INSIDE
by Michelle Z. Askeland
The U.S. Government Services
Administration recently finished a
retrofit on the Byron G. Rogers fed-
eral office building in downtown
Denver. The project sought to update
the building to make it more energy
efficient and act as an economic
catalyst during the Great Recession
using American Recovering and
Reinvestment Act funds.
GSA is the largest public real estate
organization in the nation, acting as
owner and manager for the work-
spaces that house 1.2 million federal
workers across the country. For this
project, the general contractor was
Mortenson Co., the architects were
Bennett Wagner & Grody and HOK,
the M/E/P engineer was RMH Group
Inc., and Rocky Mountain Institute
acted as the sustainability consul-
tant.
The extensive retrofit of Byron
G. Rogers building, located at 1961
Stout St., included a three-pronged
sustainability plan – to reduce
energy loads, capitalize on energy-
efficient equipment and incorporate
renewable energy, according to a RMI
case study on the project.
The existing exterior windows
were replaced, the building’s light-
ing was retrofitted with LED, and
the interior architectural finishes
were removed and replaced. Building
systems, including mechanical, elec-
trical and fire life safety, also were
replaced.
The project reinsulated the exte-
rior walls and used low-flow and
infrared fixtures to achieve water
savings of 30 percent. Updates to the
elevator system using regenerative
drive technology reduced the verti-
cal transportation energy by 15 per-
cent, according to the case study.
“The improvements are expected
to create 55 percent overall energy
reduction in the federal building,”
said Adam Rankin, GSA building
manager. “That means GSA will
reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
by more than 2,908 tons of carbon
dioxide, which is the equivalent of
taking 612 cars off the road or pro-
viding energy to 266 average-sized
homes.”
The building, home to 11 fed-
eral agencies with more than 900
employees, is expected to attain
LEED Gold certification for New Con-
struction and an Energy Star score of
95. The project’s goal is to provide a
50 percent cost savings and targets
Photos courtesy GSA
The U.S. Government Services Administration updated the Byron G. Rogers federal office building in downtown Denver.
