itself and "considered the well being of the workers building the project."

"This facility is unusual in that it utilizes a progressive design for a juvenile correctional facility," he added. "Currently, kids stay in their housing units most of the time. The idea of having housing, dining and education in separate buildings gets them moving around. The look of the facility is family friendly and promotes rehabilitation and hope rather than cell blocks and barbed wire fences.

"Direct access to the courts, administration and probation buildings helps the families that come here have a better overall experience."