Navy Bachelor Enlisted Quarters

The Bachelor Enlisted Quarters (BEQ) for the Bremerton, WA naval base is an eight-story, 99,768 square feet multi-family building designed to house single military personnel. Although it was unclear at the beginning of the project whether LEED would be pursued on the project, the baseline design and environmental ordinances from the Navy gave the project a big head-start on green certification.

Sustainable building features of the project include restoration of a contaminated site, removal of impervious surfaces, an on-site stormwater management and no permanent irrigation. An intensive design effort resulted in a durable, flexible 100-year building with a no-maintenance exterior, and demountable partitions. The modular design, mostly constructed off-site also dramatically reduced construction waste.

Once it was decided to pursue LEED, O’Brien & Company helped the team navigate the LEED maze, integrating previously planned green building strategies into the LEED system and educating the contractor and design team on LEED. We provided detailed tasks and responsibilities for the design team and contractor throughout the process. Other challenges included “fitting” a residential project into LEED-NC and a “no-cost” requirement from the Navy. Finally, O’Brien & Company provided a green operations and maintenance guide to keep the building functioning to LEED levels into the future. The project received LEED Silver in 2005.