One of HITT’s showcase LEED-certified projects is the Sidwell Friends Middle School in Washington, D.C. It is the third-highest-scoring LEED-certified project ever.

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Hands down, what makes HITT Contracting stand apart from its competition is “the focus we have taken on sustainable construction,” says Kim Pexton, director of sustainable construction. “All of the general contractors out there are having to respond to the new green requirements, and it really comes down to how each company is addressing it.”

The Fairfax, Va.-based company’s goal was to become a trusted leader in green building. And, according to Pexton, HITT is well on its way, ranking No. 21 among Engineering News-Record’s top 50 green contractors. It ranked No. 5 in the office building category, based on 2006 revenues. “Revenue-wise, we’ve got close to $200 million in annual revenue attributed to LEED projects,” she adds. “There’s more and more green building happening and I would like to believe that some of it is attributed to our expertise.”

According to Pexton, the Mid-Atlantic region is at the forefront of green. At the end of 2006, the District of Columbia and Montgomery County, Va., mandated green building for private-sector work. “Other jurisdictions are working on similar mandates,” she adds. “In the next five years, there will be some major ramping up of green building. Someday, there won’t be any construction going on that isn’t a green-building project.”

HITT became persistent in its pursuit for LEED-certified contracts when the company hired Pexton in 2005 as its green construction expert. She became a LEED-accredited professional (AP) in 2001 and was the only Mid-Atlantic LEED-AP listed on the U.S. Green Building Council’s Web site for a number of years.

“I had the good fortune of knowing and hearing about the Green Building Council and LEED prior to the official release of LEED to the public and, by default, became the expert,” Pexton explains. To date, she has more than 40 LEED projects in her portfolio and is considered HITT’s in-house “walking billboard” for sustainable construction.

"My personal feeling is it’s better to have someone in-house understand the client’s culture and figure how to integrate green requirements for the project with minimal disruption to the conventional construction process,” she says. “Something that I love to do is to be able to show people that you can do things that ensure profitability [while still building green].”

LEED Platinum Prestige
One of HITT’s favorite LEED-certified projects is the Sidwell Friends Middle School in Washington, D.C. It is the third-highest-scoring LEED-certified project ever, with 57 points obtained, according to Pexton.

Obtaining platinum certification was a substantial feat on its own, she adds, given that only 30 platinum projects exist in the world to date. The $23 million project was a 75,000-square-foot renovation of an existing school, which included a 40,000-square-foot addition. All major systems were gutted and the building’s mechanical systems were taken down to structure.

HITT installed a new mechanical system that tied into the schools’ windows such that when they open, the system shuts off. “This prevents the building from losing any cool air through open windows, which can easily happen in a school situation,” Pexton says. “We also utilized solar panels to supplement five percent of the energy demand of the building.”

A wetland was constructed onsite that includes treatment tanks to store and treat wastewater, which is then used to flush the toilets and urinals in the building. In addition, HITT created a water feature made with exposed concrete that collects rainwater and transfers it to a biology pond.

Sidwell Friends Middle School also has a green roof with perennial plantings, as well as vegetables and herbs that are grown by the students as part of their curriculum. “The school actually revamped their entire curriculum to incorporate sustainability,” Pexton notes. The project began January 2006 and was completed on time the following September.

LEED-Certified Headquarters
In early 2008, HITT will break ground on its new company headquarters in Fairfax. “We’re pursuing LEED certification and that’s a testament to our commitment [to sustainable construction],” Pexton states. However, this time, the company is not pursuing platinum certification. “We’ve had people ask us why we aren’t going for gold or platinum,” she admits. “The platinums of the world are sort of reserved for the people who really want to make a big statement or if their operations are about sustainability – the Chesapeake Bay foundations of the world – and it makes sense due to the principles of their organizations.”

HITT is constructing its building on a wetland area that “didn’t start off as a wetland area,” Pexton notes. “It was a bioretention pond for the whole campus but, over the years, as that water had been collected there for the other projects, you basically created a habitat for wildlife. We’re going in there and cleaning it up a bit and actually making it into an even better wildlife sanctuary.

"There were things we wanted to do that spoke to construction, as it typically wreaks havoc on the ecosystem of a site,” she continues. “So things we are choosing to focus on has a lot to do with site issues.” For instance, HITT incorporated rain gardens into the parking lots that serve as bioretention swales. As water runs over the paved area, it is collected in the rain gardens and then refiltered before it makes its way to the campus’ stormwater-retention pond. In addition, the company plans to install a reflective roof to decrease the heat island effect on the site.

“Construction is a dirty business,” Pexton says. “You can’t avoid dust and dirt; that’s the nature of the beast. However, we are making typical protocol and best practices in inter-air quality in construction, such as protecting mechanical systems that have been installed, and doing what we can to minimize the amount of dust that migrates into those systems.” The company expects to move into its new headquarters in late 2008 or early 2009.