News

Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine’s Multidisciplinary Laboratory has met green building leadership standards, which has earned a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) distinction from the U.S. Green Building Council. 

The newly updated laboratory, with its energy and environmentally efficient design, has received a LEED Silver certificate. This most recent classification brings the total number of LEED certified buildings on the SIUE campus to six.

“The new addition, which was constructed next to the existing building, has state-of-the-art laboratories for the students that are equipped with wet labs and simulator labs,” said John Renken, SIUE architect and Multidisciplinary Laboratory project manager. “When building the lab, we diverted more than 80 percent of construction waste to recycle centers.”

Some other environmental benefits include providing bicycle storage outside of the building and having shower facilities inside the building. “This promotes people riding their bicycles into work rather than driving,” Renken said.

The laboratory also boasts the following energy, water conservation and indoor air quality advantages:

• A white reflective roof and white concrete to reduce heat island effect
• Low flow plumbing fixtures, which reduce the overall water consumption by 20 percent
• Eliminating obnoxious and chemical odors to promote better indoor air quality
• Use of local construction products from a 500 mile radius or less to reduce the use of fossil fuel 

“It is a challenge to construct an environmentally friendly building which still meets the rigorous expectations of the educational program,” said SDM Executive Director Kenneth Holbert. “We appreciate the thought and hard work that went into this project producing the LEED certification without compromising educational standards.” 

The LEED certification process takes into consideration some of the following areas: 

• Water efficiency
• Energy and atmosphere
• Materials and resources
• Indoor environmental quality
• Innovation in design 

The U.S. Green Building Council LEED categories range from certified, silver, gold and platinum. 

Other LEED certified buildings on the SIUE campus include: 

• Art & Design West – LEED Gold
• Lukas Athletic Annex – LEED Silver
• Science Building West – LEED Silver
• Engineering Building Addition – LEED Silver
• One residential building in Cougar Village – LEED Residential  

According to Assistant Vice Chancellor for Administration Rich Walker, SIUE is expects to add three more buildings to its LEED list in the future: Science Lab East, the Engineering Student Project Addition and the Edwardsville Dental Clinic in University Park. 

The SIU School of Dental Medicine students manage approximately 35,000 patient visits each year at its patient clinics in Alton and East St. Louis. In addition, students offer oral health treatment, screenings and education to more than 10,000 people annually through a wide variety of off-campus community outreach events. These opportunities provide students the training they need to graduate and become highly skilled dentists. The School of Dental Medicine is a vital oral health care provider for residents of southern and central Illinois, and the St. Louis metropolitan region.