The complexities of building atop a long-vacant landfill soon became apparent for the team creating a Buddhist retreat in Northeast Portland.

The Dharma Rain Zen Center will include a 6,200-square-foot meditation hall and eventually 31 apartment-like units on 14 acres of the 26-acre H.G. LaVelle Landfill site. Redevelopment of that brownfield is being overseen by the Department of Environmental Quality and posed a host of challenges.

Before work could begin, the project team had to figure out how it would build upon a mountain of unstable soil that included roughly 2 million cubic yards of solid waste. Typically, pilings would be driven deep into the ground for support, said Gant Enderle, principal of B&G Builders – the project’s general contractor. That approach was used to build a Home Depot store on a former landfill site in Oregon City, he said.

“It took a bit of work to try and figure out what the best approach was,” he said. “We could have sunk piles down into terra firma, but it would have cost a lot of money.”

The project team, including Tigard-based GeoDesign Inc., looked at several options and eventually settled on one that required pouring 10 feet of dirt interspersed with a specially designed, mesh “geo-mat” fabric. The test took three months and the dirt only settled about three inches during that time, Enderle said.

Developers also have taken special steps to meet DEQ requirements that the threat of methane release be eliminated, said Mike Coenen, an associate engineer for GeoDesign.

The hazards of methane gas appear only when it is allowed to accumulate, according to Coenen. That made design of building ventilation systems critical.

“What we’ve done is to incorporate features into the design of the building that do not allow it to accumulate,” he said.

GeoDesign raised the foundation of the meditation building, essentially putting it on tiny stilts to ensure sufficient air space will be available for ventilation between the floor and the ground, Coenen said. The building will have sub slab vents allowing natural ventilation and preventing methane buildup.

For the development’s smaller buildings, GeoDesign used a passive venting system so that methane can disperse, he said.

CWK2 designed a pressurized sanitary sewer pump system, rather than a gravity sanitary sewer, to keep utilities closer to the surface, Enderle said.

“With a pressurized system, you don’t have to slope it; it is easier to access and fix,” he said. “The trade-off is you have to replace it every 25 years.”

Special considerations also were made to ensure water from the site will not enter the landfill. In a typical development, water would be treated on site before going into the city’s sewer system. At the Dharma Rain site, the water must be kept at surface level so that it can be treated off-site, Coenen said.

“We have to line our stormwater swales and treat the water above ground,” he said. “Then it goes down off-site.”

Dharma Rain’s development team, in its due diligence phase, worked closely with the city’s Bureau of Environmental Services to get a pair of grants – one for $50,000 to pay for an environmental site assessment and one for $200,000 to pay for cleanup, said Jenn Bildersee, coordinator of the Portland Brownfield Program.

The grants, which came from the Environmental Protection Agency through BES, helped clear the way for Dharma Rain to purchase the property in 2012, Bildersee said.

“The grant is for innocent purchasers who did not cause the damage and gives them liability protection,” she said. “This helps so that people don’t have to be afraid to purchase a contaminated site as long as they take appropriate steps to clean up the site.”

Dharma Rain also got support from the Madison South neighborhood. Volunteers contributed thousands of hours to clean up the site, said Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, the nonprofit’s development director.

“This has been a site that has been an eyesore for the community and a haven for drug use and prostitution,” he said. “Neighbors were eager to take an active role.”

Financing for the project came in part from the sale of Dharma Rain’s three buildings in the Hawthorne neighborhood. The organization has moved its operations into temporary facilities until construction is completed.

Additional financing will come from the sale of membership interest in the development, which includes the right to rent one of the apartment-like units that will be constructed next summer. Twenty-five memberships have been sold, Lowe-Charde said.

Dharma Rain Zen Center, first phase

Address: 8500 N.E. Siskiyou St.

Owner: Dharma Rain Zen Center

Project cost: $5 million

Construction start date: August 2014

Anticipated completion date: February 2015

General contractor: B&G Builders

Architect: Howells Architecture + Design

Engineers: CWK2 (civil), Horn Consulting Engineers (structural), GeoDesign Inc. (geotechnical)

The post Building a treasure atop trash appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Saving the OSPIRG building wasn’t going to be easy.

“The thing about (unreinforced masonry buildings) is the quality of the building is based on the quality of the mortar, and this building had terrible quality mortar,” said Wade Younie, a structural engineer at DCI Engineers. “Actually, you could rake your finger through it and it was like dust.”

This year, the building that holds the offices of the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, a Portland-based consumer advocacy group, is turning 100. Like many unreinforced masonry structures, the OSPIRG building – at 1536 Southeast 11th Ave. – lacked seismic strength. But after accommodating a hodgepodge of users (including a mortuary, a medical-related college and a photography studio), the tired structure needed more than an average stent.

