DATE POSTED: 3/26/2006 12:00:00 AM
Seattle Times Article Green Leaders, The Built Green Movement
Quietly, one building and one builder at a time, the Seattle area has emerged as a national leader in the green-building movement that promotes sustainable-construction practices.
Its not just local builders who've constructed thousands of ecologically forward homes saying this.
Its also government officials, advocates of the national eco-building movement, and the architect who jumped to national fame with her quest to make new houses not so big.
Seattle is really on the national and international map in terms of green building, said Diane Sugimura, director of Seattle's Department of Planning and Development. People in other cities call to ask whats happening here.
Patti Southard, who manages King County's residential green building program agrees.
This region is a national leader, Southard said. I believe we have the best residential green building program in the nation because it covers every gamut of it, from remodels to whole communities.
Like Sugimura, Southard took part in the recent Built Green Conference in Seattle that drew more than 500 ecologically oriented builders, developers, architects and others. Roughly doubling the number who attended last year.
The conference's keynote speaker, North Carolina architect and author of the best-selling "Not So Big House" series, Sarah Susanka, landed the Seattle region as a national leader because its successful amassed experts who easily work together towards a common goal.
This is what Seattle is doing getting architects, builders, designers, etc., on the same page, Susanka said. This is huge.
And far-ranging. The area's green-building practitioners range from small custom builders such as Greenleaf Construction, which built about 10 houses a year, to Quadrant Homes, the largest homebuilder in the region; Quadrant sold 1,391 new homes last year.
Every one was built to a three-star Built Green standard, said Bill Boucher, vice president of marketing and communications at Quadrant. As we continue to grow and expand as a company, every home will be built to Built Green standards. Thats our goal.
One of the regions largest new neighborhoods, Issaquah Highlands, is thoroughly green, as is High Point, the West Seattle public housing project that's been reborn and rebuilt green.
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