Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Belgard® Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavers (PICP) Create a Brewery Permeable Pavement System to Protect Purity of Local Water Supply
Every Project Starts with a Purpose
Named after the favorite hiking grounds of founder Ken Grossman, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company has had a commitment to the environment since day one. With a firmly held belief that the best beer is born of the purest ingredients, their environmentally conscious business model holds utmost respect for the purity of mountain water, since it is their principal water source and makes up more than 90% of their beer products.
When planning their second location that sits above the French Broad River in the Appalachian Mountains, the Grossman family insisted that the facility take the utmost care in protecting the neighboring water supply, both during and after construction.
Sierra Nevada wanted the new hardscape and landscape areas surrounding the buildings to appear as though the brewery had always existed within the natural landscape. The hardscape scope included a LEED-certified pavement system capable of withstanding heavy vehicular traffic, minimizing heat island effect, meeting ADA requirements and, most importantly, protecting the neighboring water supply.
Maintaining the beauty of the surrounding viewshed was also critical while adding new hardscape and landscape elements. Because the goal was to create a mature, natural-looking environment from the start, these phases were moved earlier in the construction schedule.
“We were putting driveways in while they were still framing the buildings,” said Rob Atema of Rivertop Contracting. “It was a logistical challenge, but we got it done.”
The Solution
Solving for Style, Function, and Durability
In planning the hardscape areas for a Sierra Nevada Brewing Company brewery near Asheville, N.C., Drake Fowler of Design Workshop determined that the only solution capable of meeting the company’s environmental and aesthetic standards was Belgard Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavers (PICP). The selected Aqua Roc II blend met all construction goals, including the ability to withstand heavy vehicular traffic, reduce stormwater runoff, meet ADA requirements for foot traffic, and provide long-lasting solar reflectance index (SRI).
According to Rob Atema, traditional pavement would have been susceptible to costly damage during heavy construction traffic. However, because the Belgard system is composed of individual pavers that distribute weight differently and can be easily replaced if damaged, construction traffic was not an issue.
Current hardscape applications on the property include driveways, parking lots, crosswalks, and a plaza. For most of the project, the Limestone paver color was selected due to its high SRI and ability to reduce the possibility of heat island effect, which could otherwise increase runoff temperature and impact the surrounding ecosystem.
The parking lot design incorporated a herringbone pattern that required half-sized pavers for parking stalls and striping. “When you cut PICP, it’s hard to keep a consistent joint, so using those half pavers here was good,” Fowler said. The remaining half-sized pavers were reused to create a beer bottle-shaped design in the employee break area.
The Result
A Lasting Impression:
The Final Transformation
With a porous pavement system installed, natural drainage was maintained, and a cohesive hardscape and landscape were created to meet the environmental goals set forth by Sierra Nevada.
The Belgard Permeable Interlocking Concrete Paver (PICP) system helped preserve the site’s natural hydrology while delivering a durable and visually appealing solution. In this project, a blend of Aqua Roc II pavers satisfied environmental and ADA requirements while contributing to the overall success of the brewery’s second location.
“We worked to set up not just a porous pavement system, but something that linked the pavers to the rain garden that linked to the underground system,” described designer Drake Fowler. “By using these different systems, the same natural drainage that existed before they were here is maintained, and even water from the rooftop feeds into the system so that most stormwater gets reused, like for irrigation or flushing toilets.”
The PICP system was the first component of a coordinated stormwater management strategy that also included rain gardens, a cistern, and an overflow dry stream bed with a series of 20 check dams. Together, these elements were designed to filter water and ensure that sediments and pollutants do not reach the nearby river.
“It’s an amazing system. Surface water is not an issue. With Belgard PICP, you can shoot a fire hose at it, and it permeates. But if the cistern overflows due to heavy rain, we want to treat that water and control its route to the river,” Fowler said.
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