Press Releases
Montgomery County Wheaton Library and Community Recreation Center Earns LEED Gold Certification
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Montgomery County’s Wheaton Library and Community Recreation Center has earned Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The LEED Gold certification is one of the highest ratings available in the green building certification program.
The 92,000-square foot complex, located at 11701 Georgia Ave., is the County’s first combined multiplex to include a library, community recreation center, Friends of the Library used bookstore, and local park. The facility opened on Sept. 8, 2019.
The building features many energy-saving elements, including a vegetative planted roof; a high-performance mechanical and lighting system including LED lights, controls and sensors; natural daylight with proper glare controls; regional and recycled materials that are healthy and low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC).
This is the 14th building since 2012 to earn the prestigious LEED Gold Building ranking in addition to eight LEED Silver buildings. The County holds ambitious standards for building sustainable methods to deliver buildings that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide healthy work environments, and meet the needs of our community.
“The Wheaton Library and Community Recreation Center is a vital community hub for literacy and leisure,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “Earning a LEED gold certification facility further supports our goal of building toward our future to ensuring that all buildings are constructed as sustainably and innovatively as possible. Congratulations to our Department of General Services Team for delivering this successful project.”
“I am proud of the exceptional work performed by our DGS staff who managed this large-scale project through design and construction to earn this prestigious LEED gold status.,” said DGS Director David Dise. “This is a reflection of our commitment to plan, design, construct and maintain buildings that are energy efficient, environmentally friendly and resource-efficient.”
Grimm + Parker served as the Architect and Costello Construction was the contractor for the facility.
The LEED Green Building Rating System was developed by the United State Green Buildings Council (USGBC). It identifies criteria that positively impact the energy and environmental characteristics of a building, including sustainability of a site, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.
LEED certification means healthier, more productive places, reduced stress on the environment by encouraging energy and resource-efficient buildings, and savings from increased building value, higher lease rates and decreased utility costs. LEED-certified buildings will directly contribute $29.8 billion to U.S. GDP by 2018.
The project was partially funded by the County Library Capital Grant Program and the Maryland State Department of Education, Division of Library Development and Services, as authorized by the Maryland General Assembly and supported by the Maryland County Delegation.
For more information on the facility, visit the Department of General Services website.
For more information on the Wheaton Library, visit the Montgomery County Public Libraries website. For more information on the Wheaton Community Recreation Center, visit the Montgomery County Recreation website.
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Media Contact: Judy Stiles 240-463-2442