2012 LEED for Homes Award recipients announced

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has named the recipients of the 2012 LEED for Homes Awards, recognizing projects, developers and homebuilders that have demonstrated leadership in the residential green building marketplace. The awards will be presented during the Residential Summit reception on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, at the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo held in San Francisco. The award categories recognize innovative multi- and single-family projects, production builders, affordable housing projects and developers, an overall commitment to LEED for Homes and Project of the Year.

“This year’s leadership recipients represent a dynamic field showcasing the range of residential developments that certify under USGBC’s LEED for Homes program each year,” said Nate Kredich, vice president, Residential Market Development, USGBC. “The fact that our project of the year is an affordable housing development that achieved LEED Platinum certification is a shining example of how diversified the LEED for Homes portfolio has become.”

Winners for this year include:

• Project of the Year – The Puyallup Longhouse’s the Place of Hidden Waters: This LEED Platinum certified housing project is a culturally and environmentally responsive new model for the Puyallup Tribe in the Pacific NW. It’s located on the Puyallup reservation on a hill overlooking the Puget Sound tide flats, which were traditional Puyallup tribal lands. The buildings are designed to emulate the rectangular, shed roofed form of a traditional Coast Salish longhouse using a variation of the modern townhouse courtyard building. Structural insulated panels with excellent air sealing for a well-insulated envelope, triple pane windows and ground source heat pumps for both domestic hot water and hydronic heating systems are some of the sustainable features.
• Outstanding Production Builder – Clarum Communities for Cambridge Plaza: Located in Palo Alto, Calif., Cambridge Plaza is a three-story townhome project constructed by Clarum Homes that achieved a LEED Platinum rating thanks to sustainable building materials and a commitment to energy and water efficiency. Its “smart” design features include a photovoltaic system and a thermal solar hot water system using a 80 gallon pre-heat storage tank and a G.E. GeoSpring electric heat pump back up waterheater.
• Outstanding Affordable Developer - Avesta Housing for Oak Street Lofts: This project is the first affordable multifamily building to achieve LEED Platinum in Maine. The building is a four-story, 37-unit building located in the heart of Portland's Art District. The project stands out as it incorporates many design innovations, which illustrate that even affordable housing projects, with limited capital budgets, can achievehigh rates of energy efficiency and enhanced comfort for occupants. The building achieved a preliminary energy savings of 35 percent better than ASHRAE with a 40.94 percent energy cost savings.
• Outstanding Affordable Project – Rio Vista Apartments, Abode Communities: This is the first development in LA County to co-locate affordable housing with an educational component owned and operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District on the District’s surplus land. The LEED Platinum apartments transform a vacant parking lot into a model joint-use development addressing the needs of 50 low-income families. The site is a high-density infill, a former brownfield with existing infrastructure, and is located with access to outstanding community resources. Rio Vista is energy efficient (exceeds Title 24 by 40 percent) and includes an edible garden atop the roof with a central trellised courtyard providing a shaded outdoor space to reduce heat island effects.
• Outstanding Commitment to LEED for Homes – McGuyer Homebuilders, Inc. (MHI): The Texas-based company is the only national-scale production homebuilder that has successfully implemented LEED for Homes across multiple communities and across multiple product offerings. MHI is a practical, profit-oriented builder who pursues LEED as a strategy to meet client needs. MHI strives to find ways to successfully compete with the publically traded homebuilding companies by offering something new and different.
• Outstanding Multifamily Project – Specialized Real Estate Group for Eco Modern Flats: This LEED Platinum project is a gut rehab of a 96-unit market rate apartment complex built between 1968 and1972 and located in Fayetteville, Ark. The developers’ goals were to deliver a product that was not currently available in the market—modern, urban, green multifamily rental—and to save operations costs through energy and water-saving updates. In addition to the rehab itself, a blog and other informational resources were developed, and hundreds of people toured a model unit highlighting 32 sustainable strategies employed in the project.
• Outstanding Single Family Project – Brooks Residence (architect Isabelle Duvivier): Located in Venice, Calif., the Brooks Residence is a 1,700 sq. ft. LEED Platinum home. Homeowner and architect, Isabelle Duvivier, purchased the 100-year-old home in a well-established, low-income neighborhood in order to restore it. The goal was to reduce the footprint/impact of the house on the planet through water, energy and material efficiency. Above and beyond that goal, the home designworks to restore habitats for birds, bees and butterflies and creates educational opportunities for the local community. +