The project consisted of the site design and permitting for Lake County’s Central Permitting Facility, located at 600 West Winchester Road in Libertyville, Illinois. Situated on a 100 acre site, the facility was constructed on 16 acres, leaving the balance as available open space. This $20 million project features a 64,000 square foot building that combines services previously housed in Wauconda and Waukegan.

WBK provided engineering and permitting services for the site, parking areas, underground utilities, access road, and stormwater management facilities. Lake County’s goal for this award winning project was for the site and building to be a sustainable showcase of best management practices. The site design includes vegetated swales within the parking areas, bio-swales, rain gardens, naturalized planted wetland stormwater management facilities, tree preservation, and a green roof structure for the building. The building’s green roof structure uses plants to filter pollutants before entering the storm sewer system, prevents land erosion with the native grasses and moderates indoor temperatures while creating a naturalized habitat for birds and insects. The building and site components were designed using the U.S. Green Building Council’s standards for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification. Partial funding for the site and green roof structure BMP’s came from a Section 319 Nonpoint Source Pollution Reduction grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and a State and Tribal Assistance Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Awards

This project is the winner of the 2010 CISCO Pride in Construction Project of the Year Award – Suburbs.