Now, DCI Engineering, general contractor B&G Builders and Stack Architecture are in the final days of a creative project to give the building a new foundation – literally.

The project’s budget is $700,000; Gant Enderle, project manager for B&G, said the team originally hoped to spend only $500,000. But they continued to find problems that had to be addressed.

“It’s always fun to reuse an existing structure,” Enderle said. “This one had a lot of challenges because it was an old URM building sitting on an unreinforced concrete foundation and had really taken a beating over the years from the weather and whatnot.”

The first step was to pour footings in the basement for new shear walls – two wooden walls running through the building’s central portion, and three 30-foot, reinforced walls running to the rooftop.

Because unreinforced masonry buildings have no rebar within their walls, Younie said part of the seismic upgrade involved spraying shotcrete on those masonry walls.

“But the shotcrete guy said it would just blow the wall out,” he said of the deteriorating mortar.

So, crews first had to go through the building with brushes, scrape out the old mortar and add it anew.

Another strategy involved installation of approximately 300 anchors to tie the masonry walls to the roof and floors. The problem there, Younie said, is that the city wasn’t convinced the anchors wouldn’t just rip away.

The team had to set up an on-site testing program for the anchors, ripping into walls while OSPIRG operated in its offices. Holes were drilled, epoxy was applied and anchors were set to determine the force needed to rip them free.

Younie has consulted on hundreds of seismic retrofits for URMs in Portland, including the Bridgeport brewpub building, the Trinity Place Apartments in Northwest Portland, and the former Globe Hotel (now the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine) in Old Town Chinatown. He said testing the quality of a building’s bones is critical for a successful seismic retrofit.

“I learn this lesson every time I do one of these old buildings: You really need to probe and dig into the existing materials, and in this case masonry, to figure out the quality and the actual construction,” Younie said. “You have to do a little bit of selective demo to avoid surprises.”

Convincing owners to take that step can be a challenge, he said.

Enderle said the project’s seismic portion is nearly complete, and crews are wrapping up work with the new mechanical system. Drywall work is next. Enderle is planning for the challenging, but rewarding project to wrap up in the first week of March.

“We’re at the point where every wall has been touched, and everything has been changed in some way, shape or form, and it will be a really nice place for them,” he said.

Dave Rosenfeld, OSPIRG’s executive director, said the group purchased the building in 1990 to gain better control over long-term overhead costs; ultimately, the decision to renovate was fueled by the same desire. But it wasn’t made easily.

“This was not going to be cheap,” he said. “Over the long run it was cheaper than other options, but you’re still spending money up front and you want to do it right, and a seismic upgrade and remodel involves technical work that most of us don’t understand. And it’s scary to spend money on things you don’t understand.”

Rosenfeld said he received assistance early in the process from a colleague who had helped her church navigate a similar one. He said he would someday like to assemble a white paper to help others tackle seismic retrofits. Until then, he said he’s open to sharing lessons learned.

“Any medium-sized business (is) welcome to give me a ring if they want to get some advice about how we did it,” he said.

The post Southeast Portland building celebrates 100 years with upgrade appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

This year, significantly fewer Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design projects specified the use of wood certified by the .

A recent report issued by GreenBiz Group found FSC wood was used in only 26 percent of new LEED construction in 2011, down from 41 percent last year. The significant drop may reflect a program change that impacted projects targeting the standard’s minimum requirements.

Only wood products certified by FSC are eligible for LEED points, and projects must use at least 50 percent FSC-certified wood-based materials and products in order to earn LEED points.

The USGBC in July 2010 issued several addenda that clarified the guidelines relating to the credit for certified wood. Once the addenda went into effect, more organizations in the supply chain had to be chain-of-custody certified in order for their wood products to count toward the LEED credit.

The stricter guidelines impacted cabinetmakers and architectural mill workers whose products no longer counted toward the LEED credit, as well as teams that were banking on those products to give them the 50 percent FSC-certified content that their projects needed to earn the wood credit.

And project teams that did not have much of a buffer built into their plans were left in the lurch when they became aware of the new requirements, according to the president of FSC-U.S., Corey Brinkema.

“It’s our understanding that this change was very significant and explains part of the decrease this year,” he said.

For example, cabinetmakers that install FSC-certified cabinets but are not FSC chain-of-custody certified initially qualified for the credit, Brinkema said, but were no longer eligible after the change.

“One of LEED’s shortcomings is that it’s a threshold system – if you only need a certain percentage to meet the minimum demand, then the market will dictate meeting that minimum standard,” said K.C. Eisenberg, sales director for Sustainable Northwest Wood, one of the leading regional suppliers of FSC-certified lumber.

