Last fall, after Chris Lee took over as Santa Monica’s building official, he couldn’t resist making a day trip to Seattle. It wasn’t for the views of Mount Rainier, the Olympics or the Cascades. Lee wanted to see the composting toilets at Seattle’s super-sustainable Bullitt Center.

“We left for the airport at 4 a.m., flew to Seattle, spent three hours at Bullitt Center and returned that night,” says Lee, who traveled with his predecessor, Jack Leonard.

It was Leonard’s second trip to the 52,000-sq-ft office building. The Leonard-Lee interest in the exotic sanitary waste disposal system, which uses very little water, was not academic.

At the time, Santa Monica was seeking approval from its Building and Safety Division and county and state regulators for a composting toilet system and a rainwater-to-potable-water treatment system for its 50,200-sq-ft City Services Building (CSB), under construction since spring.

李对布利特中心及其堆肥厕所印象深刻。李说：“厕所系统上有负压。”“你什么都没闻。”

Wary building regulators in California, charged with guarding public health and safety, had never approved either the rainwater or the composting system before.

“One of the biggest challenges was that code officials were not familiar with the systems,” because they are not specified in the California plumbing code, says Lee.

打开后,2020年4月,76.8美元的CSB, sited behind and linked to historic City Hall, will be the place for plan review, approval and permitting of all building projects in Santa Monica by Lee’s Building and Safety Division. It will also be a showcase for sustainability in water-thirsty Southern California.

“To achieve our goals for the CSB, we’ve had to break down regulatory barriers to support” the latest water-conservation technologies, says Susan Cline, director of public works for the 8.4-sq-mile Pacific Coast city, which has a population of more than 92,000.

The CSB is cut from the cloth of Bullitt Center, which is considered the world’s greenest commercial building. In 2015, the now five-year-old speculative office building achieved Living Building status under the rigorous Living Building Challenge (LBC) green-building certification program of the International Living Future Institute. ILFI is headquartered in Bullitt Center, which the environment-focused Bullitt Foundation developed as a model for sustainability.

Among other criteria, Living Buildings must demonstrate performance, during a year after occupancy, of net-zero annual water and energy use. Contractors must meet standards for waste control during construction. And building teams must specify materials, components and systems that are not harmful to people and the environment.

Bullitt Center is an inspiration and model for the CSB, which is seeking Living Building certification. Bullitt Foundation President Denis Hayes, Bullitt Center’s mastermind, even became an advocate for the CSB. He presented Bullitt Center, by video, to Santa Monica’s city council in early 2015.

“We’re leveraging the investment of the Bullitt Foundation,” says Cline.

除了开创性的堆肥厕所和南加州的雨水到雨水处理系统外，CSB正在成为第一个市政居住大楼。该建筑物的绿色系统还包括一个240 kV的太阳能系统，旨在产生足够的电力来消除电费。

The project is a way for the city to demonstrate that “third-party-verified standards in sustainability can be achieved in Southern California,” says Shannon Parry, the city’s deputy sustainability officer. It also is “an opportunity to develop policy and pilot tools and technology [for private-sector projects] to help achieve the city’s sustainability goals.”

这些目标是雄心勃勃的。这个城市是追求佤邦ter self-sufficiency by 2020, zero waste production by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. Ordinances for new buildings restrict water use and require rooftop solar systems. And the city has several sustainable infrastructure initiatives (see p. 21).

The CSB is considered a piece of the city’s sustainable infrastructure, with its own ecosystem, of sorts. The roof is the equivalent of a watershed. The cistern is a reservoir. The water treatment skid is a scaled-down treatment plant.

“这真是一个很酷的建筑。”says Tim Purcell, the city’s staff construction manager for the CSB. “I love it and want to be part of making history.”

---

Related Article
Santa Monica Pushes Ahead To Meet Aggressive
Infrastructure Sustainability Goals

---

城市债券

The city council approved the CSB project on Aug. 8, 2017. The development is financed from $76,760,000 of city-issued bonds. The city expects the savings on annual leases for rented office space will exceed the annual cost of construction financing after 16 years, and that the building will pay for itself well within its useful life.

The city opted to minimize its cost risk through a “progressive” design-build construction contract, with a guaranteed maximum price of nearly $60.8 million. Progressive design-build has three phases: design-bid-build, design-build and a GMP phase.

