Dyess Air Force Base Temporary Lodging Facility Earns LEED for Home Silver Rating

Abilene, Texas is regularly listed as one of America’s most livable small towns. Sitting about 180 miles from the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area and with a population of 125,182, Abilene is considered the economic center of 22 counties in West Texas. According to their official tourism website, Abilene is “big on what matters” including history, culture, and hospitality.

The United States Air Force also calls Abilene home with the Dyess Air Force Base on the southern edge of town. Dyess is home to the Air Force’s B-1B, C-130, and T-38 planes. The 7th Bomb Wing on the base maintains operations of the B-1B aircraft and conducts training for personnel to fly those planes. In all, over 4,500 military personnel are assigned to Dyess with 491 civilian employees also employed there.

Dyess is also known as being one of the greenest bases in the United States Air Force. It has the distinction of being the first Department of Defense operation to use renewable energy and now uses both wind and biomass energy as power sources.

The Project

Known as one of the greenest Air Force bases, it only makes sense that Green Insight was brought in to consult on one of their building projects: A temporary lodging facility. This project consisted of 16 units in 2 different buildings. This facility would serve as temporary lodging for service members seeking permanent housing on or off base, on a special trip to secure housing, or for those awaiting the shipment of their household goods.

As part of the project, we worked with the United States Air Force and Tejas Premier Building Contractor to help Dyess keep its reputation as a green Air Force base. This included working with all parties on

  • LEED for Homes credit verification
  • Testing during construction
  • QAD review
  • Energy efficient recommendations
  • Building material assessments
  • Review of construction documents
  • Specifications
  • Review of project submissions

Project Challenges

One of the biggest challenges this project faced was the passage of time between plans being made and actual construction. Plans had been made 3 years before any work commenced and were no longer compliant with the updated LEED for Homes certification requirements.

Like most projects, the Dyess Temporary Lodging Facility also had a fixed budget. But unlike other projects, it would literally take an act of Congress to expand the budget, a long and arduous process.

Finally, the contractor chosen for the job by the United States Air Force didn’t have LEED for Homes project experience. They were also hampered by the requirements of highly specialized equipment including blast-proof windows.

Solutions

Because of our longstanding relationship with the United States Green Building Council, we were able to work with them when it came to the outdated plans for the project. We were able to negotiate that the project would be registered under the LEED for Homes requirements for which it was designed.

We then worked closely with the contractor in all aspects of this project, especially in getting them caught up on the LEED requirements they were not familiar with. While most of these requirements are right in the plans, many are not, and rely on a contractor’s knowledge of the LEED for Homes certification process.

During the construction process, we ran into several periods where deficiencies were found and needed to be corrected. This, of course, came down to budget. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the contract, anything that ran over budget would come out of the contractor’s pocket. We were able to work with the contractor on finding cost-effective solutions.

Results

At the end of the project, the Dyess Temporary Lodging Facility was able to certify under the old LEED for Homes requirements, and the contractor maintained its profit due to cost-effective solutions.

In all, the project was awarded LEED for Homes Silver certification, and the Dyess Air Force Base was able to maintain its reputation as being committed to green initiatives.

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Zuni Housing Rehabilitation Project Earns LEED for Homes Silver Certification

The Native American tribal housing entity Zuni Housing Authority owns and maintains dozens of homes for tribal members in the small rural community of Black Rock, NM. With a mission to expand housing solutions and economic opportunities for the Ashiwi people and its future generations, Zuni Housing Authority offers a variety of services to help secure the future for homebuyers.

One of their latest projects was devoted to rehabilitating dozens of homes while reducing the carbon footprint every step of the way.

The Project

In collaboration with Zuni Construction Services, this project entailed gutting and rehabilitating 37 single-family attached homes spread over 12 buildings. 

This was just the first in multiple rehabilitations and new constructions that the Zuni Housing Authority has certified in the LEED for Homes program. 

The Challenges

The biggest challenge with this project was introducing new concepts from the LEED for Homes rating system that were completely unfamiliar to both the developer and the local and native construction teams. Like most developers and contractors who do not have experience with green building, they were more used to using methods and designs that had worked for them in the past. 

However, the Energy Ratings required everything from performance testing and thermal bypass air sealing requirements to outdoor water credits in a national rating system that is not necessarily conducive to the Black Rock climate. Due to these new methods and requirements, the team faced turning their own tried and true methods upside down in order to meet certification requirements. Despite this challenge, however, all stakeholders remained committed to their goal of meeting these certification requirements successfully.

In addition to the challenge of facing new methods, the team also faced various items that failed inspection in initial units. These problems included thermal bypass issues at bay windows and fan ventilation control issues among other things.

Project Solutions

Our first step in assisting the architect and Zuni Housing Authority with their goals was educating the entire team on challenges they may face during the rehabilitation process that would cause them low scores on the LEED for Homes rating system. Another aspect of our work included training team members onsite on effective air-sealing techniques to ensure successful air tightness (AKA: blower door) test results.

To anticipate required inspections and to ensure none were missed, we worked closely with the team by participating in monthly and sometimes weekly project team calls to get everyone aligned so that the project could stay on track. Best of all, Zuni Construction Services was very responsive to issues that would need to be addressed. With their complete buy-in to the program, the crew was able to conduct timely fixes and flexible solutions for every issue they encountered

The Finished Product

Through Green Insight’s collaboration with Zuni Housing Authority and Zuni Construction Services, the entire team was able to adapt their work to the needs of the project in order to achieve their goal. In the end, this gut and rehabilitation project reached its goal of earning Silver certification in the LEED for Homes rating system.

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If so, contact us today. We would love to discuss your project and your goals while showing you how Green Insight can help you achieve green building success. Get in touch