Henderson police unit gets award
Henderson's boys in blue just won the gold for going green.
The city's new North Community Police Station has received gold certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program.
It is the first municipal building in Nevada to receive LEED's second-highest rating for energy-efficient design, construction and operation.
The $10 million, 35,600-square-foot police station on Sunset Road east of Boulder Highway opened in March with solar panels over its covered parking spaces that generate enough electricity to offset about 15 percent of the facility's power use.
Skylights reduce the need for electric lighting and recycled materials are used throughout the building, from the structural steel to the carpets and counter tops.
The landscaping is watered with high efficiency drip heads. About 10 percent of the desert plants will need no irrigation at all once they are established.
Rain water is diverted from the parking lots to the landscaping and then filtered back into the ground to reduce run-off into the streets.
Mike Purtill was the project architect hired by Henderson to design the building. He said meeting the gold standard did not add significantly to the cost of the project.
"It really is a very simple building," said Purtill, who is an associate with Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects.
The police station joins nine other gold-certified sites across Nevada, including the Molasky Corporate Center in downtown Las Vegas and Cashman Equipment's corporate headquarters in Henderson.
Only three projects in Nevada have earned platinum certification, which is the highest rating given by the U.S. Green Building Council, national sanctioning body for LEED. They are the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences in Incline Village and two building complexes at the Springs Preserve, the Las Vegas Valley Water District's $235 million attraction at U.S. Highway 95 and Valley View Boulevard.
Henderson's North Community Police Station at 225 E. Sunset Road serves residents in an area generally bordered by the Las Vegas Beltway to the south, Pecos Road to the west, Russell Road to the north, and Pabco Road to the east.
About 70 patrol officers work out of the facility, which also houses offices for the city's SWAT, K-9 and problem- solving units.
Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.
