Focus on Green Construction

March/April 2009

Diplomatic Ingenuity

New U.S. embassy in Panama becomes first standard embassy design project in the world to be LEED certified

By Angelle Bergeron

(Photo Courtesy of Caddell Construction Co., Inc.)

Caddell Construction Co. Inc., Montgomery, Ala., an AGC Alabama member, teamed with the U.S. Dept. of State to set the standard for future embassies and consulates worldwide with the U.S. Embassy Cuidad de Panama, the first standard embassy design to achieve LEED certification.

When Caddell was awarded the $71.5-million project in September 2004, the contractor had no idea the product it delivered in 2007 would be a benchmark for subsequent embassy/consulate initiatives, says Rod Ceasar, the firm’s vice president of international operations.

Since the State Dept. began awarding standard embassy design packages in 2002 to upgrade existing embassies and construct more technologically advanced and secure compounds, Caddell has designed and constructed several complexes with the option for certification. “But we didn’t know going in that the government was going to make this their first one to actually achieve LEED certification,” Ceaser says.

To build the five-story atrium, temporary floors were erected at all levels to protect workers. (Photo courtesy of Caddell Construction Co., Inc.)

The U.S. Embassy compound in Sofia, Bulgaria, previously achieved LEED certification, but the Panama embassy is the first standard embassy design package to be so designated, says Emile Corneille, project director for the State Dept.’s Office of Building Operations. “Planning and managing an international project of this size and complexity demanded the very best from Caddell’s project team,” Corneille says. “Without Caddell’s sense of teamwork and shared objectives, this project would have been impossible.”

John Hathaway, a principal with project architect Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering PC, Albany, N.Y., says the U.S. Embassy in Panama “has set a new benchmark for environmentally responsible U.S. government overseas construction. The LEED certification and the particular care with which our team executed this project have also served to confirm our government’s dedication to supporting Panama’s efforts to balance economic growth with the preservation of some of the most unique and delicate rainforest preserves in the world.”

Located on a 46-acre site, the U.S. Embassy in Panama is one of the largest embassy properties in the world and was deliberately built far from downtown for security purposes, says Terry Willis, Caddell’s marketing director.

African mahogany was used in the main lobby because it is reforested using best practices. (Photo courtesy of Caddell Construction Co., Inc.)

The complex includes a five-story main chancellery, three controlled-access compounds, a warehouse, USAID office building, central plant and more. The reinforced concrete buildings with granite and stucco exteriors are finished with all sorts of special security features such as blast-resistant windows and intrusion detection. For security reasons, the contractor is not allowed to elaborate on those details.

Willis says the remote access is one of the security measures, but that also placed the complex immediately adjacent to a national tropical rainforest preserve with environmentally significant flora and fauna. To build a road, Caddell determined the most direct and noninvasive route.

Despite massive material and equipment deliveries, the preserve sustained zero damage, as certified by Panamanian and U.S. environmental experts, Ceasar says.

“With the nearby rainforest, both the U.S. and Panamanian governments were interested and concerned with the amount of runoff during construction and the life of the complex,” Ceasar says. Caddell established an elaborate system of connected retention ponds “to make sure we captured any impurities from the site,” he says.

By using innovative bathroom fixtures, the contractor was able to reduce overall water consumption by 50% and potable water by 30%, Ceasar adds. Landscaping uses only native plants for maximum erosion control on the wet, hilly site. Other green components to the embassy design include energy-efficient HVAC systems.

The atrium stairway is made of 5/8-in. glass, stainless steel handrails and impala granite. The materials were custom cut onsite. (Photo courtesy of Caddell Construction Co., Inc.)

Caddell designed and installed aluminum screens to serve as sunshades on windows to achieve zero solar-heat gain. Roofs are covered with reflective materials designed to dramatically reduce absorption of solar radiation.

“Almost one-third of construction materials were produced within 500 miles of the embassy,” but in some cases LEED standards were better met by bringing materials from farther away, Ceasar says.

For example, for the mahogany desks and panels in the main lobby, Caddell used mahogany from Africa because the closer, more accessible mahogany from Honduras was not being reforested according to best environmental practices.

Once Caddell mobilized onsite, the contractor discovered a huge field of basalt in the footprint of the building site that had not been found by borings. “One thing we did to minimize the effect of the rock was to move some of the buildings around,” Ceasar says. “It took several months to blast the rock, but we managed to make up that time later in the schedule.”

All of the rock and soil that was blasted was eventually redistributed onsite to enhance stormwater runoff systems and overall site stability, Ceasar adds.

Although the contractor anticipated wet, muddy conditions, the hilly site made access for concrete mixer trucks difficult. Major pours were usually made with cranes and buckets.

Willis says Caddell was proud to set an example of American safety standards on the project. “In Panama, there is no OSHA-equivalent agency that makes people accountable on the job,” he says.

Caddell’s safety manager, Lee Hughes, who is married to a Panamanian woman, was the ideal choice to establish a relationship with local subcontractors and workers, Willis says.

Caddell developed a buddy system that paired local, apprenticed workers with skilled trades to learn safe practices.

More than 50 local workers and supervisors completed Caddell’s 10-hour OSHA program. All subcontractor safety representatives completed the OSHA 30-hour program. “The local Chamber of Commerce of Panama was so impressed with Hughes and our safety record that they asked him to develop proposals to establish their own OSHA-like entity,” Willis says.

Caddell designed an elaborate system of retention ponds to keep stormwater retained onsite but away from buildings. (Photo courtesy of Caddell Construction Co., Inc.)

Safety was key in attracting a healthy workforce for the project despite a downtown building boom and widespread labor shortages, Ceasar says.

“We were competing for labor resources with a lot of other projects,” he says. “One of the things that ultimately attracted people was that it was a good place to work. We operated and insisted that everyone operate in a safe manner.”

Caddell received the Aon Build America Award for the Panama embassy project in the international category at AGC’s Annual Convention on March 7 in San Diego.