The West Branch of the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter was honored to present the 2015 Green Giants with their awards on Tuesday night! Thank you to the Western Mass AIA for co-hosting a wonderful event to celebrate green building, education and innovation in practice. Thanks also to everyone who made it happen including this year’s sponsor, PeoplesBank, without whom the program would not have been possible.
The event was a great success and was held in the festive Red Barn at Hampshire College. The WMAIA started off the night with the presentation of two student scholarship awards for exceptional design submittals of student work. Two University of Massachusetts Masters of Architecture students were recognized: Peng Zhang and Lukasz Czarniecki.
Following a lovely dinner, we heard from Wright Builders about their collaborative design process for the Kern Center, a Living Building Challenge project being constructed on the Hampshire campus. Hampshire College president, Jonathan Lash, was in attendance as well, and provided inspiring insight into the Living Building Challenge process from the college’s perspective. Very much in the spirit of the evening, both parties shared innovative and collaborative instances of problem solving at play to make the project a reality for Hampshire.
The night concluded with the USGBCMA West Branch presentation of awards in each of the three Green Giants categories. We want to thank all those who submitted a stellar collection of nominations, with a total of 33 nominees. We would also like to thank our Boston counterpart for their man hours to act as jury in selecting the Green Giants winners. They chose to award 10 nominees within the 3 categories, as well as a lifetime achievement award. The 2015 Green Giant awardees are as follows:
Lifetime Achievement Award: Peter Talmage, for his lifetime passion for learning about, teaching and engaging in the conversation about sustainable design. Peter is well known in the sustainable design community, but is particularly well-known as a founding technical instructor for the Greenfield Community College Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Program.
Trades Category
Honorable Mention:
Sean Jeffords, Beyond Green Construction
Joe Miles and Andy Clogston of r.k. Miles Lumber Yard
Runner-up: Kent Hicks, Kent Hicks Construction
Green Giant Award: Mark Newey for his work at the Center for Eco Technology
Education Category
Honorable Mention: NESEA- Building Energy PRO-TOURS, Miryam Aylward & Jenny Goldberg
Runner-Up: Kathleen Lugosch, Professor& Master of Architecture Program Director, U. Mass.
Green Giant Award: The U. Mass. Building & Construction Technology Department, nominated by Alexander C. Schreyer
Owner Category
Honorable Mention: Wright Builders for their investment in green construction at Village Hill
Runner-Up: Jonathan Lash and Hampshire College for their investment in the R.W. Kern Center
Green Giant Award: Amy Johns, Director, Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives, Class of 1966 Environmental Center, Williams College
Read the West Branch's press release for a full description of award winners.
Congratulations to all the 2015 Green Giants, and to the West Branch of our Chapter for hosting this great event! We're already looking forward to next year.
LEED® Gold Certification Awarded To PeoplesBank Northampton Office
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (May 5, 2015) – Earth Day week was an appropriate time for PeoplesBank to announce its third LEED certified office. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently certified the PeoplesBank Northampton office as LEED Gold.
This green building joins the PeoplesBank LEED Silver certified office at 1051 St. James Ave. in Springfield, which also was recognized with the City’s first GreenSeal Award, and their LEED Gold certified West Springfield office. Pictured, Left to Right: Mayor David J. Narkewicz; Stacy A. Sutton, First Vice President PeoplesBank; Douglas A. Bowen, President & CEO PeoplesBank; Ludmilla D. Pavlova-Gillham, Founder & Past Chair USGBC Massachusetts Chapter – West Branch; Susan B. Wilson, First Vice President PeoplesBank; and Grey Lee, Executive Director USGBC Massachusetts.
About: PeoplesBank is a leader in innovation, corporate responsibility, environmental sustainability, and employee engagement. Our three LEED® certified offices are environmentally friendly, and we have financed more than $70 million in wind, hydroelectric, and solar energy projects.
As the largest community bank in the market, we have a unique ability to help the communities we serve through volunteer efforts and millions of dollars in donations to charitable and civic causes. Our associates devote an average of 6,000 hours to volunteer work each year, and 48 of the bank’s officers serve on the board of directors and committees of 115 area nonprofit organizations.
Friday August 8th, approximately two dozen members of the USGBC MA West Branch (and friends & family) attended the second annual Summer Social BBQ at the home of former West Branch Chair Ludmilla Pavlova-Gilham in North Amherst.
We convened our monthly organizational meeting during the social event. Topics included:
Organizing for the Green Apple Day of Service
Enhancing communications and using social media
Exploring the webinar, study group and GBCI credit-reporting situations
Update on the Common School
Update on USGBC National's re-organization of the Chapters & membership process
It was a great gathering had by all. Especially enjoyable was meeting people new to the group through the Western MA Green Consortium. We all look forward to further collaboration among members of our green building community in Western Massachusetts.
2014 has come in with blasts of cold and ice, but it would take a lot more than that to temper the passion of local volunteers who are focused on promoting “the design, construction, and operation of sustainable buildings and communities in Massachusetts”!
The USGBC MA – West Branch had its best year ever in 2013 and we are all ready to launch another successful year of green building education programs, networking events and service projects!
For those of you who couldn't make it to all of the excellent programs we provide, We thought we would prepare a short list of highlights from 2013:
We had a variety of Education Programs! The LEED Green Associate Exam Prep course attracted approximately 45 students and utilized a team-based learning classroom at UMass to facilitate discussion among students and professionals. We held two Green Eggs networking and education events – the first at David R. Northup Electrical Contractors, Inc. on Point of Use Technology presented by John DeGray of Point Energy Solutions and the second at the EcoBuilding Bargains Store on Energy Modeling presented by Benjamin Todd of Strategic Energy Group, as well as Ted Mendoza of UMass Amherst. Our Summer Social in June attracted almost 30 members and included representatives from NESEA and the Westover Job Corps.
Green building researchers from UMass Amherst presented a map of LEED buildings in Western MA, featuring 27 LEED certified buildings and 60 more projects undergoing registration – a remarkable achievement for our region!
UMass Green Building Council Students Group was founded in partnership with the West Branch and is committed to promoting sustainability, innovation, and a basic foundation of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, both on and off campus. They provide campus-wide initiatives and education for the public on green building practices. Eight student members attended the GreenBuild 2013 conference in the fall. A team of students worked with NStar to survey residential halls and educating students on saving energy by distributing 5,000 LED light bulbs.
3 Green Apple Day of Service events focused on engaging local schools took place in September and October: a Green Building Tour of 4 UMass LEED facilities and rain gardens for students from Westover Job Corps, a tour of Tan Brook for students at Wildwood Elementary school in Amherst, and a public tour of the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center in Holyoke, a LEED Platinum Building. We have also committed to provide LEED Support for the Common School in Amherst.
Thank you for your support, Ludmilla Pavlova, Immediate Past Chair Mark Dunn, 2014 Chair of USGBC MA West Branch Steering Committee
[[ Congratulations to all the volunteers who have helped to make this success possible! We all look forward to a great 2014 and more useful and fun programming to support the green building community in Western Massachusetts. ]]
