(CINCINNATI, Ohio)—Kleingers & Associates, a civil engineering and land surveying firm based in West Chester Township, has completed work on what is expected to be Ohio’s first LEED-certified elementary school.

The new Pleasant Ridge Elementary, designed by Steed Hammond Paul for Cincinnati Public Schools, was engineered to meet the standards of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ created by the United States Green Building Council. The LEED system is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

K&A’s Cheryl Vandewater, P.E., one of only 16 LEED-accredited civil engineers in Ohio, managed the civil engineering phase of the project. “Once you understand the holistic approach of the LEED system,” she said, “you realize it’s truly different from past environmental efforts. LEED takes into account a building’s owner and end user—in this case, the students—emphasizing things like occupant comfort and natural daylight, which has shown to improve test scores in schools by as much as 20%. They’re not just worried about the trees. It’s also about the people who use the buildings.”

Project designer Michelle Smith, who is also LEED-accredited, expects the project to meet 37 of the 69 performance benchmarks, or “credits,” available for new construction projects, earning certification at the Silver level. “To reach that goal,” she said, “we focused our efforts on reducing pollution derived from construction activity, favoring low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles in parking plans, and providing a high ratio of open space in relation to the development footprint to promote biodiversity.”

Certification will be awarded upon completion of construction, which began mid-March on Burnet Avenue in Pleasant Ridge. The school is scheduled to open in fall 2008.

Founded in 1993, Kleingers & Associates offers development services for the residential, commercial, municipal and industrial markets. The firm has twice been ranked by industry journal CE News as one of the “Best Civil Engineering Firms to Work For” nationally (2005 and 2006). In addition to its West Chester headquarters, K&A has offices in Columbus and Dayton and employs more than 90 associates.