Dive Brief:
- A recreation center in Brooklyn is the first public building in New York City to meet LEED v4 Platinum standards for environmental sustainability, according to the NYC Department of Design and Construction. Two private buildings have also met the standard.
- NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the opening of the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in East Flatbush earlier this month. The strategies employed to meet the LEED certification standards will help the center use less than half that of similar buildings, while reducing costs by 34% and fresh water use by 43%, according to the agency
- “The Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center is an all-electric building designed to the highest standards for environmental sustainability, and is a milestone not just for Brooklyn but also for construction reform in New York City,” DDC Acting Commissioner Eduardo del Valle said in a statement. “DDC provided a world-class design and was able to deliver it in record time through our growing design-build program, saving at least three years of project time. We look forward to similar results with the other projects in our design-build portfolio, including three other Parks recreation centers.”
Dive Insight:
The 74,000-square-foot recreation center includes a six-lane swimming pool, three-lane walking track, competition-sized gym and space for team sports, exercise and educational programming as well as audio-visual production in a media lab. Using the design-build method of contracting, DDC was able to complete the center at least three years faster than would have been possible under the traditional system of lowest bidder contracting, with a projected 10% cost savings, the agency says. The center is the city’s first completely public building to be constructed using the design-build method of contracting, DDC said.
City lawmakers passed legislation in 2023 allowing design-build contracting, which permits designers and builders to meet early in the process rather than wait until after the design is completed.
In addition to environmental sustainability, the project earned LEED credits in categories for on-site bike parking, a reduced vehicular parking footprint, on-site electric vehicle chargers for Parks vehicles, an effective erosion control plan, reduction of the heat island effect and elimination of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, in the HVAC system, according to DDC.
The $141 million project features enhanced interior air quality, use of materials with low volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, use of LED lighting and enhanced lighting and HVAC controls that allow for control of individual spaces inside the building, per DDC.
Stormwater is managed on-site, reducing loading on the city’s sewer systems, DDC said.
NYU’s Rubin Hall at 35 Fifth Avenue and the residential rental development known as “Sven” in Long Island City are the two other buildings in the city that have met LEED v4 Platinum standards, DDC said.
