The United States Green Building Council bestowed the award to Boulder County on Dec. 1 at the Colorado chapter’s annual gala in Denver

Boulder County, Colo. - Boulder County is proud to announce that the county’s recently-constructed St. Vrain Community Hub in Longmont has received the Colorado 2015 Commercial Real Estate Greenest Building award from the United States Green Building Council.

The St. Vrain Community Hub, which opened in August of this year, serves as the Longmont location for the Boulder County Departments of Housing and Human Services and Community Services, Boulder County Public Health, Workforce Boulder County, and independent nonprofit Mental Health Partners.

The new building space, designed to be welcoming and inviting to all who seek services there, is also extremely energy efficient and incorporates numerous attributes that make it an award-winning ‘green’ building. It is currently on target to be certified as a LEED* Platinum building, the highest rating granted by the United States Green Building Council. This will be the first LEED platinum building in Longmont, and the first county-owned building with this designation.

“Boulder County strives to lead the way in sustainability,” said Boulder County Building Services Project Manager, James Butler, who accepted the award on behalf of Boulder County. “I’m pleased to have been a part of this incredible effort to spearhead such a sustainable, forward-thinking model of providing human services and using resources more efficiently in our county.”

The Boulder County Commissioners, who appropriated the money for the construction of the new community hub after a nearly 10-year effort by staff and community partners to design the best way to integrate health, housing, and human services to make it easier for residents to get the help they need when and where they need it, wanted the building to be functionally superior to the old, decentralized model of providing services. They also wanted the building to be as energy efficient and ‘green’ as possible.

“We are thrilled that not only is the county’s proactive, prevention-based focus on community strengthening incorporated into the design of the new building, but that the building itself is recognized as a leader in green building and energy efficiency,” said Boulder County Commissioner Chair, Deb Gardner.

Boulder County wishes to acknowledge the highly-successful, collaborative approach implemented by the designers and construction team who brought the St. Vrain Community Hub project to completion. Key roles in the building’s design and construction were performed by project consultants OZ Architecture, RMH Group Mechanical Engineering, and JVA Civil Engineering, and the building’s contractor, A & P Construction.

Exterior photo of the new St. Vrain Community Hub in Longmont