Green-Leaning Detention Center in San Leandro

The 390,000-sq.-ft. Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center project seeks a LEED rating primarily through such energy-saving elements as a "cool" roof and water retention ponds.

By Robert Carlsen

Green building techniques and products, along with an unusual community outreach program, are highlighting the construction of the $140-million Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center project in San Leandro.

The detention center project in San Leandro consists of three building areas: a 196,000-sq.-ft. housing building, 71,100-sq.-ft. support building (with classrooms, counseling rooms and administration offices) and 122,000-sq.-ft. courts building. There will also be exercise yards and a gymnasium (photo courtesy of Hensel Phelps Construction Co.).

The project is a design-build partnership of the San Jose office of Hensel Phelps Construction Co. and HOK Architects of San Francisco. The joint-venture construction management firm is Vanir/Cornerstone of Sacramento and San Francisco.

Cornerstone Concilium Inc., a San Francisco-based construction management and facilities consulting firm, has been contracted by Alameda County to make sure the project meets certain outreach goals and milestones, including a project intern program that involves former juvenile detention members.

Scheduled for completion in about a year, the 390,000-sq.-ft. facility is located on county-owned, unincorporated land adjacent to the current juvenile hall facility, which first opened in 1953, and by 1997 was "old, outdated and difficult to maintain," Alameda County officials said.

After years of studies and need assessments, the county, which also considered a site in nearby Dublin, found the San Leandro site more cost effective in the long run.

The project consists of three building areas: a 196,000-sq.-ft. residential building, 71,000-sq.-ft. support building (with classrooms, counseling rooms and administration offices) and 122,000-sq.-ft. courts building. The facility will have the capacity to house 360 minors; 90 will be classified as maximum security and 270 classified as medium security. There also will be exercise yards and a gymnasium.

Jim Reilly, senior construction manager for Vanir/Cornerstone, said construction materials include structural pre-cast concrete panels for the residential building and architectural pre-cast concrete panels for the courts building. Other materials and features include CMU masonry, structural steel, parapet roofs and single-ply membranes.

The contract also calls for a four-pipe HVAC system, security package, medical facility, nine elevators, boilers, three parking lots, landscaping and site improvements.

Sean Carolan, project manager for Hensel Phelps, said site improvements on the brownfield site involved moving 300,000 cu. yds. of dirt.

To get a leg up on some U.S. Green Building Council LEED points regarding waste management issues, Carolan said that during demolition of some onsite buildings (which were formerly part of a boy's summer camp) the construction team ground up the concrete foundations and used them for fill. In fact, most of the sloped site had to be built up, he said.

Carolan said the main challenge was finding LEED points in the design process because the county requires new public buildings to qualify for at least a LEED-certified rating by the U.S. Green Building Council.

"You have to consider this is a 24-hour detention center, with certain security issues involved, which hampers some traditional sustainable options," he added. "Our main goal was to make the facility as energy efficient as possible."

Alan Bright, HOK's project manager, and Steve Slosek, project architect, said that energy savings from the design of the facility exceeded Title 24 state energy efficiency standards by 40 percent.

"One of the main energy elements is the use of a 'cool roof,' -- a light-colored component that will cover more than 180,000 sq. ft. of the facility and deflect the sun's rays," Slosek said.

Bright said other sustainable elements include a 40-percent reduction of water usage, with the installment of low-flow toilets and waterless urinals, a 50-percent reduction of water use for irrigation and the protection of surrounding wetlands with the construction of retention/detention ponds and bio-swales that reduce storm water runoff.

Carolan said key members of his construction team include Beverly Prior Architecture of Oakland, which is designing the exterior and other elements; KPA Group of Oakland, the structural engineer; and Loisos + Ubbelohde, also of Oakland, which is the energy consultant.