There’s health and wellness features throughout the new Landmark Credit Union headquarters being built in Brookfield, including a section of the parking lot painted with a half basketball court with a hoop for employees to enjoy.
Jay Magulski, president and CEO of Landmark Credit Union, said the current pandemic brings a new layer of consideration to protecting employee health. The company’s 158,000-square-foot building started construction a year ago, and is set to open in February 2021. As Covid-19 set in during the spring, Landmark and its project team responded by upgrading the air-circulation system to include ultra-violet lights in the ducts that will kill diseases floating in the air, for example.
“We start with the fact that the health and well-being of our associates is our top priority, and that obviously resonates very strongly when you think of our current situation and our current Covid-19 pandemic,” Magulski said. “But air quality is important all of the time when you think of the health and wellness perspective.”
The credit union demolished a former Herzing University building on the property to build its new headquarters.
Eppstein Uhen Architects designed the new building and CG Schmidt is the lead construction contractor on the project. The building will house about 400 workers once Landmark Credit Union brings its team in-house at full capacity.
After discussions this year prompted by the pandemic, the mechanical systems were augmented with stronger filters and the photocatalytic oxidation equipment with the UV light to purify air circulating through the building’s ducts, said Bob Bruemmer, Landmark executive vice president.
Troy Jacoby, senior design architect with Eppstein Uhen Architects in Milwaukee, said this is the first time the firm incorporated that type of air purification system into an office building.
“We’re looking forward to that as a case study to see how it is promoting cleaner air and how it is promoting a more safe work environment,” Jacoby said.
Other efforts were made to avoid door handles or other surfaces that would be touched by multiple people. Doors are designed to swing out as people leave a room, for example, so no one has to grab a handle and pull.
“We made some changes to the doors so secure areas of the building would be contiguous and could remain open, so as much as we could associates could move within the secured parts of the building without having to open doors,” Bruemmer said.
The cubical wall heights were raised. Glass panels were added that will raise and lower depending on whether employees are seated or standing at their sit-stand desks. When workers are standing, the glass panel raises to create another barrier of safety for their neighbors.
Those join other health and wellness features already part of the building design, including a fitness center with locker room, and a mile-long, paved walking path circulating through the property.
Click on the see full article link below to view the slideshow of progress images.
Sean Ryan, Reporter
Milwaukee Business Journal