Because LEED impacts the market for wood-related companies, Brinkema said the organization is working hard to help companies seeking to qualify for the credit.

“We hear it time and again that the credit is the primary reason for being certified – that’s the power of the standard,” Brinkema said. “But we’ve had a lot of questions from businesses this year, asking what they need to do to meet that credit again.”

But Mark Smith, president of , said that the addendum the U.S. Green Building Council issued last year hasn’t impacted any of its projects. Rather, cost and availability continue to be the biggest hurdles to earning LEED points for certified wood.

“We offer certified materials to our customers, but the caveat is that it has to be what’s actually available,” Smith said.

Neil Kelly Cabinet Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Portland-based Neil Kelly Co., was one of the first to manufacture sustainably constructed cabinets and earn a chain-of-custody certification.

“Depending on what the architect specifies, it’s sometimes difficult to get a certified product to fit that need,” Smith said.

He said that he sometimes offers the same material with a different cut, or a different material that finishes in the same way.

“It’s a good thing for green certifications to be rigid,” Smith said. “But we’ve experienced that it’s sometimes difficult to meet the (LEED) wood credit because of product availability or cost.”

While particular finishes may be difficult to find, Carrington Barrs, co-founder and principal of , said that Oregon builders have relatively easy access to FSC-certified framing lumber.

“Around here you can buy FSC-certified framing lumber for about a 5 or 10 percent premium on a job,” he said.

The deciding factor in an FSC-certified wood decision may be the client. B&G is wrapping up construction in Southeast Portland on the Cyrk building, a live-work project that used 99 percent FSC-certified wood and may be rated LEED platinum, according to Barrs. The clients, Will Emery and Bonnie Serkin, were willing to pay nearly 30 percent more for FSC-certified siding.

“At the end of the day, the general public has to understand the value of good forest management,” Brinkema said.

FSC is hiring a new staffer to focus exclusively on the general consumer market in 2012.

The post Use of certified wood drops in 2011 LEED projects appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Before construction started on the new Regional Health and Education Center for Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, project partners were warned that local opposition to the nonprofit could make the job unlike any of their previous ones.

Planned Parenthood provides a wide range of sexual and reproductive health care at nearly 800 centers nationwide. At some locations the nonprofit offers abortion services, a practice that stirs up resistance and causes protesters to picket construction sites and contact architects and contractors on the project team to express their disapproval.

Despite protests at the ground-breaking event and a steady stream of calls and letters, construction is moving forward on the new facility in the Glenwood community between Eugene and Springfield.

“We didn’t want (the crews) to be blindsided,” said Cynthia Pappas, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon. “We learned from other affiliates across the country who built new facilities, and workers need to be prepared to receive threatening letters. We met long before we ever broke ground when we hired these folks and gave them a heads-up. And they’ve been a very supportive crew.”

Crews this week are finishing preliminary site work for the $8.5 million facility. The footing excavation is almost done and foundation work should start this week, according to Pat Duerr, project manager for general contractor .

But as expected, dozens of protesters picketed when ground was broken in September. Eugene-based firm , which designed the building, started receiving letters from project opponents in late August.

The Regional Health and Education Center is the architecture firm’s first project that has drawn protests, according to principal-in-charge Carl Sherwood. The numbers of letters have dwindled, but between four and six protesters call the firm each week, he said.

“All of the consultants on the team have been affected by it,” Sherwood said. “(The protesters) have been cordial for the most part, and I certainly respect their right to an opinion and we try to listen and be cordial in return.”

Twenty years ago, Robertson | Sherwood | Architects designed the Planned Parenthood clinic on High Street in Eugene, and he said that public reaction was not an issue then, but “times have changed.”

Three years ago, threats of protesters caused to pull out of a Planned Parenthood project to build a facility now operating on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Beech Street. The regional affiliate headquartered in the building, Planned Parenthood – Columbia Willamette, ended up serving as the general contractor and working with .

“During the building process we did talk with construction crews and architects and people who were going to be on site,” PPCW spokeswoman Liz Delapoer said. “We advised the crews what the protesters’ rights were and gave them tips on how to continue working with minimal disruption.”

Chambers Construction continues to receive up to four phone calls and five letters from project opponents each week, according to company spokesman Kai Davis. But protesters haven’t returned to the construction site yet, Duerr said.

The new center is being built in Glenwood in response to a growing service need in the Lane County region, according to Pappas. Approximately 21,000 clients were seen in Lane County’s clinics annually, and the new facility is designed to accommodate 31,000.

The center will replace Eugene and Springfield clinics and accommodate residents from eight counties, making it one of the largest new developments in the Glenwood region in decades.

