MEET THE 2008 BETTERBRICKS AWARD WINNERS!

The 2008 BetterBricks Awards honored an all-time high of 27 building professionals, including architects, owners, service providers, engineers and green building advocates.  The BetterBricks Awards held ceremonies recognizing the champions behind the best building projects in Oregon, Puget Sound and Idaho.  Don't forget the Montana Awards in February, 2009. 

Some of the 2008 winners' accomplishments include:

• Renee Loveland, Director of the Built Environment  for Gerding Edlen in Portland is responsible for managing over 40 LEED or environmental certification projects
• David Furr & Kathleen Hill, Utility Coordinator & Resource Conservation Specialist for the Salem-Keizer Public Schools, Oregon, have overseen 12 schools that will soon receive ENERGY STAR® certification
• David Thyer is the President of R.C. Hedreen Co. in Puget Sound and his most recent project, Olive 8, is set to be the first hotel/condominium project in Seattle to receive any type of LEED certification;
• Lucia Athens, Senior Sustainable Futures Strategist for CollinsWoerman (formerly with City of Seattle) created the City of Seattle's first LEED Green Building policy
• Senator Kate Kelly from Idaho has been at the forefront of Idaho's climate and energy efficiency charge; she was also the key author of the Idaho Energy Efficient State Building Act.

Oregon/SW Washington Award Winners

The sixth annual Oregon BetterBricks awards were held October 10th at the Hilton Portland.  Brenna Walraven, RPA, CPM, Managing Director of National Property Management for USAA Real Estate and former National President of BOMA, spoke to nearly 250 about "Leadership in Energy Management, Sustainability and the Business Case."  Winners were selected in the following categories:

• Owner/Decision Maker: Winner - Mark Edlen, Owner/Managing Principal for Gerding Edlen
  
  
• Architecture:  Winner - Jon Schleuning, Principal for SRG Partnership, Inc.
  
  
• Engineering:  Co-Winners - Jon Gray, Principal for Interface Engineering; Mike Kaplan, President of Kaplan Engineering
  
  
• Facility Manager/Operator:  Winner - David Furr & Kathleen Kill, Utility Coordinator & Resource Conservation Specialist for Salem-Keizer Public Schools; Finalists - Gary Grimm & Jan Gardner, Facilities Manager & Project Manager for Willamette University; Nick Goldsmith, Director of Operations for Lamb's Markets
  
  
• Advocate: Renee Loveland, Director for the Built Environmental Division for Gerding Edlen
  
  
• Emerging Leader:  Winner - Naomi Cole, Sustainability Coordinator for Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, LLP

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Puget Sound Award Winners

BetterBricks celebrated its fourth year of holding awards in Puget Sound on October 17.  Over 150 attended the breakfast and listened to David Crane, Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger on Jobs and Economic Growth.  Crane discussed the sustainability efforts by the state of California and the role energy efficiency is playing within commercial buildings.  BetterBricks honored individuals in each of the following categories:

• Owner/Decision Maker:  Co-Winners- David Thyer, President of R.C. Hedreen Company; Dr. Sheri Tonn, Vice President for Finance and Operations at Pacific Lutheran University
  
  
• Architecture:  Co-Winners - Amanda Sturgeon, Senior Associate for Perkins + Will; Anne Schopf, Design Partner for Mahlum Architects; Finalist - Dave Goldberg, Managing Principal for Mithun
  
  
• Facility Manager/Building Operations:  Winner - Dino Gonzales, Lead Facilities Engineer for Philips Healthcare; Finalist - Ray Tiedemann, Engineering Manager for Multicare
  
  
• Advocate: Winner - Lucia Athens, Senior Sustainability Futures Strategist for CollinsWoerman (formerly with City of Seattle); Finalists - Jason McLennan, CEO of Cascadia Region Green Building Council; Kathleen O'Brien, President of O'Brien & Company.

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Idaho Award Winners

The BetterBricks Awards made its final stop for 2008 in Idaho on October 22.  The ceremony attracted over 100 attendees to the Boise Doubletree to honor green builders of Idaho.  Attendees enjoyed a presentation from keynote speaker Ed Mazria, AIA, Founder of Architecture 2030.  Mazria gave a presentation about the 2030 Challenge, which he issued in January 2006 to influence architects to have carbon neutral buildings as the norm by 2030.  Idaho's winners were selected in the following categories: 

• Owner/Decision Maker:  Winner - Roger Quarels, Superintendent of the Caldwell School District
  
  
• Architecture:  Winner - James D. Coles, President of Design West Architects, P.A.
  
  
• Engineering:  Winner - Jeff Smith, Partner for E2Co
  
  
• Facility Manager/Operator:  Winner - Roger Dean, Director of Building Services for St. Luke's Regional Medical Center
  
  
• Advocate:  Co-Winners - Kate Kelly, Idaho State Senator; George Eskridge, Idaho State Representative
  
  
• Emerging Leader: Winner - Suzie Hall, President of Cornerstone Design; Finalist - Pat Ott, Manager for Commercial Property Group, Thronton Oliver Keller.

• Owner/Developer
  Those who make decisions about strategic direction regarding investments in high performance buildings.  These executives, developers, owners and managers support, authorize and generally enable high performance buildings to be built and operated.
• Architecture/Engineering
  Those who design buildings and lead the design team on projects that consistently achieve high levels of energy efficiency in both new construction and major renovations.  Those who have contributed significant solutions to the buildings and major renovations.

For this award, high performance buildings are commercial structures, both existing and newly constructed, that have achieved a substantial level of energy savings and offer other high performance features such as a more productive work environment, occupant comfort, water savings and an abundance of natural light, to name a few. To achieve a high performance building many of the following strategies are used (and there are others):

• New buildings: For new projects an integrated design strategy is used. This process brings the team together early and takes advantage of climate resources, looks at a building's pattern of use, minimizes loads and then integrates efficient systems. The design incorporates daylighting and minimizes the need for electric lighting. It utilizes passive systems such as natural ventilation and may incorporate other advanced strategies such as radiant cooling and under floor air systems. Energy goals are set early. During the design phase energy modeling is typically used. During construction, a commissioning process is in place.
• Existing buildings: For existing buildings better building performance strategies are used to achieve significant savings. Buildings are benchmarked, systems are tuned-up and enhanced building operations procedures are put into place. Building operations staff are trained and rewarded. The building managers work closely with local utility programs to incorporate high efficiency equipment.

Guidelines and Tips:

• Click here to review an example of a winning nomination.
• Please save your work as you fill out the electronic form.
• Incomplete nomination forms (or those providing insufficient information) will be returned for resubmission if time permits, or excluded from consideration entirely.
• A judging committee of regional experts on energy efficient, green, high performance buildings will review the nominations. The committee may move entrants to a different category if appropriate. The committee may award no awards in a category. The committee's decisions are final.
• It is helpful to judges to have as much detail as possible to understand the depth of a nominee's work. For example, one winner last year stated his work "resulted in energy savings that saved the school district the equivalent of 12 teaching positions."
• All nominators and nominees will be notified of the results in advance of the event.
• Winners agree to have their work profiled on the BetterBricks web site.
• Contact Kyle Stuart at Kyle@CoatesKokes.com or 503.241.1124 if you have questions.