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— Property Management Quarterly — November 2015
39 kBtu per square foot per year as
the energy-use intensity based on
fully occupied energy model.
Over the course of almost five
years, 8,300 employees worked on
the project. Of the $160 million proj-
ect budget, $147 million came from
ARRA dollars. And more than 40 per-
cent of those contracting dollars, or
$59 million of the project’s subcon-
tracting work, went to small, local
businesses, Rankin said. The 2009
ARRA, commonly referred to as the
stimulus, included funds allocated to
create jobs, boost the economy and
increase the energy efficiency of fed-
eral facilities.
The 620,000-sf building originally
was completed in 1964 as a federal
facility that was occupied by only
federal tenants. It is fairly common
for federal agency buildings to be at
least 50 years old. GSA did periodic
surface-level renovations over the
years to improve the appearance
of certain floors, but updates were
considered minor. The ARRA project
was the first major renovation to the
building.
Because of the building’s position,
the team had to be creative when
considering heating-cooling mecha-
nisms that could take advantage
of downtown Denver’s orientation,
which is on a suboptimal 45-degree
angle off of north south, said the
RMI study. This positioning means
that one of the building’s façade’s
faces northeast and the other south-
west, making one side hotter than
the other.
In order to address this issue in
the most efficient way, the build-
ing invested in two technologies – a
chilled beam system and a thermal
storage system. The whole-systems
approach uses a heat reclamation
and thermal storage system that
captures heat from the warm side
to heat the cooler side, said the RMI
study.
There is a 50,000-gallon water
storage tank in the basement that
stores excess heat during the day
for release at night. And the chilled
beams transfer temperature from
one side of the building to the other.
“GSA can store enough to heat the
building on a cold winter night with-
out turning on the gas boiler, and
even over the weekend,” said Rankin.
To incorporate renewable energy,
roof-mounted solar thermal panels
will offset the building’s energy to
heat water. Overall, the anticipated
energy-use savings will equate to
about $500,000 a year.
The project exemplifies GSA’s
vision and commitment to the
downtown Denver community by
preserving and converting an older
building into a high-performing, sus-
tainable structure and a first-class
space, which will extend the build-
ing’s life for another 75-plus years,
said Denise Turner Roth, GSA admin-
istrator.
“The ability to retrofit this build-
ing and keep the employees here in
the downtown community, which
supports the local economy, is some-
thing that represents our priorities,”
she said.
Benefits
In addition to the benefits that
come from converting an older
building into a high-performing sus-
tainable one, the retrofit also focused
on creating a healthier, comfortable
environment for the building’s 900-
plus employees, said Gabriel Manzi-
one, GSA building manager.
There is a new gym, healthy food
options – including fresh-made
sandwiches, salads and soups, as
well as fruit and protein snacks
– and indoor bike storage. Also
important to tenants’ well-being is
access to natural light. The project
maximized daylight by removing
existing induction units and raising
acoustical ceiling heights, which had
obstructed 30 percent of the win-
dows.
“I want to point out the improve-
ments for the mood of the people
working in the space,” said Turner
Roth. “We ask employees to spend
multiple hours of their waking day
in our buildings. So to make that a
more comfortable work environment
by bringing in natural light and cre-
ating a quality-of-life setting from
which they can collaborate with
others in a pleasant, attractive place
makes them better workers. It’s less
tangible but something that we are
trying to measure in our buildings.”
Tenants recognize these updates.
Courtney Hoskins, an aging services
program specialist with Health and
Human Services, has worked in the
Byron G. Rogers building for more
than 20 years.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect
moving back into an old federal
building,” she said. “But I have been
pleasantly surprised how I’ve been
able to increase my overall well-
being by taking advantage of the
new gym, healthy food options and
more natural daylight.”
Hoskins said there’s been a notice-
able increase in productivity as well.
She attributes this to new worksta-
tion tools and the convenience of
having most of HHS’ agency part-
ners co-located in the same build-
ing. HHS is an anchor tenant and
occupies four floors of the building.
Strengthening agency relationships
and informal conversations are
occurring more frequently as agen-
cies share office equipment, includ-
ing copiers and paper shredders, she
said.
The Western Management Devel-
opment Center moved to the build-
ing in December from the center’s
previous Aurora location. Operating
in the all-federally occupied build-
ing provides many opportunities for
relationships and partnerships, said
Brent L. Green with the U.S. Office of
Personnel Management.
“We also like the opportunities
that now exist for our students to be
able to experience and explore the
diverse activities that occur in down-
town Denver and hope that that will
make their experience at our center
even that much more enjoyable and
worthwhile,” he said.
s
Sustainability
The renovations tried to capture more natural daylight throughout the building.
The project included a first-time technology use for GSA with a chilled beam system and
a thermal storage system.
Byron G. Rogers federal office building is
located at 1961 Stout St.
The team had to
be creative when
considering heating-
cooling mechanisms
that could take
advantage of
downtown Denver’s
orientation.
