Connecticut Green Business Awards
Westminster School
995 Hopmeadow St.
Simsbury 06070
860-408-3000
westminster-school.org
Headmaster: W. Graham Cole Jr.
No. employees: 385
No. students: 89
A small Simsbury boarding school has taken a lead role in the green revolution by incorporating a number of cutting-edge green design practices in its newest classroom building.
One of the attention-getting features of the new Armour Academic Center at the Westminster School is a geothermal heat exchange system that uses 72 wells 500 feet deep to heat and cool the building up to 33 percent more efficiently than U.S. energy code requirements. It’s expected to save the school $20,000 a year in fuel costs and to pay for itself within five years.
“Schools are leading the way in green construction, and we have a very active eco-team on campus made up of faculty and students,” says Westminster business manager Tom Earl, who served as chairman of the construction committee. “They were looking at buildings at other schools and encouraging cost savings.”
Earl says that the building’s designer, Gund Partnership of Cambridge, Mass., also was very interested in producing an environmentally advanced building. Gund founder and principal Graham Gund attended Westminster School before going on to Kenyon College and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Along with the geothermal system, the 85,000-square-foot building boasts direct outdoor views from 90 percent of its interior spaces; high-efficiency mechanical systems, increased insulation, smart glazing choices and efficient lighting design designed to save 37 percent in energy costs; waterless urinals and high-efficiency lavatories to save 155,000 gallons of water a year; a high-efficiency irrigation system to save one million gallons of water annually; low gas-emitting paint, adhesives and carpets; building materials with 20 percent average recycled content; built-in recycling bins; accommodations for bicycles; and preferred parking for fuel-efficient and car-pool vehicles. Seventy-five percent of the waste generated by the project was recycled.
The energy efficiency measures earned Westminster School a check for $81,300 from the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund and Connecticut Light & Power Co. The school was informed in December it will earn gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) program.
Earl says the geothermal system has worked perfectly since the building opened in September. He says the building is serving an educational purpose as well. “All of the prospective students and parents who tour the school tour the new building, and part of the presentation is a written statement about the green aspects of the building,” he says. “Our faculty members, especially in math and science, also have brought the green and geothermal aspects into the curriculum.”
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