Turner Construction
Turner Construction finished the Global Center for Health Innovation ahead of schedule and under budget and utilized green building practices to do it

Turner Construction's Sustainability Efforts Result in Early Completion, Cost Savings for Global Center for Health Innovation

Oct. 17, 2013
A huge construction project in downtown Cleveland was “green” for many reasons. It came in on time, under budget and environmentally friendly.

Positioned in downtown Cleveland within walking distance of hotels and entertainment, the $465 million Global Center for Health Innovation is over 1 million square-feet on a 14.6-acre site and includes showrooms for major manufacturers and service providers, conference spaces and seminar rooms for keynotes and panel discussions, and exhibition space. The project is designed to bring buyers and sellers of medical supplies and equipment together in a comprehensive marketplace.

The Cleveland offices of Turner Construction Co. and URS were selected in May 2010 as the design-build team for the Global Center for Health Innovation and Cleveland Convention Center. Turner served as the design-build contractor and URS fulfilled the role of architect of record for the project. Seattle-based LMN Architects was responsible for creating conceptual plans and design development drawings as the design architect.

To give you an idea of the scope of the project, here are some numbers:

  • 64,500 cubic yards of cast in place concrete
  • 4,200 tons of reinforcing steel
  • 423,000 square feet of new concrete slab on grade, including a new loading dock equipped with a truck turnaround ramp and dock levelers, and a state of the art exhibit hall floor
  • 1,215,000 cubic feet per minute (cfm) of air handling equipment split up among 26 air handlers
  • 2,452,000 cfm of total air moving capacity
  • 12,175.94 total steel tonnage (or 24,351,884.6 lbs)
  • 741,700 square feet of metal decking
  • 233,653 bolts
  • 24,021 pieces 
  • 17,863 drawings, including fabrication drawings

Green Building was a major effort of the Global Center for Health Innovation and Cleveland Convention Center, which is on target for LEED Silver Certification. The green roof is the largest visible feature, but layers of sustainability went into the project’s construction and design, beyond energy-conserving lighting and low-flow water fixtures.

The green roof, at 12.5 acres, includes landscaping, hardscaping and glass that allows natural light to filter into key underground areas – 30,000 square feet of ballroom and 230,000 square feet of exhibit hall space. Original mat foundations from the 1960s update of the original 1920s Cleveland Convention Center structure, were used as a massive stormwater collection system, earning high marks from EPA.

During the first 12 months of the project, Turner recycled almost 99 percent of the demolition material, or 167,254 cubic yards and has recycled over 2,600 cubic yards of construction waste. This number increased by orders of magnitude as the interior phases of the project proceeded. Another 30 percent of new materials were made from recycled materials. These green efforts saved more than $250,000, and revealed additional ways to save time, money and materials.

For more information about the project and the sustainability efforts, you can view a short video from Turner Construction.

About the Author

Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith is the former content director of EHS Today, and is currently the EHSQ content & community lead at Intelex Technologies Inc. She has written about occupational safety and health and environmental issues since 1990.

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