Phila. no-flush standoff unclogged, with a catch
A deal aids Comcast Center's bid to be the tallest green building. But plumbers will install unnecessary pipes.
By Inga Saffron
Inquirer Architecture Critic
A waterless-urinals agreement is in the can, and that means that the Comcast Center will be able to install the environmentally friendly basins in its new headquarters, a spokesman for Mayor Street announced last night.
Street brokered the complex deal between the developer, Liberty Property Trust, and Plumbers Union Local 690, with support from State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo after the potty standoff was made public in The Inquirer and became a cause celebre for the city's environmental groups.
The agreement clears the way for Liberty to install 116 no-flush urinals in the men's rooms at the 58-story Comcast Center, and increases the chances that the 975-foot skyscraper will earn the title of America's tallest green building.
Liberty, however, was forced to accept a long list of conditions to open the way for the green devices. Most significantly, it agreed to install standard water lines with the urinals, although they are unnecessary and will not be connected. The plumbers contend this is a backup measure, in case the urinals don't work.
While Liberty and the union have worked out the deal, it must still be approved in a meeting today by the Plumbing Advisory Board, an obscure but powerful body that reviews all plumbing-related changes to the city's building code. Liberty would receive a one-time-only variance.
Made up entirely of plumbers and plumbing contractors, the advisory board had blocked the introduction of the increasingly popular, no-flush basins, which require less work to install. But after Street and Fumo intervened, the board agreed to permit Liberty to use the urinals on a trial basis, said Robert D. Solvibile Sr., who runs the Department of Licenses and Inspections. He said he expected unanimous approval when the board considers the variance today.
Despite the restrictions imposed by the plumbers, Liberty vice president John Gattuso hailed the agreement as an advance for the green building movement. "We believe this ensures that Comcast Center will take its place as one of the preeminent high-rise buildings in the world," he said in a statement issued by Liberty.
But this hardly guarantees that new urinals will be flushless in Philadelphia. Solvibile said the plumbers union was allowing only an exemption for Liberty, and only because it was installing the backup water lines. The developer also agreed to a strict maintenance program that involves scrubbing the urinals daily, changing their chemical cartridges regularly, and submitting to twice-yearly inspections.
A permanent code change is a long way off. "This is going to take years to evaluate," said Solvibile.
That means that other developers might also have to raise a stink if they wanted to install water-saving urinals.
During discussions between Liberty and the union, Solvibile said, he became a convert to the technology. At the same time, he said, "there are lot of places I would never allow it: bars, restaurants, schools."
The Comcast tower, designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, includes a variety of energy- and water-saving technologies that could help it win a coveted certificate from the U.S. Green Building Council. No tower its size has achieved that distinction, although the 945-foot Bank of America Tower in New York is also going for the green.
Liberty estimates that the urinals will conserve about a million gallons of water a year and save the company about $10,000 in construction costs. Liberty would have saved even more if not for the backup lines.
But saving money isn't the issue, Gattuso said.
Not getting stuck behind New York on the toilets is.
