Cedar Concepts Chemical Manufacturing Facility Certified LEED BD+C Silver

This past Monday (August 22), the Epstein designed and engineered Cedar Concepts Chemical Manufacturing Facility was certified LEED BD+C Silver. This new production facility is located at 41st and Packers in Chicago, Illinois on a brownfield site, within the boundaries of the historic Union Stockyards, with no existing structures and several prevailing environmental hazards.

The Cedar Concepts project consists of a new headquarters and manufacturing facility, tank farm, truck loading docks, a truck scale, guest and employee parking with two electric car battery charging stations.Cedar Concepts relocated all current manufacturing operations from their original facility to this location, including most process equipment and process support equipment (i.e. chiller, cooling towers, compressors and hot box, which is used to liquefy raw materials stored in drums or totes).Also, Cedar Concepts relocated other existing leased equipment such as the nitrogen generator and water treatment.

The new facility consists of a two-story mixed occupancy of approximately 60,000 square feet in total area.The new facility is divided up into the following two main functions; business and industrial.The business portion of the program consists of a two-story office building of approximately 12,000 square feet with the following program elements; lobby, board room, server room, owner's office, private offices, open office, training room, break room, storage and toilet rooms.This facility is also Cedar Concepts headquarters and the office exterior and interior aesthetic will be a space that reflects Cedar's brand identity.

The industrial portion of the program is divided into a process, packaging and storage component.This space is approximately 48,000 square feet.The process program consists of a reacting area, blending area and a process support space and packaging area consisting of flaking and bagging. Additionally, there is a utilities area with maintenance shop above.Catwalks are necessary throughout the process space and are integrated into the building's design.The process support space is made up of a men's and women's locker room and lab rooms.The storage area is for bulk raw materials storage and finished goods.This area also houses the "hot box".High hazard chemicals are utilized and stored within this process so containment, ventilation, explosion control and separation are all issues which were dictated by local building codes.The new facility was designed to follow local building codes and ADA requirements.

Sustainable design and practices were very important to the client and therefore LEED BD+C Silver certification was targeted.To accomplish this goal, Cedar Concepts utilizes wind turbines, solar photovoltaic panels as well as passive solar heating.

With the Cedar Concepts certification, Epstein has now played a significant design, engineering and/or LEED consulting role in helping 51 buildings achieve LEED certification.