Garden Suites Lake View Dining

LEED Silver 2007

Garden Suites Lake View Dining was awarded LEED Silver Certification in July of 2007 and is the second project at the UC Merced campus to become LEED certified. 

This project was opened in the fall of 2005 with housing for approximately 600 students in two-story, apartment-style suites. Each suite includes a common living room, double bedrooms and shared restrooms for four to six students. This project also included a commons building for housing staff and meeting spaces, and a one story dining facility with office spaces. 

LEED Highlights:

• Potable water consumption was reduced by more than 50% to a comparable building using low-water vegetation and groundcover, along with, highly efficient irrigation system.
• A combination of strategies was used to reduce building potable water consumption including; waterless urinals for the areas that would support large populations like the dining and commons facilities, low flow showers in the housing units, low flow and censored faucets.
• All HVAC, Electrical and lighting systems were commissioned by a third party team. This third party team put together a commissioning plan that reduces energy use, lowers operating costs, reduces contractor callbacks, provides better building documentation, improves occupant productivity, and verification that the systems perform in accordance with the design.
• 91% of construction waste was diverted from a local landfill to be recycled. The pursuit early of a working waste management plan with the landfill and waste hauling vendors outlines the details of how this project was so successful in waste diversion.
• 48% of building materials for Garden Suites Lake View Dining were manufactured locally, earning an extra LEED point for exemplary performance.
• Building materials with low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) limits were used throughout.
• 40% fly ash was used as a cement substitute earning an extra point for exceptional performance in recycled content.