Buildings & grounds

The City of Tacoma has been recognized by Governor Jay Inslee as one of the winners of the 2015 Smart Communities Award for the creation of the Prairie Line Trail in partnership with UW Tacoma.

By Tiffany Loh

This post was originally published on the Campus Sustainability Fund site.

Earlier this year, the CSF awarded a grand total of $105,367 to 6 projects in the first round of funding for 2015. One of the projects proposed innovative adjustments that would optimize the use of a gift Mother Nature likes to shower upon Seattle: rainwater. 

The UW Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration teamed up with the UW Carpentry Fabrication Shop to transform a dead cedar tree on campus into a bench where the UW community can enjoy the surroundings of the restored forest.

Did you know there are more than seven miles of tunnels running under the UW campus? The tunnels are used to deliver steam and chilled water from the UW power plant to buildings across the university, providing heating and cooling throughout the year.

This year UW Tacoma gained a new centerpiece designed to connect the campus with and enhance the surrounding urban environment. The Prairie Line Trail provides a new path to walk and bike through campus, and also creates a new common space for the UW Tacoma community.

UWTV's latest episode of UW 360 takes a look at the trail, exploring the history of Tacoma and the railroad line that formerly occupied the space which is now the Prairie Line Trail.

Watch:

The student housing at Mercer Court includes a number of sustainability projects (like the UW Solar project on the roof). One feature takes advantage of Seattle's rain to help make doing laundry more environmentally friendly:

The US Green Building Council recently awarded LEED gold certification to UW Medicine Phase 3.1 in South Lake Union. Green features of the 183,000-square-foot, seven-story building include a storm water cistern for irrigation, a heat-recovery chiller, high-efficiency boilers, exhaust air energy recovery and more. The project was financed through $165 million in tax-exempt bonds via the National Development Council.

The University of Washington announced today that PACCAR Hall has been awarded LEED Gold certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.