US Green Building Council Announces 2015 LEED Homes Award Winners

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) presented its annual LEED Homes Awards, which recognizes projects, architects, developers and homebuilders who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and innovation in the residential green building marketplace. USGBC’s recent Green Building Economic Impact Study found that the residential green construction market is expected to grow from $55 million in 2015 to $100.4 million in 2018, representing a year-over-year growth of 24.5 percent. 

“Homes represent a critical piece of the buildings industry and our daily life,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “We applaud these amazing honorees for their significant contribution to greening the residential sector by implementing strategies that positively impact the environment and enhance the health and well-being of their occupants.”

The LEED Homes Award winners include multi-family, single-family and affordable housing projects and companies that are trailblazers in the residential sector and have prioritized incorporating sustainability within their projects in 2015. This year, for the first time, the awards also recognize the “LEED Homes Power Builders,” which USGBC developed to honor an elite group of developers and builders who have exhibited an outstanding commitment to LEED and the green building movement within the residential sector. In order to be considered as a Power Builder, developers and builders must have LEED-certified 90 percent of their homes/unit count built in 2015. Homes at any LEED certification level—certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum—were eligible for consideration.

LEED Homes Award Winners:

Project of the Year: The Woodlawn, Portland, Ore.

Developed by SolTerra, The Woodlawn is a LEED Platinum, 18-unit mixed-use apartment building featuring some of the most innovative design and construction strategies that are shaped to reconnect occupants with nature. Constructed with primarily reclaimed and highly renewable materials, and featuring 4,500 square feet of ecoroof, an outdoor roof terrace, and 1,100 square feet of living wall siding.

Outstanding Single-Family Project: The Taft School Faculty Residence, Watertown, Conn.

Winning team: The Taft School, Trillium Architects, BPC Green Builders, Steven Winter Associates

The Taft School faculty home serves as a high-performance residence and learning lab for students. It is Connecticut’s first building to achieve LEED Platinum certification under the Building Design and Construction rating system for Homes using the new and more stringent LEED v4. The design and construction process is used as a teaching tool for science classes. The students monitor the energy use and there is also a vegetable garden, chickens and a rain garden on site as part of a comprehensive sustainability site.

Outstanding Single-Family Builder: Frankel Building Group, Houston, Texas

At the forefront of sustainable residential building, Frankel Building Group continues to show its commitment through the design and construction of LEED-certified homes. Frankel Building Group puts an emphasis on homeowner education and continues to promote the LEED program in its market. In 2015, they completed 28 custom homes, all built to LEED for Homes standards, 26 of which have or will be designated as LEED-certified.

Outstanding Affordable Builder: National Church Residence, Columbus, Ohio

National Church Residences (NCR) is the innovative leader in integrating home and supportive services for seniors and vulnerable individuals, enabling them to live healthier and more satisfying lives. Their vision is to continually improve communities by transforming the way seniors and vulnerable populations live and thrive. NCR is committed to pursuing LEED as a sustainability standard. Since achieving LEED Platinum for Buckingham Place in 2009, NCR has pursued LEED as their choice of green building certification on more than 15 projects.

Outstanding Affordable Project: Brookside Village Housing, Farmington, Maine

Winning team: Brookside Partners LP; Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure—Herbert Semple; AIA Architect/Project Manager; Pinkham & Greer Consulting Engineers—Tom Greer, PE; H. E. Callahan Construction Co.—Jeff Ohler

Brookside Village comprises 32 one-bedroom units of affordable elderly housing. This LEED Platinum project has net-zero energy usage and is a low-income, federally subsidized housing project. All materials selected and systems designed in the building are highly sustainable and extremely energy-efficient, enabling developers to meet the prime project goal—to provide the comfortable living environment necessary for the elderly residents.

Outstanding Multifamily Project: Tilley Lofts, Watervliet, NY

Winning team: Redburn Development; Kirchhoff-Consigli Construction; Harris A. Sanders, Architects, P.C.

The 80,000-square-foot Tilley Ladder Warehouse—once the oldest ladder manufacturing facility in the country—sat mostly vacant over the past 10 years. In spite of its neglected condition, the structure, conveniently located in Watervliet’s Port Schuyler neighborhood, in close proximity to a park and bike trail and easily accessible to the interstate, presented an ideal site for energy-efficient apartments. Through collaboration with Sustainable Comfort, Inc., the warehouse was converted into 62 luxury loft-style apartments, achieved LEED Platinum and is now considered one of the nation’s most energy-efficient residential developments.

Outstanding Multifamily Developer: Forest City Realty Trust, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio

Forest City Realty Trust has achieved LEED certification for many property types, including office, retail, multifamily and entire neighborhoods. They certified their first of 25 total LEED projects in 2006, and since 2008, have certified eight multifamily projects containing more than 2,600 units. Half of those certifications were achieved in 2015. Currently, Forest City has 11 multifamily projects containing more than 4,000 apartment units pursuing LEED certification.

LEED Homes Power Builders (*Represents a company that also won a LEED Homes Award):

• AMLI Residential
• Bijou Properties
• Bronx Pro Real Estate Management
• Buckingham Companies
• Cottage Home
• Fore Property Company
• Forest City*
• Frankel Building Group*
• Gerding Edlen
• Habitat for Humanity (Charlotte)
• Habitat for Humanity (Dallas)
• Habitat for Humanity (Kent County)
• Habitat for Humanity (Matthews)
• Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services
• JCB Homes
• John Marshall Custom Homes
• McGuyer Homebuilders, Inc. (MHI)–Austin
• McGuyer Homebuilders, Inc. (MHI)–Dallas Fort Worth
• McGuyer Homebuilders, Inc. (MHI)–San Antonio
• National Church Residences*
• Sullivan Brother Builders
• The Dinerstein Companies
• The Hudson Companies, Inc.
• Uptown Rentals
• RPM Development Group

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) has become the world’s most recognized rating system for green buildings. The LEED for Homes rating system was created in 2008 as a way for single-family homes and multi-family buildings to achieve LEED certification. LEED for Homes projects undergo a technically rigorous process to become certified, including multiple on-site inspections and diagnostic tests. Quality control and quality assurance are built into the process so that builders, architects and homeowners can rest assured they get what they paid for and specified. More than 1.2 million residential units are currently participating in LEED.

To learn more about LEED for Homes, visit usgbc.org/homes.