A project to improve the facade of the Charles E. Whittaker U.S. Courthouse in Kansas City, Missouri, will use glass and low-carbon steel as part of a “clean buying” initiative by the Biden administration to prioritize materials associated with lower greenhouse levels. gas emissions.
The US General Services Administration announced on February 7 that it awarded a $62.4 million contract to JE Dunn Construction Co. for the work
The project involves the installation of 100,000 square meters of windows. Officials have projected that its thermal protection will mean annual energy savings of 2.6%. The project will use glass supplied by Vitro Architectural Glass, which meets the low carbon material requirements for flat glass under the Inflation Reduction Act. The 2022 law provided the General Services Administration with $2.2 billion to purchase and install low-carbon building materials.
The agency said it plans to procure the glass over the next 18 months from glass producer Carlisle, Pennsylvania’s flat glass plant. GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan said in a statement that the company is an example of “American manufacturers who are creating innovative products, driving sustainability and creating good-paying manufacturing jobs.”
JE Dunn is based a block away from the federal courthouse and is the contractor that originally built the building in the 1990s. Ryan Watzke, vice president, said in a statement that the company shares “GSA’s commitment to innovation in construction and to provide federal employees and agencies with high-performance facilities.”
The work is part of a larger $96 million facade project planned to improve the courthouse’s energy efficiency, as well as comfort and safety for the people inside, according to GSA. The plan also includes repairing the roof and replacing a curtain wall that the agency says is deteriorating. Construction will begin at the end of this month and will be completed in 2026.
The courthouse project is one of 11 incorporated low-carbon pilot projects nationwide that the General Services Administration has in various stages of procurement, with plans for more. The agency is also using another $975 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to upgrade federal buildings with sustainable technology and $250 million to build conversions that improve their energy efficiency.
GSA aims to have its entire building portfolio net zero by 2045.
