First LEED Platinum Building in Delaware
The Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay Council, Inc. (GSCBC), was joined by civic and community leaders, including Governor Markell, in dedicating the Council's Science and Technology Lodge in honor of former Council Board President and lifelong environmental advocate Lynn W. Williams.
The Science and Technology Lodge is the first building in Delaware to earn the nationally renowned Platinum Certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). It is the first Girl Scout Council nationally to attain this top rating for a property.
The Science and Technology Lodge was designed by the Philadelphia-based firm ReVision Architecture and built by Wilmington-based SC&A Construction.
The Lodge has over two dozen energy efficient and environmentally sensitive features. In the first six months of operation, the PV array on the roof provided approximately 60 percent of the electricity needed by the building. It has one of the first rainwater harvesting systems installed in New Castle County.
The Science and Technology Lodge is a dynamic teaching and conference center that not only delivers cutting-edge STEM programs to Girl Scouts, but also offers flexible meeting space for public and private organizations. It delivers STEM programming often through creative partnerships with companies such as DuPont, in which female engineers and scientists serve as teachers.
Because the 5,000-square-foot building was designed to be educational, it features signage throughout that describes sustainable design features of the Lodge. Resource consumption and production is carefully tracked through displays that include a water meter board and a computer screen that shows electricity production by the PV array. Building tours were a regular occurrence during construction and will continue to be so for many years to help teach others about ways in which one can build "green" and sustainable structures.
