Consulting Engineering

300 Sower Office Building

Commonwealth of KentuckyFrankfort, Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky approached CMTA in request to design and construct a five-story, 365,000 square foot state office building in Frankfort, Kentucky. After meeting with the clients to discuss the vision for the office building, CMTA introduced their Building Science Leadership approach to the project.

Thanks to the First 30 process, CMTA provided energy-saving strategies throughout the entire state office building. These included an improved building envelope, 100% LED lighting, high-efficiency water cooled chillers, HVAC system commissioning services, and high efficiency condensing boilers. The building automation system was used to develop efficient control strategies to drive energy usage down even farther. This process can only be done by truly understanding the building occupancy and the intended use.

After tracking the building’s energy data one year after occupancy, the building is outperforming expectations. The building achieved a LEED Silver certification and a perfect Energy Star score of 100. Traditionally, four pipe VAV systems operate at a EUI of 50 to 75. The Sower 300 State Office Building is operating at a EUI of 28.6 and an energy cost index (ECI) of $0.60.

The total team effort that went into the success of the 300 Building Project was both inspiring and gratifying. Not only did this project redefine the work environment for state agencies, but it set the standard and established the value of the P3 delivery method for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Rick Ekhoff, AIA, LEED AP

Design Partner, EOP Architects