Designed by HGA Architects and Engineers for Affinity Health System, St. Elizabeth Hospital – Heart, Lung & Vascular Center in Milwaukee, Wisc., has achieved LEED Gold Certification.

Containing cardiology, pulmonology, cardiovascular-vascular surgery, an anticoagulation clinic, and a new clinic for preventative heart care, the facility serves nearly 33,000 patients on an annual basis. The center is connected to St. Elizabeth’s cardiac rehabilitation services and is accessible to ICU, the Breast Center, neonatal intensive care, BirthPlace and the Affinity/UW Children’s Health Center.

To achieve certification, the design team took into consideration a number of sustainable features for the 25,000-square-foot clinic that included material choices, lighting, and infrastructure. Sustainable features include roof and wall insulation, daylighting to exceed Green Guide to Health Care requirements, shading devices for windows, reducing interior lighting, pluming fixtures, recycled and locally manufactured materials and low VOC contents for adhesives and interior paints and finishes.

Affinity purchased roughly 70 percent of the electricity from renewable energy sources through an agreement with Renewable Energy Choice. Additionally, the energy costs exceed the ASHRASE 90.1-2004 Appendix G Performance Rating Method baseline by 27.6 with the support of the building shell, lighting and HVAC equipment. Part of the roof is vegetative for the purpose of reducing heat-island effect and improving the quality of storm-water. The remainder of the roof is reflective to also reduce the heat-island effect.