The delivery method is a plus for the CSB, for it “brings in design and construction expertise from the beginning,” says Rebecca M. Abano, the city architect.

In 2014, the city received proposals from seven design-build teams. Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co. won the job in January 2015, with a team that includes architect Frederick Fisher and Partners and consulting engineer Buro Happold (BH). HD’s first association with the job, however, was in 2014, when it was contracted to do a feasibility study.

For Joel Cesare, the city’s project manager for the CSB, the project is the opportunity of a lifetime. In 2014, during his interview to work in the city’s sustainability office, Cesare was told he might work on a Living Building. “That had been my primary goal,” he says.

Getting initial approvals for the CSB took one year, which is two to three times longer than is typical. “Permitting fatigue set in for us and the agencies,” says Cesare, who literally jumped for joy when the final building permit came through.

Approvals were much “harder than they should have been because we were on the bleeding edge,” says Julian Parsley, a BH principal. “It was a rigorous review to make sure we thought through all eventualities.”

切萨尔（Cesare）通过批准迷宫（Maze）指导团队。他通过使用外交吊死了，但他从来没有“不”从监管机构那里得到答复。

指甲油还没有结束。在2017年8月至5月之间授予的许可证是在CSB被占据后最终检查的条件。欧芹说：“如果某事不起作用，[监管机构]可以说，‘取出它。’

In Cesare’s view, composting was the most difficult feature to get approved. Rainwater was next. But even the graywater system was a challenge: There were fears of system cross-contamination.

为了帮助跟踪净净净使用净用水的道路，Cesare标志着ILFI的俄勒冈净零水渗透路线图，该路线图是为波特兰项目开发的。他的大量涂鸦几乎类似于涂鸦。

CSB团队根据《守则》的替代方式和方法部分向城市的建筑部申请批准，这允许创新。

Approvals were also needed from the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), the California Coastal Commission and Los Angeles County’s departments of public works and health.

为了吸引支持，CSB团队从2014年开始就在设计早期就接触了监管机构，并进行了对话，以回答问题，解决问题并消除障碍。

“We first met starting about two years ago and had four more meetings,” says Jeff O’Keefe, chief of the Southern California section of SWRCB’s drinking water division. “Our concerns were clear from the beginning.”

Some LBC project teams go into permitting with an “us-versus-them” attitude, says Kathleen Smith, ILFI’s LBC vice president. “The Santa Monica team was thoughtful, smart and strategic from the get-go.”

Because some systems required several agencies’ approval, regulators also were in touch with each other. And in Seattle, they met with local, county and state counterparts to hear about lessons learned from Bullitt Center.

“The reality is that a lot of the rules are open to interpretation and it’s up to individuals in the agencies to interpret them,” says Smith.

For the rainwater system, for example, California regulations don’t clearly identify rainwater as a source of drinking water.

For conditional approval, Santa Monica “was in a unique position” because it has its own public water utility, with a permit and a track record. “This gave confidence they will succeed,” says O’Keefe.

The CSB team did just about everything possible to get approvals. Due diligence included organizing regulators’ trips to Seattle to tour Bullitt Center and meet with their regulatory counterparts and others associated with the building.

Cesare briefed all stakeholders, including regulators, about composting by engaging a nutrient recovery specialist and a certified industrial hygienist.

He visited New York City’s Bronx Zoo. He even raked compost at the Chesapeake Bay’s Brock Environmental Center—a Living Building—and churned compost at Bullitt Center. “I had to become an expert on composting toilets,” says Cesare.

County regulators were especially wary about the composting toilets. They had recently turned down a request for them for a campsite on nearby Catalina Island because of public health concerns, mostly related to proper operations and maintenance, says Scott Abbott, manager of the county health department’s environmental protection branch.

对于CSB的绿灯，监管机构规定了几个条件。必须有公共工程人员操作该系统。通风堆栈中必须有紫外线辐射以进行消毒。堆肥室风扇必须增加容量和备份功率。在主堆肥室外面，必须有一个前庭空间来清洁人员和设备。该系统必须具有二氧化碳传感器和警报系统。必须有一个具有气隙的工业供水系统，以减轻与其他供水系统的交叉连接。而且必须与公共下水道有4英寸的备用连接。

The permit also requires urine drainage to the public sewer at all times. That requirement prompted the team to get an exemption from the LBC, which usually doesn’t allow wastewater to go into the sewer.

