Built of tons of recycled materials, it uses the earth in its heating/cooling system and the sun for light. Now the new Hiawatha public works facility in Minneapolis is the state's first local government complex to win highest honors for green construction.

The city announced Friday that the U.S. Green Building Council has awarded the building a platinum rating, highest possible, under its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program. Only one other publicly owned building in Minnesota has won the designation.

"We're going to see some real energy savings," city project manager Paul Miller said. "It's a real common-sense way of using taxpayer dollars for something that was needed for the city."

The $10.5 million facility at 26th Street and Hiawatha Avenue S. represents the rebirth of a site the city has used for about a century. It once held 18 buildings. The site's renovation has allowed the city to consolidate functions for greater efficiency.

Council Member Sandra Colvin Roy, who chairs the council's public works panel, said the building is more efficient in part because it was more intentionally planned. "It involves the people who work in a building more than what used to be done," she said.

The designation comes at a time when some cities are shying away from the extra cost and requirements for gaining LEED certification. But not Minneapolis.

"The benefit of building like this to the public is the cost savings over the life of the building," Miller said. He estimated that the facility will use 60 percent less energy than one built to meet only conventional building codes.

There's a grab bag of energy-saving technologies.

Geothermal energy aids heating and cooling, with hot and cold air recovered that otherwise would be lost. Almost the entire building is lit by natural light, which passes through insulated windows. Landscaping features keep rainwater on the site, where it is used to water vegetation rather than being diverted to storm sewers.

More than 90 percent of demolition material from the razed buildings was recycled. That includes all of the rubble from concrete, asphalt and bricks, plus steel and wooden beams. The building even incorporates materials salvaged from elsewhere; fences that surround much of the site are made of steel-mesh decking from the old Lowry Avenue Bridge.

Minnesota has seven other LEED-certified platinum buildings. Two are homes, three are businesses and two are college buildings. The only other public building at the platinum level is at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438