Bridger Restaurants Building - Sustaintainable Construction Initiatives

From the moment guests step off the gondola, they will sense JHMR's concern for protecting the fragile environment with attention to recycled products, renewable lyptus woods and solar enhancement in the building design. The menu will reflect mostly high quality organic ingredients, produced locally where possible.

The following items are currently incorporated into the design:

1. The use of Structural Insulated Panels (S.I.P.S.) for the roof structure/insulation. The environmental aspects of SIPS are: They help conserve scarce timber resources because they use significantly less dimensional lumber. SIPS are basically a structural sandwich composed of two layers of OSB(oriented strand board) with insulating foam on the interior. The wood used for manufacturing OSB comes from fast growing trees that can be planted and harvested in just a few years. Because of the design of SIPS, they are more efficient than typical roof construction, meaning reduced energy requirements - this translates into conservation of resources. Also, the EPS foam that the insulation is made of is 100% recyclable, contains no CFCs, and is landfill safe. The manufacturing of EPS uses little energy, and creates little pollution. The other benefits of SIPS are they are much faster/easier to install, and they are highly resistant to wind damage and are suitable in areas with high seismic codes.
 
2. The use of glue-laminated structural members in lieu of heavy timbers. Large, heavy timbers are forested from old-growth trees that take many years to regenerate. Glulams are composed of several small dimensional lumber pieces, glued together- so they use resources that are much more renewable than old-growth timber. Also, glulams are stronger/more efficient than timbers and therefore use less wood.

3. The use of steel for much of the structural framing. Steel is the world's most recycled material. All of the heavy gauge steel members are made of over  90% recycled content per the industry standard.

4. Metal roof - made of steel which, again is made of highly recycled material- it also can be recycled after it's use.

5. Low-e glazing is made to reduce heat gain in the summer AND reduce heat loss in the winter - so it's beneficial for all seasons. The tinting will help reduce glare/brightness/extra heat gain in fine-dining restaurant.

6. Many operable windows for good ventilation / passive cooling.

7. All of our Batt insulation is specified as formaldehyde free- most batt insulation contains formaldehyde which is a cancer agent.

8. The use of recycled rubber flooring for the lower level public areas and servery.

9. The use of compact fluorescent lamps for most of the lighting. Fluorescents last much longer than incandescents and use much less energy to put out the same amount of light.

10.  We are using carpet that is modular meaning if there is damage to one area, only that area needs to be replaced. Also, the carpet backing is made with a 100% sustainable, infinitely recyclable, non pvc material.

11.  Use of Lyptus which is a highly renewable wood product compared to most other hardwoods.

12. We are specifying no or low VOC paints which promotes a clean air environment.

13. Instead of traditional condensing units for cooling, we are using an evaporative cooling system. This will significantly reduce the amount of energy used to cool the air- about 25% of typical refrigeration systems. The process to cool the air is also very clean.