Johnson Controls’ HQ

Office-Campus Project Pursues Platinum Rating

by Kathy Bergstrom

When it decided to remodel and expand its corporate headquarters in Glendale, Wis., Johnson Controls Inc. wanted to walk its talk of energy efficiency in buildings.

Building efficiency is one of the company’s core businesses. It sells equipment that controls heating, ventilating, air conditioning, lighting, security and fire management for commercial buildings.

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The final buildings in the $73-million, five-building project are set for completion this summer. The company estimates investment in sustainable features at $11 million.

Johnson Controls is seeking LEED platinum certification and would be the first multibuilding campus in the world to receive that level, says Dennis Kois, director of employee relations.

“We’re creating a showplace for the technologies and design elements and all the other things that go into reaching LEED certification,” Kois says.

The project shows that energy efficiency can be achieved both with a remodeling project and new construction, he says.

Hunzinger Construction Co. of Brookfield, Wis., is the general contractor, and Chicago office of San Francisco-based Gensler Architects is the architect.

Operating Costs Up Only 25%

Johnson is doubling its square footage on the site, but operating costs will only rise about 25%, Kois says. That’s primarily because of the two large sustainable elements on the site—solar power generation and a groundwater heat pump system.

The five buildings included in the project are:

• Corporate North: The 80,000-sq-ft building was completely gutted in the summer and will reopen in April. About 320 employees work in the building. It will have 14,000 sq ft of laminated solar panels on its roof.

• Corporate South: The 50,000-sq-ft building also was completely gutted and remodeled, and 270 employees moved back into the building in September.

• Power Solutions Headquarters: A 94,700-sq-ft new building that houses the company’s power solutions business, which includes 400 employees. Construction began in April and will be completed in July.

• Amenities Building: A 29,700-sq-ft new building that will house a cafeteria, meeting rooms and fitness center. A portion of the building’s roof will be green to provide added insulation and reduce heat reflection. Construction started in May and was expected to be complete in early January.

• Four-level parking garage: Construction started in April and was completed in September.

Platinum Points

To achieve platinum certification, the buildings had to receive points of between 52 and 69, Kois says.

In December, Corporate North had 57 points and Corporate South 63, Kois says. The Power Solutions building was expected to earn 59 points and the amenities building 58.

The two remodeled buildings now have large expanses of glass and dozens of skylights that allow more natural light into the building.

Rather than traditional offices, the buildings offer an open floor plan with cubicles, meeting rooms and just a few private offices. Each cubicle has Johnson Controls’ equipment that allows individual employees to control temperature, airflow and sound.

The solar power systems include a grouping of 1,452 photo voltaic solar panels mounted on a steel support structure that will generate about 250 kilowatts of electricity annually.

Craig Konrad, Hunzinger’s project manager, says the solar panels and equipment were furnished by Johnston Controls, and the on-grade system was installed by Venture Electric of Milwaukee. Venture already had the applicable certification requirements to install the panels.

The panels are deep blue and about 5 ft long, 32 in. wide and a quarter-inch thick. They are essentially maintenance free, Konrad says. Rain cleans the panels, and they are tilted so that snow and ice slide off.

Another 14,000 sq ft of solar photo voltaic panels are laminated to the roof of the Corporate North building, generating another 81 kilowatts of power. The solar power generated by the on-grade system and roof panels will be enough to provide all of the power for Corporate North—equal to the power needs of about 40 residential homes.

Johnson Controls expects the payback on the two photo voltaic systems is four or five years on an after-tax basis.

A solar hot-water system is also on the roof of the Power Solutions building. The payback on that system is estimated at between six and seven years on an after-tax basis.

Another important energy-efficiency component of the project is a geothermal heating and cooling system. Kois says the system will reduce current winter natural gas usage by 29% and summer cooling costs by 23%.

A nearly 3-acre parking lot is being rebuilt and resurfaced with concrete pavers that allow rain and snow to filter through the gravel base and soils before moving through some piping into a detention pond.

The pavers have knobs on the side that allow the water to flow around the pavers rather than over them, Konrad says. The gaps between the pavers are filled with gravel chips that allow the water to drain through 14-in. of drainage gravel beneath and into a detention pond.

Runoff from the two new buildings will be collected, treated and reused to flush toilets and urinals, saving about 600,000 gallons of water annually, Kois says.

Some of the other features that make the Johnson Controls a LEED-certified project include the use of locally harvested and manufactured materials, recycling of construction and demolition waste, and participation by women and minority-owned contractors.

Green Days for Construction

“Certain elements of green building have been finding their way into most construction projects,” says Dan Davies, Hunzinger senior project manager. He says clients aren’t always necessarily going for LEED certification but are asking for low-flow toilets, low VOC paints or using regional and recycled materials for interior finishes.

James Jones, coordinator of the construction management program at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., says contractors see many benefits from begin involved in green and sustainable projects with prominent firms like Johnson Controls.

Some want to establish themselves as green builders with a significant project or client, he adds.

They also know that they can contribute and learn from the other organizations involved in a significant project like the Johnson Controls expansion, Jones says.

“Green construction is here to stay,” Jones says. “Sustainable building practices will become incorporated in varying degrees on many projects.”

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