Trial / Demo
HGA used IESVE in this award winning project to help MetroHealth’s Glick Center achieve LEED Silver certification, identifying $434,500 in energy cost savings, 54% carbon emissions savings and 36% site energy savings over the ASHRAE 90.1 baseline.
As an interdisciplinary design firm rooted in architecture and engineering, HGA work from coast-to-coast to make a positive, lasting impact for their clients in healthcare, arts and culture, community, corporate, education, government, science and technology, and energy markets. For more than ten years they have used IESVE as an integral tool within their design workflow to deliver many innovative projects, placing energy performance and sustainability at the forefront.
One such project is The Glick Center – an impressive 750,000sqft acute care hospital forming part of MetroHealth’s main campus in Cleveland, Ohio. The billion-dollar project, which first opened to patients in November 2022, is the cornerstone of a wider neighborhood revitalization effort led by MetroHealth and its partners in the community. The forward-thinking facility streamlines staff efficiency and improves patient care using lean and evidence-based, data-driven planning and design, coupling state of the art services, with equitable and research-based care.
Spanning 11 floors and housing 316 patient beds, the facility has been designed with adaptability and flexibility in mind, and encapsulates a number of unique design features to support the project’s dual concept of a ‘hospital in a park’ and a ‘hospital as a park.’ The sheer size and complexity of the building posed significant challenges from a modeling perspective. However, the design team were able to leverage the powerful capabilities within IESVE to clearly visualize and assess the impact of their design choices, mitigate errors and ensure a high-performing building design.
HGA used the ASHRAE 90.1 Performance Rating Method (PRM), Appendix G, for which IESVE offers dedicated navigator functionality, to undertake the LEED energy modeling for this project. In doing so, they were able to demonstrate a significant energy cost reduction of 17.2% and site energy savings of 36% to the client, when compared to the ASHRAE 90.1-2010 baseline, as well as a 54% reduction in carbon emissions. By incorporating a range of energy efficient design features, the proposed design achieved an overall EUI of 140 kBtu/square foot (SF) – significantly lower than the 90.1 baseline building’s 218 kBtu/SF. The project earned 8 points for LEED NC-HC v4 and ultimately secured LEED Silver certification.
A key challenge of the project was accurately modeling the HVAC systems. At the time, HGA was utilizing a new chiller optimization program that integrates airside energy recovery with waterside heat recovery chiller controls. The project utilized two heat recovery chillers which required some complex modeling. However, being able to see a schematic view of the system in ApacheHVAC was a major benefit to the team, with the range of inputs available enabling them to confidently assess how the system would react in various different scenarios. Being able to use the same model for both the HVAC load calculations and the LEED energy modeling further helped to streamline the process and unlocked significant productivity gains.
The project has been widely celebrated as an example of industry best practice, receiving multiple accolades including the ASHE VISTA Award in 2025 and the Minnesota local chapter ASHRAE Technology Award in 2024.
“Given the large project scale, using the same program for both HVAC load calculations and the final LEED energy model created substantial labor efficiencies.
The visual tools of IESVE also quickly proved that all rooms were on the correct templates based on where each room was located and which exterior envelope properties it should have had. It worked very well for this project.”
- Ben Pielhop, Senior Mechanical Engineer, HGA
*All images courtesy of HGA.
