The Welcome Center, a new structure, is being constructed to greet, orient and introduce students and visitors to the Center. Housing a bus drop-off shelter, interior and exterior meeting and teaching space, information displays, grey water and rain gardens and composting restrooms, this Living Building Challenge™ (LBC™) 960-square-foot building will be a state-of-the-art, net energy and net water positive structure. The Living Building Challenge™ is an international certification program of the International Living Future Institute™ (http://living-future.org/), the building industry’s most ambitious sustainable construction performance standards. (See sidebar on Living Building Challenge™ Certification)

Students from the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School (GNB-Voc-Tech) are constructing the Welcome Center and additional components – for example, exhibits and a bike rack. GNB-Voc-Tech welcomes this unprecedented opportunity to teach about the highest level of green construction and the Lloyd Center is excited by the opportunity to expand its experiential environmental education to these high school students and their instructors.