The historic Bushnell Building is at the heart of downtown at 14 East Main Street, Springfield, Ohio
on the original National Road. It was awarded PLATINUM LEED Certification in 2015 by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Platinum LEED certification is the USGBC’s top rating for designing and constructing or reconstructing the world’s greenest, most efficient and high performing buildings.
The LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System TM is a featured-oriented rating system that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria. The six major environmental categories of review include: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation and Design. Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category. The Bushnell Building achieved 52 points which qualified it for a Platinum LEED rating. The Bushnell Building achieved all 10 potential points for energy efficiency. This is very unusual for an 1893 building.
To modernize the building’s workspaces, provide thermal comfort to building occupants and save energy, all walls were insulated and all the windows were replaced, while maintaining the historic appearance of the building. A new highly efficient heating and cooling system was installed along with energy-related modernization of the entire building, which resulted in a 27% energy cost savings. A rainwater harvesting system was added to the building to reuse rainwater for toilet/urinal flushing and cooling tower make-up water, which both provides the building some self sufficiency while also helping reduce the City’s problems with a combined-sewer system. Overall, the building’s upgrades eliminate 68% of the potable water use in the building.
“With each new LEED-certified building, we get one step closer to USGBC’s vision of a sustainable built environment within a generation,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “As the newest member of the LEED family of green buildings, the Bushnell Building is an important addition to the growing strength of the green building movement.” “Buildings are a prime example of how human systems integrate with natural systems,” said
Fedrizzi. “The Bushnell Building project efficiently uses our natural resources and makes an immediate, positive impact on our planet, which will tremendously benefit future generations to come.” James H. Lagos, President of Bushnell Investment Company, Inc., stated “My wife, Nike and I have been working on the renovation of the Bushnell Building for 28 years. It has been an exhausting but satisfying experience. We tell our daughters that we spent their inheritance on this renovation. The Bushnell Building has been a platform for bringing hundreds of jobs to Downtown Springfield, Ohio. This is one of the ways we try to give back to the community. Hopefully we have preserved this building for centuries to come. Our research indicates that this is the second building which is on the National Historic Register to achieve to PLATINUM LEED certification in the State of Ohio. We believe we are one of a few buildings on the National Historic Register to achieve
PLATINUM LEED certification in the United States of America.” “We went out of our way to use local contractors. 75% of the work that was completed on the Bushnell Building was performed by local contractors. This creates jobs in Springfield and Clark County. More than 77% of construction waste generated was diverted from the landfill through recycling or reuse. For example: much of the 1893 window glass was used as partitions on the inside of the space. To this day we send a truck full of recycling to the Clark County Waste Management District every week. Our huge windows, glass walls and glass doors provide daylighting to every employee and visitor of the Bushnell Building. The restored terra cotta cornice and carvings on the Main Street side is the largest public artwork in the region.
C & N Contractors, Inc. served as General Contractor for much of the renovations. Plato Pavlatos, President of C & N is a LEED Accredited Professional. Jim Beck of Woolpert Engineering provided much of the engineering for the project. Jim is also a LEED Accredited Professional and has quarterbacked the renovations for many years. Tom Franzen, Assistant City Manager and Director of Development for the City of Springfield spearheaded the obtaining of a $5 million dollar Job Ready Sites Grant from the State of Ohio which provided approximately 25% of the financing. Horton Hobbs, Vice President for Economic Development of the Greater Springfield Partnership worked first as Executive Director of the Center City Association and later with the Chamber to promote the building to potential users. Mark Whitt of
Wesbanco Bank, Inc. and Michael Melvin, Perpetual Federal Savings Bank which is now Farmers and Merchants State Bank have provided crucial financing for renovation projects to the current date.