在要求进行最终建筑检查之前，该团队必须获得第三方认证的工业卫生师的批准，他们将评估该市的员工培训和维护手册。堆肥厕所的制造商BH和Clivus Multrum Inc.必须提交检查报告。

Quarterly inspection from an industrial hygienist is mandated for two years after the certificate of occupancy is issued. Inspections thereafter are required at the discretion of the hygienist.

For the rainwater-to-potable water system, designed by PACE and BH, the city must demonstrate the system will produce water that “meets federal and state drinking water standards prior to supplying water to the building consumers.”

Drinking-water regulators are typically extremely cautious. For example, Bullitt Center still does not have a permit for its occupants to drink treated rainwater.

The state’s O’Keefe isn’t too concerned about the CSB: Santa Monica is a “water utility with a track record,” he says.

Materials

尽管该地点被缩小了，但三层楼的建筑的建设很简单。对于建筑团队而言，这项工作的重大挑战涉及满足LBC的要求，尤其是对于材料和组件。

LBC teams are expected to avoid “worst in class” chemicals by following LBC bans on harmful ingredients in building materials and contents, listed in the LBC Red List. When that is impossible, for example due to the need to comply with official regulations, teams are given exemptions.

高清可持续发展经理杰西·巴克马斯特（Jessie Buckmaster）表示，要收集雨水进行饮酒，屋顶材料（从本质上讲，雨水都会触及雨水，都需要成为国家标准基金会151/61认证，这证明了材料不会将毒素浸入饮用水中。

Early in design, there was no certified roofing material that was also toxin free and robust enough to last. Carlisle Construction Materials, an established roofing and waterproofing material maker, agreed to get its material NSF-certified. “It took time and a significant investment, but theirs is the first LBC-compliant roof membrane that is certified,” says Buckmaster. “Other LBC projects [with rainwater collection systems] can use the material in the future.”

Santa Monica gets, on average, 14 in. of rain each year, mostly from December through March. A 40,000-gallon cistern, installed when City Hall was vacant, will provide potable water during dry times. Accommodations were made to avoid stagnation, which was a concern of regulators.

LBC认证基于一年的职业后绩效数据。但是，为了确保公共安全，监管机构要求运营商在允许乘员喝水之前对雨水系统进行整整一年的测试。

The LBC allows the team to fill the cistern once, at the opening of the project, which is scheduled for after the rainy season. “We are planning to have the collection area and treatment system ready prior to or during the 2019-20 rainy season so we can begin the testing period,” says Cesare.

The construction schedule enables this. But if the schedule changes or if the rainy season doesn’t cooperate, occupants may be drinking city water for a year or more and treated rainwater will be used for nonpotable purposes. A well provides backup potable water.

还有其他红色列表头痛。当局要求使用氯在输送到喷口的运输中消毒。该团队正在与LBC一起豁免，该LBC认为氯是红色清单毒素。

The LBC program requires high levels of construction waste diversion. “We must meet 95% diversion for metals and paper/cardboard, 100% for soils, 90% for rigid foam/carpet/insulation and 80% combined for everything else,” says Buckmaster.

分包商进行简报。CSB的Purcell说：“我们不希望有人去卡车上抓住一卷不合格的胶带或一管。”

“We are trying to encourage sustainable behavioral change,” adds Joshua Nelson, HD’s project manager. This includes such tips as recommending crews bring in reusable food containers.

尼尔森说，工作正在按计划进行。系统调试应从2020年1月开始，然后在该三月进行实质性完成。

Regulators, having been through CSB approvals, are now able to offer advice to other developers: “Contact places that have done it and build on their lessons learned,” Abbott says. But he cautions that the county health department would be reluctant to approve composting toilets for a developer that might sell the building. “That could create a discontinuity of knowledge” and possibly “a public health nightmare,” he says.

Smith says ILFI is “very excited” about the CSB. “There aren’t a lot of public agencies registered for the LBC,” she says. “This project is at the leading edge and already a model for others.”