Friends Center Renovation

• Best Practices in Sustainability
• Construction Waste Management
• Geothermal
• Green Mortgage/Green Financing/Preferred Financing
• Green/Vegetative Roof
• Historic
• Interior Renovation
• LEED Certified
• Local Materials
• Low Emitting Materials
• New Construction
• Photovoltaics/Solar
• Platinum
• Rapidly Renewable Materials
• Recycled Materials
• Stormwater Mitigation
• Stormwater Reuse
• Urban

Friends Center’s 1.26-acre campus includes the historic Race Street Meetinghouse, built in 1856, and a 56,000SF office building, constructed in 1972. In keeping with Quaker traditions of peace, justice, and the “right-sharing” of resources, two goals ultimately governed the Center’s first major renovation: to become fossil fuel free and to protect the watershed from further degradation.  In order to utilize alternative energy sources, a geothermal system heats and cools the campus through a field of seven 8” open column wells that extend from 650’ to 1500’ below the sidewalk on 15th Street. A strategy of reducing both water usage and stormwater runoff is employed to protect the watershed. This is carried out via a rainwater harvesting and storage system to provide water for toilet flushing, and a vegetated roof for stormwater mitigation.  Other features include a 10-kW photovoltaic array, a “Plug Load Policy,” and “daylight harvesting” strategies to reduce the need for area lighting and unnecessary cooling loads. The Friend's Center renovation earned LEED Platinum certification, scoring the highest number for any project to date in Pennsylvania. The historic Meetinghouse was renovated to the same high standard.