2011 Media Releases & Alerts
(Green) Love is in the Air This Valentine's Day!
Maryland Development Becomes 2,000th Green Certified Project
February 14, 2011, Upper Marlboro, Md. - Murphy's Run, a 42-site
residential development in Cecil County, Md., is the 2,000th project nationwide
to be certified by the NAHB Research Center to the exacting resource
conservation requirements of the
National Green Building Standard. It is the 12th green development
certified by the Research Center in its
National Green Building Certification Program. In total, this milestone
certification now represents more than 3,200 individual residential units and
developments for the national program.
Barry Andrews Homes,
LLC, based in Port Deposit, Md., developed Murphy’s Run and the company
is not satisfied with having only the land Green Certified. Andrews plans to
take advantage of the flexibility of the National Green Building Standard to
have every home in the community certified to the Silver level of the Standard
as well.
"What's particularly exciting about this community," according to Michael
Luzier, president of the NAHB Research Center, "is that by having both the land
and the homes on it Green Certified, the builder is not just positively
affecting the quality of life for his future homeowners, but he's also directly
helping to protect the national treasure of Maryland's Chesapeake Bay with his
holistic consideration of environmental impacts – literally from the ground
up."
The Murphy's Run project includes more than 60 acres of open space as well as a
nature path for leisure walks and bird watching. The community is adjacent an
organic farm and is just down the road from a working dairy farm.
According to
accredited green verifier Tim Ellis of T.W. Ellis, LLC, who verified
the development and has completed rough verifications on three homes in the
community, the developer went well beyond the reforestation required for
certification, and the result is a community that is surrounded by trees.
"Families that purchase homes on these lots will be giving their children the
ultimate playground – the woods," said Ellis, whose firm is based in Bel Air,
Md.
The NAHB Research Center's National Green Building Certification program is
based on the ICC 700-2008 National Green Building Standard™. The Standard
establishes design and construction practices
for nearly every type of residential construction project, including:
-
New single-family homes – Includes detached single-family homes, townhomes,
duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes
-
New multi-unit residential buildings
-
The residential portion of mixed-use buildings
-
Additions to single-family homes that equal less than 75% of existing square
footage
-
Renovations of single-family or multi-unit buildings
-
Renovations plus additions to single-family homes
-
Renovations of pre-1980 residential buildings
-
Renovations that change the use of non-residential buildings into residential
uses
-
Individual sections or phases of residential or mixed-use developments
Green certified homes incorporate green practices in six categories: Lot and
site development; resource efficiency; energy efficiency; water efficiency;
indoor environmental quality; and home owner education. The focus for green
certified development projects is on preservation of topography and natural
resources, storm water management, greater density, and proximity to mass
transit.
More information about the National Green Building Standard and the Research
Center's national certification program can be found at
www.NAHBgreen.org. Builders, remodelers, or developers who want to see
how a project might fare when scored to the National Green Building Standard,
can use the online green scoring tool available at
www.NAHBGreen.org/ScoringTool.
02/11
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