It’s 2014, can you believe it? We haven’t quite grasped it either, but we’re excited to be in a new year with a lot of opportunities ahead of us. 2013 was particularly great for Bandon Blue Designs, as one of our projects became LEED Certified Gold at the end of December.
It's quite an accomplishment, because there are only two LEED Homes in the Town of Jupiter.
We told you about LEED certifications in an earlier blog post, but why would the client want their home to take part in this? They understood that the benefits of LEED included everything from lowering their carbon footprint, in terms of electricity and water usage as well as waste creation, to knowing what they are and are not breathing in through their indoor air quality. For the couple we worked with, the best part was knowing that when it was finished, the home would be free of toxins and other potentially harmful materials and that they have reduced their carbon footprint.
There’s quite a bit of criteria that had to be fulfilled for the home to be LEED gold certified.
Location was of particular value. The project site was carefully selected by the homeowners because it was built above the 100-year floodplain, with close proximity to the beach and has outstanding community resources. It is also a sustainable site with a fairly dense 7 units per acre so it was chosen in an effort to conserve land and promote community livability.
When building and designing this LEED project, we had to take into account the materials and resources selected and manage the proper waste diversion.
Overall, the project was a major collaborative effort from the homeowners, the builder, the LEED green rater and ourselves, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re proud to be a part of such an important cause and this is just the first of many future LEED projects. You can check out some pics in this blog posts and a few more on our LEED for Homes page!
