Advocate Christ Medical Center's East Tower Awarded LEED for HEALTHCARE GOLD

Advocate Christ Medical Center has been awarded the prestigious LEED® for HEALTHCARE GOLD Certification, established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), for its eight-story, 357,000 sq. ft. East Tower (ET), which opened in January, 2016

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is an international rating for sustainable construction and building operation. This was Advocate Health Care’s first project to monitor energy, water and air quality in real time. From the sustainability perspective, the building uses 30% less water as well as 15% less energy. The most important sustainable strategy is flexibility and re-use: this tower is designed to expand four floors vertically without disruption of operations.

Advocate Health Care is nationally recognized for its environmental leadership and is a founding member of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative. “Advocate’s focus has always been on guiding the initiative’s work in energy efficiency with all our new construction and continuing to enhance LEED features with each new project,” stated Kenneth W. Lukhard, president, Advocate Christ Medical Center.

The project design and construction team pursued USGBC’s LEED for Healthcare certification, which is more stringent than the standard LEED for New Construction certfication, and surpassed their goals by achieving LEED for HEALTHCARE GOLD status.

Features supporting the project’s LEED for Healthcare Gold certification include:

• Community Access – The ET is located on a previously developed site and is within close pedestrian access to many basic community services. The benefit of the close proximity of services such as restaurants and shopping and public transportation reduce the need for car travel, therefore reducing pollution.
• Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms – In an effort to reduce the number of vehicles on the road and to reduce land development for parking, the new ET has bike racks and showers to encourage associates to bike to work.
• White Roof – The roof of the ET is light colored to reduce the amount of heat generated by the sun causing what’s known as a “Heat Island” in urban areas. An additional benefit is a reduction in air condition usage which helps reduce energy use and costs.
• Public Transportation – The ET is located within walking distance of multiple public bus routes.
• Rain Garden – Just east of the building you will find an area planted with native vegetation. This rain garden receives storm water runoff from some of the roof. It plays the double role of enhancing the beauty of the site, and helps with storm water management.

In addition, Advocate Christ Medical Center’s Oupatient Pavilion also was awarded LEED® GOLD Certification for its nine-story, 326,000 sq. ft. outpatient facility which opened in March, 2014.