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In this expanding green building
movement, the focus often seems to be
on small, independent builders who
commit to eco-friendly projects exclusively
or nearly exclusively. These are the
builders who dedicate their efforts on
individual custom green homes and
prototype sustainable communities. With
such specific projects, they are able to
experiment |
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One day, entire LEED certified communities could be a reality.
Until then, high-quantity builders should be challenged to find
ways to incorporate practical eco-friendly building practices into
all of their properties.
One builder is doing just that, which is why we just to feature
John Laing Homes’ as our first ever Green Homebuilder of the
Year. John Laing Homes’ has made a distinct point to construct
their new Southern California properties using eco-friendly
practices that can be incorporated into all of their properties.
Read more inside to see how they are taking steps towards massproducing
green.
Best,
Darren Davis
Editor
ddavis@penpubinc.com |
with new green technology
and building techniques, thus making them the avant-garde of
green homebuilding.
These focused, eco-centric projects are fascinating and
deserving of the attention they garner. But if sustainable building
practices are to become the industry norm, it is the large
developers that are going to have to lead the way. Yet consensus
seems to be that big builders are making less progress in green
building compared to their smaller counterparts.
I believe that in many cases this is an unfair assumption, as it is
unrealistic to curve any “green grade” based on the eco viability of
specialized projects. After all, how rational would it be for a large
builder to outfit each and every one of their units with amenities
that would make them LEED Platinum certifiable? They would
have a plethora of energy-efficient but utterly vacant properties, as the cost to achieve LEED Platinum status would drastically drive
up home prices. |
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