Missoula Federal Credit Union

The footings are in and we used 100% fly ash/100% glass for the concrete! As far as we can determine, our building will be the first in the world to use 100% recycled materials in ALL of its concrete—from the footings to the foundation to the polished concrete floor in the lobby to the sidewalks. Many folks have put in TONS of hours testing this 100% mixture so that we can be assured it will be as good as or better than the traditional Portland cement/gravel concrete.

Fly ash is a by-product of coal-powered electric generation plants and up until recently was simply disposed of in landfills. Fly ash as an additive to concrete has been widely used and accepted…usually replacing 5-50% of the Portland cement. But we wanted to go a bit further to 100%.

Check out this link to see more information about why fly ash is an environmentally friendly, sustainable alternative to Portland cement. http://www.flyash.com/flyashenvironment.asp Next up: the foundation…forms are being set as we speak and the foundation will be poured in the coming days.

Based on a couple of comments we have received both via this blog and from members in our lobbies, we have not done a very good job of explaining WHY we are even building the Russell Street branch.  A lapse of communication for certain!

Several years ago, we did a comprehensive review of our facilities, including a detailed needs evaluation for the next 15-20 years. In doing this, we realized the Fairway facility was not going to be able to meet our needs in the future. Not only is the space not appropriate for the long term, but the building is expensive to operate. While the Fairway location is great, since we don’t own the building, we determined it would be more economical in the long run to build an energy efficient, sustainable building in the same vicinity—thus the purchase of the Russell Street property.

The plan is to move our Fairway operations to the Russell Street branch upon its completion (slated for third quarter 2008). We will use the Fairway space to temporarily house our corporate operations (accounting, marketing, IT, HR, etc.) while we re-configure our Southside branch to provide sufficient space for future needs. We hope to be able to use many of the same sustainable, energy efficient practices in the new Southside offices so we can continue to reduce the impact our operations have on our environment while continuing to provide the service our members have come to expect. We believe we are paving the way for other businesses to address environmentally sound, sustainable building practices on a much larger scale in Western Montana. When all the dust settles, MFCU will still have 5 branches in Missoula and one in Stevensville.

 If you haven’t driven down South Russell Street lately, you likely have not seen the latest progress on our new building.

The topsoil has been removed and erosion controls put into place (another LEED certification requirement). The excavation for the foundation has begun and the piles of dirt just keep growing…here are some of the latest pictures.

WOW! Our glass drive was AMAZING! Not only were the huge contruction-sized dumpsters (2 of them) from Home Resource full, but the glass dropped off Friday, Saturday and Sunday just kept rolling in. We sorted, moved and pulverized glass the whole weekend and still had a pile to finish up on Monday.  We gathered somewhere between 32,000 and 35,000 pounds of glass.

This was definitely a team project…the architects (MMW), the builder (Gordon Construction) and volunteers from the UM made it possible to keep up with the glass coming in.

The next step in the construction is to get the water and sewer lines hooked into the city system–exciting stuff, I know–but most assuredly necessary!

Green is taking on a whole new meaning at Missoula Federal Credit Union. Our newest branch on Russell Street is going to be built to LEED specifications and we’re kicking off our construction with a glass drive here in Missoula. We’ll be using the glass we gather and pulverize in the concrete floor in the lobby. 100% fly ash and 100% glass aggregate will make this floor 100% recycled/reused material…

Bring us your glass September 28th (Noon to 6p) 29th (8a-6p) or 30th (9a-2p). We’ll be taking glass at the Russell Street construction site during these times–located just north of Northwestern Energy. Sort your glass into green, brown, clear and other–make sure it’s clean and we’ll pulverize it and use it in our building. You can even stop in next summer and see how your contribution looks in our new building.

 Of course, glass is only a small part of the “green” aspect of this building. Stay tuned for construction updates, photos, and fascinating discourse on the recycled, reusable, rescued, locally-produced, environmentally healthy products and processes we’ll be using….