Franklin County Courthouse

HEAPY designed the Mechanical-Electrical systems for the $105 million standalone building, primarily housing the Franklin County Common Pleas courts and directly related functions, including the Clerk of Courts, satellite offices for the Prosecutor and Public Defender, a sallyport and central holding facility for detainees, and controlled access parking for judges and elected officials.

The 300,000 SF seven-story Courthouse holds 32 courtrooms, and two special proceedings courtrooms and is designed and constructed to allow for horizontal expansion on its 3.8-acre site. The building area and volume have been sized to reduce the amount of heating and cooling required. The building is 25% more energy efficient and will save a million gallons of water each year compared to a comparable new code-compliant building.

The Courthouse also features a green roof to help reduce stormwater runoff into the river and reduce urban temperature and perform air cleaning. The use of efficient building features will pay back in nine years or less.

Achieving LEED Gold certification from the US Green Building Council allows the County to track, measure, and publicly demonstrate the value of green building design.