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North Carolina Aquariums Jennette’s Pier construction
From www.zandavisitor.com
Manteo, NC – Construction of the North Carolina Aquariums Jennette’s Pier is moving eastward into the Atlantic Ocean. To keep informed about the progress being made on the pier site, visit this link: http://www.ncaquariums.com/aquarium-piers/jennettes-pier. There you will find information updated regularly along with photos showing different aspects of the construction. The pier construction started in May of 2009 and is expected to be complete by May of 2011.
Jennette’s Pier will be a family oriented educational and recreational fishing pier. It will feature a 1,000 foot long fishing pier, a 16,000 square foot pier house and public bath house. The pier house will have a tackle shop, and educational classroom and large multi-purpose room on the second floor. The upper floor will accommodate large meetings, school groups, conferences, dinners and receptions.
Three wind turbines located on the pier will help power the facility. Solar panels, geothermal heating and cooling and gray water reuse plumbing systems are also among the sustainable green building components featured at the facility.
Jennette’s Pier will educate visitors about the oceans, and it will inspire appreciation and conservation of North Carolina’s aquatic environments. The pier will also be a state of the art recreational fishing facility.
The Aquarium Division of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will construct the pier with funds from existing non-General Fund receipts of up to $25 million. The funding will come from admission receipts, private funds, and a storm water pilot project to clean up state-maintained ocean outfalls.
Construction of the pier will provide 555 on-site jobs and 1,250 off-site jobs and a benefit of more than $14 million to North Carolina’s economy.
The pier and pier house are aiming to be LEED certified at the level of Gold. The LEED certification process is a national ranking system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council for qualifying the level of sustainability and green building methods.