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Birch Creek Expands With Environmental Focus

When Birch Creek added three buildings to its campus in 2008, a “conservative use” philosophy guided construction.

The center added a rehearsal and student dorm facility, a faculty dormitory, and a maintenance and storage building last year.

Birch Creek’s leaders planned buildings that will age well and become integral, historic landmarks in the center’s rural environs.

Six-inch, double-stud walls with sound batts in the student and faculty buildings provide a dual purpose of sound isolation and supplementary insulation against weather, conserving the amount of liquid propane gas needed to operate the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Faculty building HVAC consists of one window unit per room, enabling individual room use in the off-season without heating the entire building. The HVAC system in the student and rehearsal facility utilizes a series of smaller heating units for controlled efficiency and sound reduction, and operates with programmable thermostats to regulate temperature in both summer and winter, cutting operational costs and saving energy.

The exterior walls of all three buildings use green fiber, a loose-fill cellulose insulation derived from recycled newspaper and other paper products that’s safe to use, fire resistant, and nontoxic.

Birch Creek continues its support of light pollution prevention through the installation of lights with full cut-off down lighting around the new buildings. Outdoor lighting satisfies local ordinance #143 regarding lighting and the night sky environment. All exterior lights throughout campus are programmed using light timers to insure maximum efficiency. Select interior rooms are fitted with motion sensors for lighting, and timing devices are used to regulate water flow on sinks in the bathrooms.
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Finally, Birch Creek leaders made sustainable choices throughout the planning and selection phases, even addressing parking. Summer Birch Creek concert-goers park in a level field of grass and walk toward the barn, gazebo, with sounds of music in the night air. Paved driveways that meet Egg Harbor Town requirements connect the new buildings and provide handicapped accessibility, and parking for winter events in the new facilities.