The construction of the Gateway, a new academic building at UC Berkeley that will house the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society, is well underway. As the summer heats up, the project is set to receive a unique “jacket” – a custom curtainwall façade with a significantly reduced carbon footprint compared to the industry standard. This environmentally conscious design is spearheaded by Weiss/Manfredi, the Design Architect, and Gensler, the Executive Architect.
Environmental Product Declarations
Turner Construction, the general contractor on the Gateway project, is closely monitoring the building’s carbon footprint through environmental product declarations (EPDs). These documents provide a detailed assessment of a product’s environmental impact across various categories, including global warming potential (GWP). By reviewing EPDs, stakeholders can compare the environmental impact of specific products against industry benchmarks.
Permasteelisa North America Corp. (PNA), the curtainwall trade contractor, went a step further by producing a project-specific EPD, rather than relying on industry-wide data. According to PNA, this is the first known project-specific EPD for individual curtainwall panels produced in North America. The EPD was meticulously developed over six months, involving a design-phase life-cycle assessment (LCA) and a supply chain-specific analysis of the curtainwall assemblies used in the Gateway. The results revealed a 15% reduction in GWP compared to the component averages found in the embodied carbon database, EC3.
PNA’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions is evident in their approach. “It is critical for the market to have life cycle assessments and EPDs for baselining purposes,” said Andrea Zani, PNA’s Sustainability and Physics Leader. Zani emphasized the importance of accurate source data for establishing true baselines. “Our analysis is specific to the materiality, size, and location of these project panels, as well as the manufacturing facilities involved,” he added.
Sustainability in Buildings and Facades
With buildings responsible for 39% of the world’s carbon emissions (World Green Building Council, 2019), companies like Turner and PNA are making significant efforts to reduce their environmental impact. While tracking and baselining are essential first steps, the real challenge lies in implementing actions to cut emissions. Turner and PNA are actively engaging with manufacturers, vendors, and suppliers to find lower-carbon alternatives for standard building materials such as glass, aluminum, steel, insulation, and concrete.
For the Gateway project, PNA is using framing members made from aluminum billets smelted with 90% renewable electricity and 35% recycled aluminum extrusions. They are also sourcing flat glass with 30% lower carbon emissions than the U.S. National Glass Association average. Turner has implemented transparency practices on-site, tracking monthly carbon emissions across all trade partners. By utilizing an all-electric track loader, electrifying activities like welding and dewatering, and requiring renewable diesel for all on-site equipment, Turner has been able to quantify and reduce its carbon footprint.
“Greening our construction practices isn’t just the responsibility of the designer, owner, contractor, or subcontractor,” said Emi LaFountain, Turner’s West Coast Sustainability Strategy Manager. “Each one of us should take ownership in exploring and pursuing reduction opportunities within our scopes of work.”
Looking Ahead
Building certifications like LEED, WELL, Living Building Challenge, Passive House, and Fitwel use custom scorecards to track sustainability metrics. Beyond these certifications, firms like Turner are committing to electrify fleets, reduce jobsite water and fossil fuel consumption, and maximize waste diversion during construction. Turner collaborates with leading trade contractors, like PNA, to promote sustainable materials, innovative packaging, and other practices aimed at reducing carbon, water, and waste in the industry.
While sustainable construction practices have already been adopted in Europe, Turner and PNA are excited about the growing focus on sustainability in North America. “At Permasteelisa, we are pioneering innovations in curtain wall systems with a strong focus on sustainability,” said Zani. By using aluminum from clean grids with up to 85% recycled content and integrating timber into some systems, PNA is significantly reducing the environmental impact of its projects. The company’s R&D initiatives continue to explore the next generation of low-carbon, high-performance materials.
To achieve these ambitious sustainability goals, alignment between clients, designers, and contractors is crucial. Chris Parker, West Coast Procurement Manager for Turner, emphasized the need for bidding documents to include specified products that lead to lower embodied carbon targets. “The technologies to push us toward lower carbon are developed. We need to get the bidding community to be encouraged, or better yet, required, to implement these innovations,” Parker advised. He expressed gratitude for Permasteelisa’s efforts but cautioned that relying solely on the goodwill of trade contractors is not a sustainable long-term strategy. “To reach net zero, it will take each player in our industry working together to accomplish this common objective,” Parker concluded.
