From a news release posted on PRWeb:
Appleton, WI (PRWEB) September 4, 2009 — River Crest Elementary School in Hudson, Wisconsin, recently received the designation of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), the nation’s foremost authority on green buildings. Hoffman LLC, www.hoffman.net, an Appleton, Wisconsin-based planning, architectural, and construction management firm, designed and built the highly-sustainable and eco-friendly school.
River Crest Elementary became the first elementary school in Wisconsin, and the second public elementary school in the nation, to receive Gold under the USGBC’s new LEED for Schools Rating System. In addition, it is the second of only two public school buildings in the state to receive LEED Gold designation–the first being Hoffman’s Northland Pines High School project in Eagle River, Wisconsin, in 2006.
“River Crest’s LEED Gold certification validates and confirms that sustainable design and construction can be done at or below conventional costs,” stated Mark Hanson, Hoffman’s Director of Sustainable Services.
Completed in August of 2008, River Crest was designed and built for $166/square foot, which includes design, site work, construction, furnishings, fixtures, and equipment. Total project cost is $57/square foot less than, or 29% below, the average cost for public elementary schools built in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in 2008 as stated in the “2009 Construction Report” by School Planning & Management.