Upper Cumberland Regional Health Office Earns Leed Platinum Certification

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. − The Tennessee Department of Health Upper Cumberland Regional Health Office facility in Cookeville, Tenn., has been awarded LEED Platinum certification by the United States Green Building Council. The facility is the first building in the state of Tennessee to earn platinum-level LEED certification for new construction.

“We are so pleased our facility has earned this honor and are proud to have been part of this green building effort,” said Health Commissioner Susan R. Cooper. “The features that make this office environmentally friendly not only reduce energy costs, but also help create a healthy and comfortable place for our staff to work and our patients to visit.”

The 50,000+ square-foot facility, completed in October 2010, houses the Upper Cumberland Regional Health Office, a regional training center and a clinic. It was designed to provide a healthy work environment for employees, reduce water use and save as much energy as possible. Use of daylight reduced the number of light fixtures needed; a geothermal system uses the cooling and warming qualities of the Earth to control indoor temperatures; and a photovoltaic, or solar, system produces some of the energy needed to operate the facility.

"The State of Tennessee should be a leader to both the public and private sectors in building design and construction," State Architect Bob Oglesby said. "During today's economic and energy-focused environment, achieving LEED Platinum is a tremendous milestone for us - reflective of our commitment to own and operate high performance buildings which lower our total cost of ownership."

The building’s environmentally-conscious features include recycled and sustainable materials such as countertops made from recycled windshield glass, floors made with fly ash, cork wall coverings and furniture and decorative panels made from recycled plastic. Additional sustainable features include collection of rainwater for landscape irrigation, reflective and energy-efficient roofing to reduce heat, and use of local and regional materials.

The Upper Cumberland Regional Health Office, located at 1100 England Drive in Cookeville, is responsible for leadership and management of 14 county health departments: Cannon, Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Smith, Van Buren, Warren and White. Health services offered include immunizations, well child/EPSDT screenings, WIC and nutrition, children’s special services, breast and cervical cancer screening, family planning, HIV counseling and testing, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, tuberculosis testing and treatment and communicable disease control.

Creation of the new Upper Cumberland Regional Health Office facility was a joint project of Thomas Miller and Partners, PLLC architecture and design firm of Nashville and Upland Design Group, Inc. of
Crossville. Nashville-based Hardaway Construction Corp. was the general contractor.

LEED is a system for verifying that a building was designed and constructed using environmentally-friendly strategies to improve energy savings, water usage, indoor environmental quality and use of resources. Learn more through the United States Green Building Council’s website www.usgbc.org/.