Steelcase has been an innovator in green stormwater infrastructure over the past 35 years in West Michigan. The company has two LEED certified buildings in Grand Rapids with natural landscape features that capture a large portion of stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces.

The Global Business Center and Learning & Innovation Center is located within the Buck Creek Watershed.  The property includes a five-story building with green roof features, a neighboring building with white roofs and landscaping that mimics natural storm terrains. A detention pond collects stormwater runoff from parking lots, allowing the water to infiltrate into the ground at a slower rate, reducing potential street flooding and increasing water quality. The water captured from the detention pond also doubles as irrigation for the property to reuse the water runoff for landscape watering.  In 2012, a parking lot was converted into a bioswale that now captures approximately 5.1 million gallons of stormwater runoff from the roof and service areas per year. Additional bioswales containing natives and non-native plant species have also been installed in parking lot islands. The native plant species are being monitored by Groundswell and Crestwood Middle School to determine which species are best suited for the habitat. Elsewhere on site, a new parking lot features permeable pavement materials.

In addition to the runoff mitigation, green stormwater infrastructure creates habitat biodiversity, leading to an increase in animal appearances on site, including deer, bluebirds and butterflies as seen at Steelcase’s Wood plant facility. As part of a circular investment, scraps from the nearby wood furniture plant have been used to build bird boxes on some of the Steelcase properties. Also, simple changes in landscaping maintenance practices to enhance these natural settings have generated cost savings of nearly $20,000 annually and reduced the company’s carbon footprint.

The facilities management team works to maintain the natural landscape by limiting lawn mowing on facility grounds, and removing invasive plant species. Along with reducing stormwater, the tree canopy around the building offers additional benefits such as reducing urban heat stress, increasing air quality, shade for employees and softens the exterior aesthetics of a traditional office building. During winter months, snow removal and salting can create challenges for maintaining green stormwater infrastructure and permeable surfaces. For snow melt, Steelcase is testing new environmentally friendly snow removal products such as new chloride based products, smaller granules of salt, and sand alternatives that would reduce water contamination, avoid plant loss, and prevent metal erosion.

Stormwater management has become an important part of the company’s sustainability education.  It engages employees in green initiatives through planting and landscape maintenance, and has made the issue a theme at its Earth Day celebrations the past two years.  Through education programs, employees and management are now more aware of the benefits of these nature-based solutions, and the landscaping modifications are viewed as quality improvements which positively impact the workspace and community.

Stormwater Currency is a collaboration between American Rivers, Corona, and WEF, with support from a private foundation. We are focused on building market-based and other incentive programs that link people, businesses, and local government to fund, build and maintain green stormwater infrastructure. Our goal is to create sustainable funding programs that increase private sector participation while providing multiple benefits to the public and the environment.