Pat Grisonich, vice chair of the Medicine Hat Public School Division board of trustees, and Ken Sauer unveil the gold standard LEED designation at Ken Sauer School on Friday.--NEWS PHOTOS SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
This past Friday the gold standard Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification was unveiled at Ken Sauer School. The designation was achieved during construction but the ceremony was delayed due to the pandemic. Along with school administration, board members and senior executives from the Medicine Hat Public School Division, Ken Sauer and his son were also present.
Grade 5 student Lane Hager read the land acknowledgment and, although she knew some of the great things about her school, other data surprised her, such as how much reusable materials the school is constructed with.
Superintendent Mark Davidson shared with those gathered how the school achieved the gold standard. The water fixtures have one third lower consumption rate than other schools of like size. More than one third of the materials used were sourced locally and 27% of building materials were sourced from recycled products.
“During construction, there was just about 84% reduction in the amount of construction waste from other like projects, which was fascinating to me,” said Davidson. “The building produces enough energy to contribute to the grid more than it draws out of it, 101% of what it uses it produces, which is an amazing accomplishment. We are in an interesting place in our history in that we are gaining the technologies and we have the wisdom to do a lot of things to slow down the damage that is being done to our planet.”
Sauer has been working with LEEDs for 40-years as an alderman with city council and as chairman of the safety codes council for 16-years. He said the school is a model for the school district and the industry and he is delighted to have it named after him. He’s proud of the school division for moving up to a gold designation, which is rare, the bronze and silver designations being more common.
Pat Grisonich, vice chair of the board of trustees, understands the amount of work put into building the school and was impressed.
He said it was appropriate to have Sauer’s name on the school, “because I know the work he’s put into this city so this is only fitting. When you walk around this school it is wonderful. This is a great thing, thank you so much.”
