$190 Million San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Opens

SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Opened Wednesday, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's (SFPUC) new 13-story headquarters building is located at 525 Golden Gate at the heart of San Francisco's Civic Center district.  Renowned engineering firm Arup led the sustainability consulting, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, acoustics, fire and information technology on the $190 million project, which is expected to achieve LEED Platinum certification.

The building for SFPUC – which provides water, wastewater treatment, and power generation service to San Francisco and the Bay Area – is the result of aggressive environmental goals during the design process.  The building has many green features to significantly reduce the use of energy and water consumption, and provide a healthy office work environment with high interior air quality and natural daylight.

"The project goal to design a highly sustainable building required integration of architecture and engineering to an extreme level," said Todd Ravenscroft, Project Manager, Arup.  "This was only possible through tight design and construction collaboration with the architects, KMD, other project consultants, and constructors over the last seven years."

Arup's sustainability consulting included a sustainable assessment, overall building energy modeling, and an analysis of the preliminary energy transfer of the facade.  In addition to helping the SFPUC achieve its sustainability goals, Arup provided mechanical and electrical engineering, acoustic, fire/life safety, and information technology and communications consulting.  The project also included collaboration with the SFPUC's IT department to align equipment strategies with sustainability goals.

About Arup

Arup is the creative force at the heart of many of the world's most prominent projects in the built environment industry.  From 92 offices in 37 countries, Arup's more than 10,000 designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists deliver innovative projects across the world.

The firm was founded in 1946 with an enduring set of values and has a unique trust ownership that fosters a distinctive culture, intellectual independence and collaborative approach.  Opening its first North American office 27 years ago, Arup in the Americas now employs 1,000.  The people at Arup are driven to find a better way to deliver better solutions for their clients.  For more information, visit http://www.arup.com.

SOURCE Arup