5 Houston Center

CASE STUDY 5 HOUSTON CENTER The following article was published in High Performing Buildings, Winter 2009. ©Copyright 2009 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. It is presented for educational purposes only. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission of ASHRAE. After decades of virtually no new construc- BUILDING AT A GLANCE tion, downtown Houston is experiencing a Building Name 5 Houston Center Location 1401 McKinney Street, revitalization. 5 Houston Center, owned Houston Size 580,875 square feet by Wells Real Estate Funds, is a 27-story, Completed September 2002 5 Use Office 580,875-square-foot Class-A office Distinctions Building of the Year in 2007 by the Houston Building Owners and Houston tower on McKinney Street. Completed in Managers Association September 2002, the property is one of five ORIGINAL DESIGN TEAM multitenant towers built in the Houston Architect HKS General Contractor Beck central business district since 2000. Wells’ Mechanical Engineer HLM Design Center Civil/Structural Engineer Walter P. Moore portfolios include 113 buildings, with more Lighting Consultant BOS Lighting Elevator Consultant than 23 million square feet of space, across Persohn/Hahn Associates Landscape Architect 27 states and the District of Columbia. The Office of James Burnet Parking Consultant Walker Parking Consultants A Property Designed tive maintenance and tenant work order system. With all building Previous Owner/Developer With Tenants in Mind Crescent Real Estate Equities Designed by HKS, Inc., the lobby equipment logged into the system, consists of brushed stainless steel along with corresponding mainte- columns with grey granite and white nance and inspection tasks, the PRESENT OWNER/ marble floors. Its exterior facade of maintenance team is notified via MANAGEMENT reflective insulated glass and alumi- wireless device as each task becomes num curtain wall system is enhanced due. Tenants also can log on to a Web Wells Real Estate Funds REIT II by precast architectural accents. site and use a simple menu interface Throughout the interior, imported to request maintenance, repair, and Local Wells Real Estate Funds marbles and granites, along with janitorial services, with requests dis- Management Team mahogany paneled walls, highlight patched quickly to an appropriate General Manager Rob Nelson the property’s aesthetic quality. staff member. Because the system Operations Manager Lubie Martin II resides on the provider’s servers, it is Assistant Property Manager Kelly Blevins Maintenance System Focuses essentially maintenance-free, allow- Taking Care of Tenants Administrative Assistant Ila Fontenot On Tenant Convenience ing us to focus on our core business BY LUBIE MARTIN II Proper maintenance and responsive- rather than time consuming data ness to tenant requests are important backups and software maintenance to maintaining efficient operations. issues that would ordinarily be Wells installed an electronic preven- required by our staff. The design features of 5 Houston Center contribute to a decreased electricity consumption of 8% when compared 38 HIGH PERFORMING BUILDINGSto similar propertiesWinter 2009 in the Houston and Dallas markets. Winter 2009 HIGH PERFORMING BUILDINGS 39 A commitment to service also Tenant Comfort Meets features because of its recent means cost savings for tenants. For Energy-Saving Features construction. example, by partnering with a key 5 Houston Center includes many However, we continue to raise the lighting supplier for all its buildings, leading conservation features that bar for water and electricity savings Wells recently identified lightbulbs are exemplary of today’s approach to and have many projects in the pipe- that were more efficient — and more the environment. We were fortunate line that will make our operations than 35% cheaper — than through a that the building already included even better. We’re in the beginning previous supplier. many state-of-the-art energy-saving stages of pursuing LEED-EB O&M certification, and a number of conservation projects are in the works. According to assistant property manager Kelly Blevins, who has spearheaded the kickoff of our recent recycling program, “We estimate that we have reduced building waste taken to the landfill by approxi- mately 50% to 60%. Several tenants formally requested a recycling program and we were pleased to kick off a program with such immediate success. Waste taken to the recycling center continues to increase as we work with tenants to educate their employees.” Blevins has also teamed A lesson learned: the oculus lighting fixture in the lobby is attractive, but the lamps are challenging to replace. The future up with our janitorial provider to strategy is to replace the