“Planned Parenthood didn’t want to shirk from being visible,” Sherwood said. “They wanted a design that stood out and was proud and an asset to the community.”

Pappas, who worked for the city of Springfield for nearly 20 years before becoming CEO of the regional Planned Parenthood affiliate, is familiar with the project site.

“I firmly believe that the area we’re locating in will be the next best area to develop, and we’re getting in early,” Pappas said. “Nonprofits can sometimes be bolder than your average developer because we are a ‘destination facility’ – people come to us for health care; it’s not as important to us what’s immediately adjacent.”

A Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver rating is being targeted for the regional facility, which will house the Southwestern Oregon affiliate’s corporate headquarters on the second floor. Robertson | Sherwood | Architects is refining the rainwater harvesting system so that water consumption will be reduced by at least 40 percent when compared to national standards.

Chambers Construction will install approximately 2.25 miles of vertical geothermal wells for the mechanical HVAC system, which is anticipated to operate 23 percent more efficiently than a code-compliant building in Oregon.

Pappas also emphasized that a rapid transit bus stop will be in front of the property.

“We’re proud of the building,” she said. “It will be healthier for clients and staff and healthier for our Earth. And that’s one of the main parts of our mission and philosophy – to be a good environmental steward.”

The post Protesters don’t stop Planned Parenthood project appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The Cyrk building at Southeast Clinton and 20th streets in Portland is a model of sustainable features: The roof will sport solar panels for electricity and water heating, and the indoor temperature will be controlled with an underground water-source heat pump. Altogether, the project is on course to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certification.

The project team is dedicated to creating as green a building as possible – and overcoming the challenges inherent in such an effort.

Project owners Will Emery and Bonnie Serkin wanted to create an urban space where they could live and work. They will reside on the building’s top floor, which also will include a guest suite for visitors. The main floor will hold the offices of Double E Northwest, the investment management company Emery and Serkin own and operate. The main floor also has space for a retail tenant, which is still being sought.

Double E Northwest owns a number of companies: one is developing a sustainable residential community in Newport, and another owns a certified sustainable forest on the Oregon coast. So creating a sustainable live-work space was a natural step for Serkin and Emery. Serkin believes that green buildings like the Cyrk will be the norm in a decade or two.

“Ten to 20 years ago, this would have been impossible,” Serkin said. “Right now, this is the kind of building that can be built if you work hard and think about it.”

Project team members DECA Architecture and B&G Builders last week offered a tour of the Cyrk Building, now under construction, to architects. DECA principal David Hyman said the team considered sustainability certification methods other than LEED – including the Living Building Challenge.

“I’m fairly confident that we could have met that, but it would’ve required a lot more paperwork,” Hyman said. “It’s a more difficult, more time-consuming process.”

As it was, the project team faced challenges in sourcing material. Working inside a green framework, Hyman said, “narrows the availability of materials.” He credits B&G Builders with providing connections with the right sources.

“The big unknown is always recycled wood, because sources change all the time,” Hyman said.

Much of the Cyrk building is framed and sided with wood that is either recycled or FSC certified. Some large beams visible in the residential area are recycled from a shipwreck.

“It takes quite a bit of research and phone calling to source the facilities that have those resources,” Hyman said.

One of the more difficult aspects of the project, according to B&G, was familiarizing contractors with the process of sorting waste materials. In order to hit LEED platinum, 95 percent of construction waste needed to be recycled or reclaimed, and everything needed to be documented.

Carrington Barrs, a B&G Builders principal, said waste management is the baseline for all of his firm’s green building projects.

“Not only is this project pushing the limits of sustainability, it’s also a very high-end project,” Barrs said. “What I’ve been telling all our subs is this: ‘Nothing out here is like what you did on your last project.’ ”

Serkin added that “it’s not intended to be a shrine to sustainability – it’s a beautiful place to live in a neighborhood that has a lot of integrity.”

The post Cyrk building in Southeast Portland shoots for LEED platinum appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A new live-work building designed by DECA Architecture Inc. is going up in Portland.

Developer Bonnie Serkin of Landwaves wanted to combine her home and work with the Cyrk, a 14,500-square-foot building that will house Serkin’s home on its second floor and office on its ground floor. Serkin also plans to lease part of the ground floor to a retailer.

“We’re combining our lives,” Serkin said. “Live-work cuts out the work commute completely. We hope to lease the retail space to an environmentally minded business.”

Located on Southeast 20^th Avenue and Clinton Street, the project will use a high performing envelope, vegetative roof and 26 kilowatt photovoltaic system to provide 90 percent of the building’s power needs, said David Hyman, a principle with DECA. The project is currently under construction by B&G Builders and is expected to be completed in 11 months.

The post Portland developer building live-work space appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.