|
Awards Honor Achievement in Green Home Building
Fourteen members of NAHB were honored for exemplary green building practices during National Green Building Awards ceremonies on March 25 in conjunction with the ninth annual NAHB National Green Building Conference in St. Louis.
Interest in the awards has surged just in the last year, with the number of entries rising threefold, “an indication of explosive growth in green building and that NAHB members are at the forefront of this growth,” said Ray Tonjes, chair of the association’s Green Building Subcommittee and a green custom builder in Austin, Texas.
Energy efficiency, water and resource conservation, sustainable or recycled products, and indoor air quality are increasingly being incorporated into the everyday process of home building, Tonjes said, demonstrating that green building is fast entering the mainstream.
“When a green home doesn’t look or feel significantly different from one built using more traditional construction methods, when builders have the tools and resources to build them without significant material or labor cost increases, and when consumers readily accept the finished product, then ‘green’ has arrived,” Tonjes said. “These winners have helped lead the way to market acceptance. They are pioneers.”
The exploding market for sustainable, environmentally friendly and recycled building products, along with the greater availability of educational opportunities for builders, has accelerated the public’s acceptance of green building, he said. A recent NAHB-McGraw Hill Construction survey found that more than half of the NAHB membership, which is responsible for building more than 80% of the homes in the country, expect by the end of this year to be incorporating green practices into the development, design and construction of their homes.
The winners were:
- Single-Family Custom Home of the Year — The W.H. Hull Company; Bend, Ore.
- Single-Family Luxury Home of the Year — Durano Construction; Bernalillo, N.M.
- NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines Home of the Year — Stitt Energy Systems; Rogers, Ark.
- Single-Family Concept Home of the Year — Sun Mountain Construction; Albuquerque, N.M.
- Multifamily Project of the Year — High Point, Mithun; Seattle
- Land Development Project of the Year — Pringle Creek Community; Salem, Ore.
- Green Product Marketing Project of the Year — Arch Wood Protection, Inc.; Smyrna, Ga.
- Green Development Marketing Project of the Year — Wonderland Hill Development Company; Lyons, Colo.
- Green Home Marketing Project of the Year — Suncadia, CMI Homes, Inc.; Roslyn, Wash.
- Green Building Program of the Year — Built Green, Master Builders of King and Snohomish Counties; Wash.
- New Green Building Program of the Year — Green Building Council of the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri
- Builder Advocate of the Year — Don Ferrier, Ferrier Custom Homes; Forth Worth, Texas
- Remodeler Advocate of the Year — Carl Seville, Seville Consulting; Atlanta
- Group Advocate of the Year — Cherokee Investment Partners; Raleigh, N.C.
Builder and educator Ron Jones, the 2006 Builder Advocate of the Year, served as master of ceremonies for the awards. The guest speaker was Peter Raven, a Time magazine “Hero of the Planet” and a noted expert in plant biology and science.
For more information, e-mail Calli Schmidt at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8132.
|
