The Joint Southeast Campus Area Committee approved plans for the new Union South Monday night, expressing satisfaction with the project’s green efforts and welcoming design.
According to project manager Julie Groves, the new Union South surpasses Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.
In addition, the new Union is being built only using materials that come from Wisconsin, Groves said, both for environmental and stylistic reasons.
“We’re using a lot of local materials, trying to give [the Union] a lot of charm that is of this area,” Groves said.
Campus planning and landscape architecture director Gary Brown said the LEED system ranks buildings and certifies them according to their “green” policies.
The project is on track for gold certification, which is the second-highest level of United States environmentally friendly building certification, Groves said.
Brown said the LEED certifiers take a multitude of criteria into consideration when grading buildings, including storm-water management and use of recycled and local materials.
According to Brown, the new Union will be set back far enough from the street to enable commuter rail tracks and platforms to run near the building if the university decides to incorporate them in the future.
Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, said from his experience, environmentally friendly policies are “phenomenally important” to students.
Many students have expressed concern about protecting the water table on the Isthmus and keeping the campus environmentally friendly, Judge said.
“I am overjoyed to see the efforts going above and beyond in regards to the environment,” Judge added.
Additionally, Groves said the Union project is currently operating above Wisconsin building codes.
The Union is set up for city and campus bus stops, and some commercial bus lines would be able to do quick stops there as well, Groves said.
However, none of the commercial bus lines have finalized plans for using Union South at this time, Robert Kennedy, UW Transportation planner, said.
Although the improved Union will benefit students, Groves said the construction is inhibiting motorists, bikers and pedestrians from easily traveling around the Union South area.
“Basically, unless you’re comfortable in traffic, we’re asking people to take alternative routes around this area,” Groves said. “We have a map on our website showing where the [alternative bike and pedestrian] routes are.”
Judge said he has not received any complaints about construction noise from students living in the area.
However, in consideration for students, Brown said especially loud construction would be halted during finals.
The new Union plans are being sent to the Urban Design Committee for initial approval. If approved, the proposal will travel to the Plan Commission and the City Council in the coming weeks.
The old Union South building is scheduled to be demolished in late May, Brown said, and will be finished in about two years.
For more information about the new Union South, visit the project’s website at www.newunion.wisc.edu.
