A newly built high school in the Montezuma-Cortez (Colo.) District has received LEED Gold certification for its environmentally sensitive design and construction.
The Journal reports that Montezuma-Cortez High School, which opened in August 2015 in Cortez, incorporated numerous sustainable strategies in the construction of the $40 million, 152,000-square-foot facility. Among them:.
- Reducing water use by 64 percent outdoors and 40 percent indoors.
- A geothermal mechanical system and solar panels that enable the building to reduce energy consumption by more than 36 percent.
- Recycling of 90 percent of all construction waste.
- Use of recycled concrete as a base material for the parking lot.
- Building materials from regional sources accounted for more than 24 percent of the project.
- Extensive use of daylighting to illuminate classrooms and other areas.
Funding for the project came from a 2012 bond election and a state grant through the Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) program. In accepting the BEST grant, the district was required to build a school that achieved LEED certification.
The architect for the project is Dekker Perich Sabatini.
