(KCPW News) In 2009, Salt Lake City voters approved a $125 million bond for construction of a new public safety building. Now, a design for that building has been unveiled to the public. Mayor Ralph Becker says it will be one of the greenest buildings in the state, and the first “net zero” public safety building in the country.
“Net zero means that this building will be generating as much energy as it uses,” he explained. “We’ll be using solar panels, photovoltaic panels on the roof, on a canopy that’ll be in front of the building and in an off site location to produce energy.”
Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank says the building will open to the public, with a museum on the first floor and even a place to charge cell phones and iPods out front. Inside, he says it will be a lot more functional for law enforcement, because everyone will be working in the same area instead of being divided by floors.
Project Manager David Hart says designing the building was a challenge, because there were three main concerns with it fitting in with the nearby library.
“The first one was the library is an important icon for the city and they wanted to make sure that the library was protected and its view were protected,” said Hart. “The second thing was the public safety building should be designed to welcome the community into it, and the third thing was they wanted to see a way for us to activate the community within the public space between the two buildings.”
The public safety building is expected to be completed in May 2013. More information and an artist’s rendering are available on Salt Lake City’s website for the new public safety building.
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