Bigger than Beer
By: Sheryl S. Jackson
Sierra Nevada’s Eastern U.S. Brewery presents a masterpiece of architecture and site design that includes beverages.
“Bigger than Beer” is a message shared in all of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company’s communications. That message highlights the company’s commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility in all areas of its business. First starting in 1980 in Chico, California, the brewery expanded in 2014 to Mills River, North Carolina. That facility became the first production brewery in the U.S. to be certified LEED® Platinum, the highest level awarded by the most widely used green building rating system in the world.
One of many design and construction components contributing to LEED® certification was permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) for the brewery’s parking lot. The PICP garnered credits for stormwater management and for reducing the heat island effect. However, PICP for the parking lot and non-permeable pavers for sidewalks and patios fulfilled another design goal the owner wanted, says Glenn Walters, principal of Design Workshop in Asheville, NC. “The owner wanted the facility to be a special place that showcased the company and its commitment to environmental responsibility,” he says. “Because the parking lot serves as an entry plaza to the brewery, pavers provide the aesthetic quality that welcomes visitors to a quality, great brewery.”
The warm vibe of the parking lot serves as an entry plaza to the brewery and tap room.
“The brewery sits on the French Broad River, which provides 90 percent of the water used at the facility. So, the use of permeable pavers for the 2.58 acres of employee and guest parking captures and cleans the water before it returns to the river. This clearly demonstrates environmental responsibility,” says Brian Wierman, chief operating officer of Rivertop Contracting Inc., the landscape contractor for the project.
Concrete pavers chosen for the project and supplied by and ICPI member were machine-placed, 3 1/8-inch-thick units set in a herringbone pattern. They rested on a 2-inch thick bed of ASTM No. 8 stone over a 4-inch thick base of ASTM No. 57 stone. The subbase reservoir comprised of 6 inches of ASTM No. 2 stone over geotextile. The water infiltrating into the permeable pavement is handled one of two ways. The pavement structure directs water to a level spreader that releases water to the natural environment or to a system of large tanks that collects it for irrigation. Both paths manage and release the stormwater according to state requirements, says Walters.
Darker colored pavers marked parking spaces and accessible parking delineation.
Underground vaults store water for irrigation.
Level spreaders under the pavers hold, infiltrate and then release excess runoff collected under the pavement.
The design for the expansive pavement included parking space striping and crosswalk designations with colored pavers, and crews had to install pavers around landscape islands scattered throughout the area. “A lot of pre-construction planning was necessary to make sure everything was lined up properly as we laid the pavers,” says Greg Ambrose, vice president of United Hardscapes and ICPI member, the contractor who installed the pavers. “One key thing that we did was hire a surveyor to create a 25-foot by 25-foot grid over the entire site, so we could pave from point to point and be sure that everything lined up properly.”
The size and location of the parking lot presented other challenges not related to the installation of the pavers, points out Mr. Ambrose. Staging material and keeping the site clear for the paver installation crew required constant communication with other contractors working on the building – and there were still miscommunications, he says. “We laid the bedding course for the pavers with a paving machine one day and blocked the area with tape and signage, then found footprints in the stone the next day – which meant re-doing the work,” he says. While the need for coordination among different crews is not uncommon in a large construction site, it is important to address it in pre-construction meetings that address everyone’s plans for staging material, construction traffic and work areas, he suggests.
Maintaining a consistent paving pattern around landscaping planters was supported by paving to a 25-ft grid on the site.
Because the site included a variety of walkways and materials that tied into the parking lot, some of the design was necessary to protect the permeable paver area, says Mr. Wierman. “The design architect’s team addressed this with wide concrete edging that kept pea gravel in walkways from entering the permeable pavers in the parking lot.”
In addition to the project size and the congested worksite, rain proved to be an obstacle with 85 inches of rain falling in the area during construction, twice the annual average. While there was rain, there was no snow to prevent work from continuing, and Mr. Ambrose notes that his installation crew worked in all four seasons. He used his Ohio-based crew for the North Carolina project because they had the needed job skills. “We mobilized five different times over the course of construction, with crews in place for four weeks and two weeks at a time, depending on the work scheduled.”
Although the project size, a busy construction site, and coordinating material staging plus too much rain, the project was completed in time for the August 2014 opening celebration event. “The entire site demonstrates Sierra Nevada’s commitment to the environment,” says Mr. Wierman. “Permeable pavers played an important role in the overall program to reclaim water that also includes rooftop design, rain gardens and collection tanks that capture water to re-use for irrigation.”