HOWARD, Wis. (Oct. 4, 2004) – The regional headquarters for the Department of Natural Resources was designed to be understated to appease easily ruffled taxpayers. But it's made a splash in a whole different way.

The three-story office building has earned a silver rating from the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Green Building rating system, which offers voluntary but stringent guidelines for environmentally conscious construction. Projects can earn "certified," "silver," "gold" or "platinum" status.

County Materials, headquartered in Marathon, supplied nearly 50,000 units of County Stone Sussex™ , a tumbled concrete block with marbleized colors that forms the random pattern covering the exterior of the 34,560-square foot facility. The entire project includes a 15,500-square foot detached service building and maintains a two-fold function that held tightly to LEED's guidelines while trimming costs wherever possible.

In doing so, the structure became the first state office building to adhere to the LEED standards.

"We were able to achieve energy savings of 55 to 57 percent over code," said Welsh-born designer Ian Griffiths, who said America is lagging Europe and the rest of the world in energy efficiency. "Why should we as taxpayers pay 100 percent of the government's utility bills when we know they can (build) at 50 percent of that?"