LDS Church Unveils Its First Green Meetinghouse
Construction completed in April on a new solar-powered meetinghouse for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Farmington, Utah, its first in the Northern Hemisphere.
The 20,000-sq-ft meetinghouse is one of five prototypes developed by the church to showcase its environmental stewardship, according to church officials. The church is constructing four similar LEED-certified prototypes in Utah, Arizona and Nevada, including two additional solar-powered buildings.
The Farmington meetinghouse was designed to achieve LEED-Silver certification and is only the second LDS building to achieve that designation from the USGBC. The first was the Church History Library completed last summer in downtown Salt Lake City.
The building features a 158-panel rooftop solar array, xeriscaped landscaping and designated parking for electric cars.
The roof-mounted solar panels will generate enough electricity to fully power the building, saving the church an estimated $6,000 in annual energy costs. It was built by Salt Lake City-based Jacobsen Construction.
Construction began in May on a clinic building located near Park City�s new Intermountain Healthcare Hospital, being built for Park City Clinic and Physician Holdings.
The main level of the two-story, 25,000-sq-ft building has two clinic suites with an additional 150 sq ft for a coffee shop. The second level has three clinic suites.
New Star General Contractors of Park City is the general contractor for the project, which will complete in April. PRW Architecture Inc. of North Salt Lake is the architect.
