New construction on the Heartland Community College campus in Normal, Illinois. The Center is a comprehensive economic development resource for area businesses and industry and offers vocational instruction, including computer science, electronics, office technology, machine tool, maintenance, and manufacturing technology.

This project has been awarded LEED Certification for New Buildings by the US Green Building Council.

• Designed for LEED™ certification as a pilot project for the Illinois Capital Development Board as the first LEED™ certified building funded by the State of Illinois.
• Energy modeling utilizing eQuest indicates a 50% more efficient building than required under current energy codes.
• The building was designed with a geothermal heat pump system with 180 closed-loop, 300 feet deep wells and water source heat pumps for space heating and cooling.
• Installation of the geothermal heat pump system avoided a costly addition to the central plant boiler and chiller system. The capital cost increase to install the system will be offset by project energy cost savings for a 22% return on investment.
• Tempered ventilation air is distributed directly to the heat pumps while reducing energy consumption by utilizing 80% efficient thermal energy recovery systems.
• Energy efficient lighting and controls employ occupancy sensors, photocells and time-of-day operating schedules.
• High efficiency building envelope reduces energy loss, decreases HVAC capacity requirements and enhances occupant comfort.
• The energy savings equates to a reduction of 2.64 million pounds of annual carbon dioxide emissions.
• Use of low-flow water fixtures throughout the building reduces water consumption and impact on treatment plants.
• With miles of buried piping required for the geothermal system, G/BA and BLDD designed a buried piping vault which allows easy access to the well field header and shut-off valves to isolate sections of the well field piping.
• The installation of direct digital control system and electrical sub-metering of lighting and HVAC systems allows for measurement and verification of the energy savings and fine-tuning of control loops and operating schedules.
• Water source heat pumps installed in the HVAC instruction area will be utilized for hands-on training of students being prepared for HVAC technician trades as well as providing heating and cooling for the classrooms.