Los Angeles Valley College Valley Glen Gateway (LAVC VGG) – Community Workforce Development is a two-story, 70,473-square-foot building designed by QDG Architecture and Pankow Builders. Verdical Group provided:

• LEED Project Management (BD+C v3 Gold Certified)

The project was awarded LEED v3 Building Design & Construction: New Construction (BD+C: NC) Gold certification. The prominent building is located at the main entrance of the college and is comprised of administrative spaces, workforce development programs, classrooms, and a conference center.

Verdical Group worked with the project team to achieve LEED certification through a variety of measures. Site improvements include native and drought-tolerant landscaping to promote water conservation and light-colored pavement to mitigate the urban heat island effect. The project site provides 53,630 square feet of open space, the majority of which is vegetated, which helps improve the health and well-being of occupants and provides a cooling effect on the surrounding area. The light-colored hardscape and roof with high solar reflectance values also mitigate the heat island effect and contribute to reduced cooling loads in the building. Drought-tolerant landscaping was selected to reduce the overall water consumption for irrigation by 50.61%, and WaterSense-labeled, water-efficient plumbing fixtures were installed to reduce potable water usage by 44%.

Along with water conservation, energy performance was also a main priority for the project. LAVC VGG boasts an overall 34.97% energy cost savings compared to the LEED baseline and offsets 9.04% of its total annual energy cost with on-site renewable energy. Enhanced commissioning was performed to ensure that the building continues to perform as designed.