U.S. Green Building Council Announces LEED for Homes Award Winners
Words: Bronzella Cleveland
Annual recognition highlights projects, developers and builders leading the residential market for sustainable development
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced the recipients of its annual LEED for Homes Awards, recognizing projects, developers and homebuilders that have demonstrated outstanding leadership and innovation in residential green building. The awards are given to outstanding multi- and single-family residential and affordable housing projects as well as builders and developers.
“The places we call home are where we feel safe and where we come together as families and friends. These leaders are working to make our homes more sustainable, healthier and happier living environments, setting an example for what is possible in green building,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “I commend the commitment and leadership in sustainable building from these recipients.”
Winners for this year consist of the following:
Outstanding Single-Family Home of the Year: Smith Residence, Mokulua High Performance Builder, Kailua, Hawaii. This LEED Gold home is the first in Hawaii to certify under the latest version of the rating system, LEED v4. This project includes many innovative technical strategies, such as a fully enveloped radiant barrier from foundation to roof, which serves to manage one of the most prevalent risks (UV radiation) associated with home durability in Hawaii.
Outstanding Commitment to LEED: Gerding Edlen, Portland, Ore. Gerding Edlen is a nationally-recognized real estate investment and development firm focused on sustainable urban, infill, office, apartment and mixed-use properties. The firm has developed or re-developed 65 LEED projects, including many pioneer projects such as the first LEED for Homes Platinum mixed-use building in Seattle.
Outstanding Affordable Developer: NeighborWorks Umpqua, Roseburg, Ore. This 501c3 non-profit’s mission is to work for and with low- and moderate-income people to provide safe affordable housing and community-based economic opportunity in Douglas County, Ore. They have an expressed commitment to sustainability, and all of their projects are built using green and energy saving features.
Outstanding Multifamily Project: 888 North San Mateo Drive, Sares Regis Group of Northern California (SRGNC), San Mateo, Calif. This project is one of the first multifamily mid-rise luxury apartment buildings in California of its size to achieve LEED Platinum. SRGNC has long been committed to LEED, and their prior knowledge of the system helped them guide this project to achieve 28 percent over code energy savings.
Outstanding Multifamily Builder: The Dinerstein Companies (TDC), Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955, The Dinerstein Companies has become one of the largest multi-family builder/developers committed to using LEED for Homes. Since 2013, all of TDC’s residential developments have achieved LEED Gold, and the company reports that it has more than 5,000 LEED-certified apartment units in 16 separate projects.
Project of the Year: Paseo Verde, Jonathan Rose Companies / APM, Philadelphia, Pa. This project is a mixed-use, mixed-income LEED Platinum development consisting of 120 rental units, landscaped terraces, green roofs and community service space. The project was built with an energy-efficient building envelope and water heating systems, photovoltaic solar panels and the use of recycled and low emitting materials.
Outstanding Affordable Project: Star Apartments, Skid Row Housing Trust, Los Angeles, Calif. This innovative, 102-unit permanent supportive housing development provides healthy and sustainable homes with social services to disabled men and women experiencing homelessness. Designed by the award-winning firm Michael Maltzan Architecture, this LEED Platinum project includes an onsite medical clinic, a 15,000 square foot Health and Wellness Center, and the new headquarters of the LA County Department of Health Services’ (DHS) Housing for Health Division.
The LEED for Homes Awards are given to recipients that have either completed an outstanding project in the previous year or are proven trailblazers in the field of sustainable home building. This year saw an increase in project applications that proved how diverse and robust the LEED for Homes portfolio has become. An independent panel of judges reviewed applications and selected a group of truly laudable recipients.
LEED is the foremost program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. Nearly 196,500 residential units are currently participating in LEED, with more than 82,000 projects having received LEED for Homes certification. These residential units span the globe, but the largest LEED for Homes footprints are in the U.S., Canada, and Saudi Arabia. Within the U.S., California and Texas have the largest stock of LEED-certified residential units. In keeping with USGBC’s effort to expand access to green buildings to all, 43 percent of LEED for Homes units are considered affordable housing.
For more information, please visit the LEED in Motion: Residential report found here. To view the current footprint of LEED for Homes in your state, please visit our dynamic market brief. To learn more about LEED for Homes, visit usgbc.org/homes.