“As preservation teaches us all to better value the past, it is my hope and prayer that it also helps us to fully awaken to our responsibilities to the future.” ~Carl Elefante
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ccording to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), all buildings constructed over 50 years ago and possessing architec tural or historical significance may be considered potential historic resources. As communities, we connect to the past through heritage buildings. Increasingly, historic preservation plays an important role in sustainable community development by allowing the community to identify its values through the places that embody those values (Jonker 2011). In San Francisco there are presently over 3300 parcels determined eligible for listing in the California register and many more that would warrant consideration under CEQA when undergoing renovation. It has been said that the greenest building is the one already built (Elefante 2007). When combining the character of San Francisco’s built environment with our nationally acclaimed green building ordinance, eco-renovation represents significant opportunity for continuing use of historic buildings and heritage assets while reducing environmental impact and protecting their heritage value (Jonker 2011, SF Planning 2011). I served as the sustainable building advisor for the construction team and wrote a case study on construction processes utilized during the renovation of the two oldest existing San Francisco Public Libraries, the Presidio and Park Branch. This article reviews the case study and offers an exploration in the pursuit of preserving heritage buildings that not only serve and represent the community but also meet the demands of our resourceconstrained future.
The case study, Conserving the Future While Preserving the Past, investigates the construction process at Park & Presidio Branch Library renovations. While offering a unique opportunity to examine the application of LEED® for Commercial Interiors™ in the context of historic renovation, the case study compares two projects with same specifications, schedule and design and construction teams but with different LEED certification outcomes. Though many library renovations in San Francisco’s Branch Library Improvement Program were designed to LEED standards, these were the first library projects in San Francisco to complete U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) third party reviewing process and attain certification, Park Branch achieving LEED Gold and Presidio Branch LEED Silver certification. My work on the project involved guiding the construction team, which had no prior LEED project experience, to achieve the environmental goals of the projects by focusing on mentoring and performance coaching to develop cross-team green building leadership. The case study covers methods and concepts of LEED project delivery, lessons learned, and best practices to guide contractors on their first LEED projects. It highlights a systems approach focused on the interactions between construction processes, materials, and LEED credits while emphasizing learning and language tools to nurture a shift in the conventional construction methods towards more sustainable practices.
142 | Urban action 2012