City leaders are using the move to meet the city’s ongoing sustainability efforts as well.
“As part of the city’s new building development program, a design to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver [certification] has been the standard operating procedure,” Communications and Public Engagement Director Michelle Gutt said. “The future City Council chambers will be aiming to design to a LEED Gold design and will meet or exceed the city’s commitment to LEED Silver Certification design standards.”
Boka Powell and Brinkley, Sargeant and Wiginton were selected to design City Hall. They looked to ensure that the city’s sustainability goals are being met in the building. These efforts can be broken down into several areas, including infrastructure, daylighting and dark-sky initiatives, repurposing policies, and the use of native plants and smart irrigation systems.
Infrastructure improvements include lower-flow plumbing fixtures, LED lighting and the use of materials such as concrete with higher solar reflectance index values that will reduce the heat island effect. Gutt outlined the specifics of the city’s infrastructure efforts in terms of improvements to plumbing and the types of materials being used.
“The planned type [of toilet] is a high-efficiency toilet that goes beyond the standard and uses 1.28 gallons-per-flush, a 20% savings (6 liters v. 4.8 liters),” Gutt said. “As of current plan, the marble, eucalyptus wood, and related materials in the lobby will be re-utilized and refreshed to meet the overall design. The design team is currently tracking to use recycled materials like cork for acoustic work, furniture systems that have a common spine to be used with updated finishes in the future, and related elements.”
Energy usage has become an issue in the construction industry and commercial real estate development, Gutt said.
One of the ways to do this is to harvest the energy available on-site. The city is investigating if a wind study done in the fall could turn into the ability to generate wind energy through wind turbines, she added.
The city is working with the design team to evaluate how many electric vehicle charging stations can be added within the power capacity running to the site.
Another area the city is analyzing to make the new City Hall more sustainable is the use of lighting. The designers researched how “daylighting,” or the use of natural light, could play a role in various sections of the building and quickly noticed a common characteristic in city halls across the nation.
“Most [city council] chambers are traditionally in windowless rooms or in areas with minimal natural light entering the facility," Gutt said. “This is due to the difficulty that can be incurred by having natural daylight interfering with the broadcast elements of the chamber. However, in the future chambers here in Fort Worth, a full sun study was completed, looking at all typical meeting times year round to ensure that natural light could enter the chambers without interfering with the broadcast. While the percentage of natural light will vary greatly throughout the year during the differing council meeting times and changing of sun angles, the intent is to leverage lighting controls to always leverage as much natural light as possible.”
Landscaping also looked at sustainability with native plants that have lower water requirements, large trees to provide shade and a water-based system for irrigation.
Ten of the 14 buildings the city has used to house various departments that will move to the new City Hall will be sold, and leases will be terminated on others, generating more than $20 million in offset funding and vacating operating leases, Gutt said.
She added the city donated more than $130,000 worth of surplus furniture existing in the tower not planned for future use in the program. This surplus furniture has gone to more than 300 educators and nonprofit groups in the Fort Worth area and will prevent a large amount of furniture from being placed in a landfill. The city is evaluating the status of the furniture in the buildings as they are sold and will as necessary explore options for relocation or donation through one of the city’s partners in this area.
According to Gutt, the future City Hall will be completed in phases with the tower move-in starting in late 2023 and completing in early 2024. The council chambers and parking garage addition originally scheduled for delivery in late 2023 will be completed in the first part of 2024 after encountering delays due to funding shortages within the federal government's permit review program.
Editor: A correction was made to identify the two designers on the city hall project.
