Photo Gallery> City of Austin EMS Station The Only "Gold" rated LEED's Building in the State of Texas Made of Grid-WALL! The following information is quoted from the City of Austin, Texas/Green Building Program, "Case Studies From Our Members"  Project Name/Location: Austin EMS Station: 5811 Nuckols Crossing Road, Austin, TX, 78744 LEED™ Rating: Gold (V.2), 39 Points Date Completed: 04/2004 Public Works Project Manager: Norman Mattson Sponsoring Department : Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Project Description This 5,300 sq ft stand-alone station for City of Austin Emergency Medical Services (EMS) earned Texas' first LEED Gold rating! The building was designed to perform as a 24/7 response facility, with an active truck bay and communication area, while also serving as a "home away from home" for EMS personnel. The architect for this project, Betty Trent AIA, had 25 years of experience in earth-friendly design. She assembled an enthusiastic team of designers and engineers. According to Wes Goodwin, the Commissioning Agent, "The architect did an excellent job of conducting key coordination meetings that not only included all members of the design team, but also included key persons representing the Owner who would be responsible for operating and maintaining the facility." Real collaboration between all the interested parties was an important part of this project's success The client, the City of Austin, also provided a very conscientious representative to oversee the process and champion the City's goal of achieving a LEED rating. (see "What Is LEED Certification?" or visit the LEED website, (U.S. Council of Greenbuilding, Washington D.C.) In order to reduce energy usage in the always occupied building, the team got creative and implemented a series of complementary energy strategies. Perhaps most visible of these is the wall system made of insulating leave-in place formwork and poured concrete. The 10-inch thick, R-27 super-insulating Gridwall system, is notable for its light weight and ease of construction. This system, coupled with an insulated roof and a thick foundation slab, creates a substantial thermal mass which helps regulate temperature swings Goals The goal of this project was to meet its design objectives and achieve a LEED Silver rating. The project more than succeeded on both counts, and earned the first LEED Gold rating in Texas. Part of the reason for this unprecedented success was that this project had an experienced LEED consultant on board: Gail Vittori of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS), who strategized conservatively to allow for mistakes to be made and points to drop out. Fortunately, the team did not make many mistakes - hence the LEED Gold rating. This EMS station serves as a "home away from home" for the city and county employees.  The insulated concrete wall system contains a high amount of recycled material, and is produced close to Austin, both of which helped score more LEED credits. The wall presented a bit of a learning curve to the builder, who utilized Grid-WALL's representatives to help troubleshoot problems during construction. Since Grid-WALL is typically used only in residential construction, this is one of the larger (and taller) buildings ever to employ it. In the end, the builder gained a marketable skill working with an innovative material. EMS personnel who use the building may not notice the low energy bills, but they rave about the sound insulating qualities of this product. Even sirens from the neighboring fire station are muffled.