fixture with a longer-lasting and more energy-efficient one. transition to using LEED-approved cleaning chemicals. The building features innova- for off-site monitoring, schedule When an air-handling unit (AHU) controls networked to the BMS. Each tive heating and cooling features changes, or necessary adjustments. starts or stops, the system acti- terminal box has an electronic ther- designed to maximize tenant comfort This convenient feature means that vates the chiller control. mostat that can vary the temperature while achieving optimal efficiency. authorized personnel do not have to Variable speed drives on the air in its immediate geographical area be physically on site to make adjust- handlers allow the system to supply and allow for greater control in meet- Flexible Centralized Control System ments to HVAC settings. the exact amount of cooling needed ing tenants’ comfort needs. 5 Houston Center uses a building Another service feature allows ten- to maintain comfort, yet can back off Other floors in the building, includ- management system (BMS) to give ants to conveniently call to schedule on the required fan motor horsepower ing areas that don’t contain usable operators an easy-to-use interface after-hours air conditioning. The system when full capacity is not required. By tenant space, are controlled and for tracking and adjusting building tracks the additional use and generates managing and reducing the amount of scheduled by the BMS. The garage systems from the convenience of a monthly report for billing purposes. AHU horsepower and chiller capacity takes up the basement floor through a single workstation. The system’s required, the VAV system minimizes Floor 8, except for Floors 1 and 3, graphical interface allows the opera- Optimizing Comfort and Economy wasted energy from running excess which contain the building’s lobby tor to easily review the status of the The air-conditioning system incor- air-conditioning capacity. areas and some tenant space. The HVAC equipment, perform schedul- porates variable air volume (VAV ) BMS maintains temperature setpoints ing activities, and respond to alarms. technology controlled by the BMS, Meeting Tenant Comfort Needs in these areas. The garage elevator The system allows operators and which modulates the electronic The Tower floors (Floors 9 through lobbies are air conditioned through The 27-story, Class-A, 5 Houston Center uses an electronic preventive maintenance service personnel to access the con- chilled water valve to maintain the 27) have an average of 31 terminal small fan coil units with two-position and tenant work order system. The maintenance team is notified via wireless trol workstation remotely via modem leaving air temperature setpoint. boxes per floor, each with electronic chilled water valves. The lobby and device as each maintenance and inspection task becomes due. Tenants request maintenance, repair, and janitorial services online using the same system. 40 HIGH PERFORMING BUILDINGS Winter 2009 Winter 2009 HIGH PERFORMING BUILDINGS 41 tenant space are air conditioned tem’s chiller controls. The BMS mon- systems and to provide thermal insu- superior energy efficiency that identi- by several multizone AHUs with itors the temperature of chilled water lation and sound attenuation for the fies the building as one of the most electronic modulating chilled water leaving and entering the system to interior of AHUs. However, these efficient in the nation. Commercial valves and staged electric heat. determine cooling load. The sys- porous surfaces provide favorable buildings that earn the ENERGY STAR tem can then stage or automatically conditions for microbiological growth use an average of 40% less energy than Chiller Control Minimizes sequence the chillers on and off to when they become damp and acti- typical buildings. Energy Consumption meet cooling load demand. By add- vate any dirt that may have become By achieving this designation, we A direct digital control system ing or subtracting chillers from the lodged in the insulation. The build- have demonstrated our commitment orchestrates the air-conditioning sys- run sequence as the load changes, ing’s systems are designed to mini- to environmental stewardship while the system optimizes the number mize the exposure of conditioned also lowering our energy costs. We of chillers required to meet the air to porous insulation surfaces. last scored an energy performance ELECTRICITY USE building’s actual cooling load while This, combined with routine main- rating of 86 out of a possible 100. minimizing the central plant’s energy tenance of the AHUs and air filters, The building’s management tracks Month kWh* consumption. This feature allows for enhances indoor

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