Green Systems Shine at Bright Lights Facility

The project team implemented integrated project delivery for Bright Lights, a sprawling multi-phased headquarters in Chicago that includes both offices and a full-service, 500-seat trading floor.

Photo Courtesy of Lend Lease

BP Bright Lights is the largest LEED-CI project in the Midwest to achieve Platinum status.

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Among other achievements, BP Bright Lights is the largest LEED-CI project in the Midwest to achieve Platinum status, in part due to the diversion of some 85% of construction and demolition waste from landfill, as well as implementation of a highly efficient under-floor air-delivery system.

Considerable savings were achieved on the trading floor, where an oscillating metal ceiling addresses both aesthetic and acoustical concerns. Though originally priced at $45 per sq ft, the involvement of candidate vendors and installers during conceptual design allowed for introduction of systems with varying panel sizes, supports and vertical terminations. Options were then refined during schematics, an approach that yielded a final cost of $18 per sq ft.

The trading floor features a multi-level steel-framed mezzanine with bridges and communicating stairs, and is equipped with fully redundant mechanical and electrical systems—the latter a 2N+1 system that draws from an onsite energy source. Six uninterrupted power supplies provide 30-minute battery backup for all trade-floor operations.

The construction manager, which was involved with the project prior to site selection, was able to provide input during preconstruction milestones and, among other activities, issued constructability, cost and schedule analyses during the project's conceptual, schematic, design development and construction documents phases.

Following completion of the design, existing floors were turned over to the construction manager for commencement of construction in six phases. Later floors were turned over to the owner in four separate phases for occupancy. Phase 1 turnover included building infrastructure and core data rooms; Phase 2, the trading floor and adjacent offices; Phase 3, a floor including a kitchen and server; and Phase 4, the remainder of office spaces.

The project was completed three months early and 11% below budget, a feat that team members attribute to their collaborative efforts.

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