Greensburg Support Buildings
Liberty Building Systems Helps Town Rise From Tornado's Wrath
On May 4, 2007, a vicious tornado blew through southwest Kansas. While the 200 mile-per-hour caused enough damage to warrant Kiowa County being declared a Federal disaster area, no where was the impact of the storm felt worse than in the town of Greensburg. There, more than 95% of the structures were destroyed.
Days after the tornado, the community came together and decided to rebuild the town in a sustainable fashion; to make it a model for green building and green living. A city council resolution mandated that all city buildings would be built following the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. Ultimately, Greensburg will be the first city in the entire nation to achieve such a feat.
Snodgrass and Sons Construction Co., Inc., based in Wichita, KS, was one of the many contractors charged with helping rebuild Greensburg and chose Memphis-based Liberty Building Systems™ to provide metal building solutions for three structures striving to reach LEED certification.
“Coming from such devastation and destruction, we were very impressed with the Greensburg community and the commitment they made to rebuilding their town with LEED-certified structures. There are so many intricate requirements and steps to be followed that, as a contractor, it makes me respect them all the more,” said David Snodgrass, president of Snodgrass and Sons Construction. “Liberty fully invested in the project, made an extra effort to keep the project on time and did a great job in helping us achieve LEED certification.”
Liberty supplied three buildings for Snodgrass and Sons Construction and the town of Greensburg. The transportation building is a 6,089-squarefoot structure split into administrative offices and open warehouse space to store and maintain county vehicles. The noxious weed building, used for chemical and equipment storage, has a square footage of 4,800. The recycling center is part of the green initiative of Greensburg, and this 4,464-square-foot structure is open to the public for paper and plastic recycling. All three buildings in Greensburg will serve as Liberty’s first LEED-certified projects.
“Many building owners don’t have a full understanding of what LEED means. There is a wealth of additional steps and documentation involved, with a considerable effort in terms of design and construction,” Snodgrass said. “But you will enjoy significant and long-range benefits from such an environmentally responsible decision.”
All buildings are separate but were erected in close proximity to each other. Each building features clearspan framing, a 24-gauge Galvalume® LibertyLoc® standing seam roof system, 26-gauge Polar White interior liner panels and 24-gauge LibertyRib® wall panels in an Ash Gray Kynar finish with Zinc Gray trim.
“Metal buildings are made of recyclable, long-life material, they are easy to design and assemble and are extremely efficient structures, having less impact on the environment,” said David English, LEED AP, Liberty’s corporate accounts and quote manager.
“One significant benefit of using a pre-engineered metal building system is that the primary material includes recycled content,” English said. “In fact, the steel used in the framing, walls, roof and liner panels of the Greensburg project consisted of 25 percent recycled content and contributed one credit in the buildings’ LEED certification.”
About Liberty Building Systems
Liberty Building Systems, a division of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc., engineers and supplies quality, economically priced metal building solutions for agricultural, commercial, industrial and self-storage applications.
With sales and engineering offices in Memphis, Tenn., and the use of multiple manufacturing facilities located throughout the United States, Liberty provides metal buildings nationwide through multiple distribution channels. For more information, visit www.LibertyBuildings.com.