Building Green Commercial Buildings &
Building a Greener Future

Cullen’s approach to environmentally friendly construction, sustainable design, and LEED^® certification offers Three Green Options and these are looked at as potential options on every project. We have 17 LEED^® certified personnel and we are a member of the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance and the United States Green Building Council.

Whether conscientious or cost-conscious, many building owners are today going “green.” The cost savings garnered over the life-cycle of the building, plus savings realized though an operationally efficient, high-performance facility, are reasons enough for some owners to investigate green options. Others know that besides the economic bottom line, there are bottom lines for the environment and society. The LEED^® rating system of the U. S. Green Building Council has been developed to address this triple bottom line.

On every project we work closely with the owner and architect to provide a sustainable building. We do this by: (Option A) building a LEED^® certified facility based on owner goals and architectural design; and/or (Option B) building according to environmentally-friendly practices, such as re-using or recycling materials from the construction waste stream. With (A), we are dependent on development of a sustainable design by the architectural firm. With (B), we are under no such constraint, but rather can initiate the best practices for delivering a building under a construction model of environmental stewardship.

We implement green initiatives during preconstruction. Cullen works with the owner and architect to develop sustainable options according to LEED^® standards. However, if the client is not aiming at full LEED^® certification, there are elements that will help “green” a facility and save the owner money, such as are geothermal heating-cooling systems and daylighting.

For Cullen, this is our Option C, our third “green” option between full third-party certification and self-initiated best delivery practices.

During the construction phase, we implement our Lean construction practices to save time, materials, and labor, plus we take a disciplined approach to keeping materials out of the waste stream. For example, at Lakeland School we re-used 80% of materials that would have otherwise seen a landfill. Similarly, at Prescott Elementary we recycled and reused 80% of the demolitioned elementary school, earning the Enviro-Star Award for our recycling efforts.

On our Green Review pages, we provide a cross-section of facilities we have built in the recent past that demonstrate one or more of the Cullen^® Green Options (A, B, and C). You will discover that many of our clients have chosen Option C and incorporated elements of “green” design into their facilities, even though not pursuing any level of the LEED^® certification program.

For instance, studies show students perform better in schools with ample daylighting.^[1] This is one of many elements we regularly recommend be incorporated into any student-centered environment, as you’ll see we’ve time and again done for the University of Wisconsin. Geothermal heating/cooling systems have been installed in the Evansville High School and the Grand River Center (Dubuque, IA). Sustainable site and tree preservation considerations highlighted the work we did for Group Health Cooperative. The new technology building we constructed for Waukesha County involved advanced energy and atmosphere issues, as well as indoor environmental quality and design innovations – all criteria for LEED^® certification. Also, we worked in concert with an A/E firm out of Madison to develop the Risser Justice Center under the then fledgling LEED pilot program that had “green” criteria, but no certification process.

A fine and dramatic example of choosing and developing Option A is the Silver Level Certification targeted for Epic Systems Campus 2 in Verona, WI. Here, LEED^® criteria determine the parameters of the design program, which are subsequently evaluated for compliance to standards of sustainability.