Texas 2010 design rank: No 18
Green rank: No. 16
Drawing on a decades-long commitment to sustainability, the architecture and engineering firm Parkhill, Smith & Cooper of Lubbock ranked 16th on the Texas Construction Top Green Design Firm listing.
“Most of our clients in West Texas have always been sensitive to the environment,” says Mary Crites, a principal with the firm that was founded in 1945. “When LEED came along, it was easy for us to embrace. We look at the best value for the client.”
The firm focuses on institutional and government work. It designed the $70-million Texas Tech University Rawls College of Business, being built now and aiming for LEED-silver.
Features include low-flow water fixtures and storm runoff retention ponds. The team crushed concrete and masonry from the building demolished to make way for the project and used it for fill. It will be Texas Tech’s first LEED-certified building.
The firm employs 12 LEED accredited professionals in offices in Lubbock, Amarillo, Midland and El Paso, and Las Cruces, N.M. The newest office addition is LEED certified and features a green roof and other elements to show clients.
Architectural and civil, structural, mechanical and electrical engineers work side by side, something Crites considers an asset for collaboration.
“The world of architecture and engineering is all about communication,” Crites says. “We added the disciplines over the years because we felt we could best deliver quality projects to our clients if we could control the different disciplines, without being dependent on outside consultants. "
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