Wisconsin Builder | Top Projects of 2002

Waste Watchers

Opus conserves, recycles for Alliant

Alliant Energy Corp. World Headquarters Madison

By Jeremy Harrell

Waste not, want not," is not always an adage that applies to the construction industry, but it found a new usefulness in the construction of the Alliant Energy Corp. Headquarters in Madison.

In building the $36 million, 325,000-square-foot building, design/builder Opus North Corp., Milwaukee, embarked on a thorough effort to conserve as many materials and as much energy as possible.

"It was pretty substantial," said Tom Kennedy, vice president of construction for Opus North. "Because Alliant Energy is who they are, they have a primary focus on conservation."

With the guidance of Opus North, consultant WasteCap Wisconsin, the job's subcontractors and Green Valley Disposal, Alliant went a long way toward achieving its goal of demonstrating a commitment to preserving natural resources.

The project recycled more than 500 tons of construction waste, equivalent to 70 percent of excess materials generated on site. That's especially notable given that 46 percent of the waste stream in Dane County comes from construction projects, Kennedy said.

"We were able to go a step farther than on most projects," he said. "We do it regularly now, but we learned a lot of what we know from this project."

Kennedy said his company and the project consultants sometimes found ingenious ways to reuse materials. In one instance, he said, WasteCap found an area farm that was willing to grind down excess gypsum wallboard and spread it across a field as fertilizer.

Old into new

The commitment to reusing and recycling materials didn't stop with disposal, either. The project relied on 6,699 tons of recycled asphalt, 1,500 square feet of recycled flooring, fireproof spray made of 75 percent recycled material and acoustical tiles composed of 80 percent recycled material.

Project Name: Alliant Energy Corp. World Headquarters
Location: Madison
Submitting Company: Opus North Corp., Milwaukee
General Contractor/Construction Manager: Opus North Corp., Milwaukee
Architect: Opus North Corp., Milwaukee
Engineer: Opus North Corp., Milwaukee
Owner: Alliant Energy Corp., Madison
Project Cost: $36 million
Start Date: May 2001
Completion Date: April 2002

Within the design of the building and its mechanical systems, Opus North found other ways to save energy. The building is cooled using an off-peak, ice-storage system, which saves Alliant thousands of dollars per year, and the HVAC piping contains foam core sheathing to assist in its efficiency.

The building's windows, as well, are designed to let light in and keep heat out. And lighting fixtures throughout the headquarters maximize indirect light by playing off of brightly colored interior walls and windowpanes.

Landscaping also failed to go unnoticed with the planning of this project, Kennedy said. The site is circled by a silt fence, a 125,000-cubic-foot sediment basin gathers storm water runoff and water is naturally filtered through a rock wall, Kennedy said.

The site was nearly pristine and afforded Opus North plenty of space for staging the project, which included placing precast concrete panels embedded with brick onto a structural steel frame. Working for a client as large and complex as Alliant posed some challenges for Opus North, but, in the end, it taught the company some valuable lessons about construction's place in the world of waste, Kennedy said.

"After this project, we've become a proponent of doing a substantial amount of recycling on every project," he said. "We realized we could have a significant impact on the large volume of solid construction waste."

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