Burgess & Niple provided multidisciplinary engineering services for the design and construction of the 101-acre Commonwealth Centre at Westfields commercial development. The development consists of six office buildings, two hotels, two retail buildings, two parking garages, and surface parking.
B&N provided site civil design, including water supply system, sanitary sewer, storm drainage, stormwater management/Best Management Practices (BMP) facilities, superelevated loop road, and two main intersections for development access. B&N engineers also conducted an adequate outfall analysis to meet Fairfax County’s complex requirements. The site plan was processed through Fairfax County Department of Public Works for site permitting under the Engineers and Surveyors Institute expedited review program.
Sustainable Features
The entire development was designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Silver Certification. Use of a campus-wide LEED approach enabled projects within the multiple building setting to share LEED credits earned for sustainable amenities or design features. This includes the Commonwealth II Building which was the first office building in Northern Virginia to receive LEED Platinum Certification – the highest possible level of certification.
Sustainable features designed by B&N include:
- A site plan designed to preserve approximately 50 percent more open space than what is required by the county
- An independent stormwater management system that collects mechanical system condensate and roof water from buildings and stores it in a stormwater management pond to be used for irrigation
- Low Impact Development (LID) measures including grass swales, a rain garden, and two amenity ponds
- Multiple parking lots designed to reduce heat island effect without lowering the number of parking spaces
- Preferred parking spaces for low-emitting vehicles
- Bicycle racks and bus stops in close proximity to the building