Spotlight On: DOERRE Construction Interior Upfit

2459 Wilkinson Blvd., Suite 210, Charlotte, NC

DOERRE Construction

A challenging economy still breeds opportunities. Doerre Construction Co., LLC, a general contractor in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a savvy company that realized the market shift towards green building by doing a green upfit—or renovation—of their own new office in an historic building. As Doerre pursues LEED Silver certification for the 5,000-square foot office space, the company has found that the project has become a great marketing tool.

Two years ago, owner Karl Doerre was involved in the purchase and renovation of the old General Dyestuff Mill building built circa 1939. While working on the plan for the three-story structure, Doerre decided to relocate its offices to this facility. The bones of “this magnificent old structure” offered the perfect canvas for a LEED project.

On January 10, 2009, Doerre Construction moved in to their new corporate offices. The project was built with the intentions of achieving LEED Silver certification. Tony Parrott, Doerre's project superintendent for the upfit, outlined some of the green features:

  1. The property has been certified a brownfield site.
  2. The original building façade contained single-pane, thin rail steel hopper windows which were salvaged for use in the office. The hopper windows, now installed as sidelights in the new office walls, provide daylight and views in the interior of the space.
  3. More natural light was brought into the interior: All doors are full glass. And Doerre installed a clerestory over the workroom to also bring in natural light.
  4. The warehouse manager’s office remains and serves as the main conference room.
  5. The office used recycled gypsum wallboard, sound batt insulation, and carpet squares.
  6. Doerre used recycled linoleum for the break room floor, which also houses the recycling center.
  7. The wood floors are from the Old Crow Distillery in Woodford County, Kentucky (circa 1855). The old distillery was disassembled and the structure was reclaimed and milled to create new products including Doerre's wood floors. The wood traveled 498 miles, just squeaking by under the local sourcing limit of 500 miles.
  8. The upfit used low and no VOC paints and floor sealers.
  9. All doors arrived on site prefinished.
  10. Occupancy sensors, which also monitor ambient light, are installed in all offices and group spaces.
  11. Lighting is indirect/direct fluorescent.
  12. HVAC systems (4) are 13.0 SEER or better with programmable thermostats to minimize unoccupied use.
  13. The office met the IAQ requirements.
  14. Doerre was able to claim 75% of our construction waste and debris for recycling.
  15. Doerre did not purchase a single new piece of office furniture but brought everything with them. The company recycled birch doors into plan tables and made some new cabinets to match those they recycled from the old space.

DOERRE ConstructionA few key pieces help translate the building's past. The original shipping scale mechanism and the last remaining functional dock door were salvaged and now grace the lobby.

Historic photos of the factory are peppered throughout the office space. The original terrazzo staircase sweeps down the building's main entrance.

Particularly striking is that this is Doerre's first green project. Prior to this project, “LEED wasn't in the vocabulary,” says David Harker, senior project manager at Doerre.

While LEED was advancing in the Charlotte market overall, the public sector, the large banks, and the Fortune 500 companies were driving the process.

Smaller companies like Doerre wanted to get involved but most private projects were negotiated rather than bid out and Doerre did not participate in the public sector market.

So Doerre decided to do something different: renovate its new office as its first LEED project to get experience and demonstrate the results. In the process they've fostered good corporate citizenship by “putting their money where their mouth is” as well as created a space where employees “feel good about work.”

DOERRE ConstructionWhat enabled them to do so? Well, one thing was that first they built staff capacity for green building. Five Doerre superintendents earned Green Advantage Commercial certification in early 2008.

Harker notes, “As a training and certification program for superintendents, Green Advantage was invaluable. It provides a great way for a construction company to get training and knowledge with two days minimal investment. Green Advantage prepared our field staff and certification shows our commitment to the overall process.” Harker enthuses, “Green Advantage is a low-impact way to get superintendents educated on green building. I would recommend it to anyone.”

As a smaller company, grossing $40-45 million per year, budget was a conscious factor for the project. Drawing on the knowledge from Green Advantage, Doerre approached the office project by setting it up as a standard upfit, documenting the process, and evaluating possible points throughout.

The superintendent took care to select and educate subcontractors by determining the cost and value of each decision. So in the case of the mechanical subcontractors, Doerre determined that separate variable air volume (VAV) units typical for a commercial building would double the cost of the mechanical system.

DOERRE ConstructionInstead Doerre added an additional rooftop compressor with higher-efficiency units instead of individual VAV units. Harker explains that the “menu was priced for every item on the project to help determine where we could get the most bang for the buck” to achieve LEED certification.

What Doerre discovered was that they received most points from materials selection, lighting controls, and paints with low or no VOCs (volatile organic compounds).

The upfit went very well. The challenge, according to Harker, is closing down the documentation side. Doerre's staff dropped from 60 to 40 since the start of 2009.

Certification has taken a second chair to maintaining a productive business in the current market but Doerre expects to have all the necessary documents submitted to the U.S. Green Building Council within the next couple of weeks.

Still, even in the down economy, the office open house attracted more than 200 people. Harker has been invited to serve on the sponsorship committee of the local USGBC chapter. Three project managers are testing for the LEED-AP exam by the end of June.

DOERRE ConstructionThe office upfit has built the firm's experience, enabling them to better advise clients on the possibilities for green building, whether they want to pursue LEED certification or not. Not only that, the office provides an excellent venue to market Doerre's experience and know-how.

Harker and other project managers can introduce prospective clients to green building techniques and explain each feature. In fact, the company that provided the recycled wood floors, Bourbon Boards (www.bourbonboards.com) refers clients to Doerre, to demonstrate the first commercial use of their product.

Harker notes that green will clearly become the standard for future construction in Charlotte. He points out that the last four LEED projects certified in Charlotte are all general contractor offices. That trend shows that Doerre is not alone in creating new opportunities.

Doerre Construction is a full service general contractor located in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Article photos courtesy of Brett Osborne of Clear Sky Images in Charlotte, NC (www.clearskyimages.com).