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CPM Projects in the Spotlight at USGBC’s Greenbuild 2011 Affordable Housing Summit
 
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CPM Projects in the Spotlight at USGBC’s Greenbuild 2011 Affordable Housing Summit
Tuesday, November 01, 2011

CPM has requested tax-exempt volume cap bond financing
for the Montgomery Hill Apartments project, which will
repurpose the closing Montgomery Hospital into a mixed-
use development that combines senior housing with senior
services and child care to create an innovative blend of inter-
generational programming. We expect a decision on the
funding allocation in April 2012.
What do computers and M&M® candies have in common? What about Burka and bikinis? Hydrogen and housing? Thanks to the critical thinking of the late Steve Jobs, ideas from other fields and cultures have collided to create extraordinary new innovations like the color computer case. This phenomenon boosted Apple Computer® sales by simply adding color to the same old black case. In the same way, fashion designers have taken respect for the Burka and combined it with sensitivity and respect to create swimwear that meets religious and customs requirements while allowing Islamic women to swim. And what does all this have to do with affordable housing? Last month at the Greenbuild 2011 Conference in Toronto, the message was clear: Green building is here to stay, and those with the ability to navigate the intersection between disciplines will be the future leaders in sustainability.


Greenbuild is the annual international conference held by the U.S. Green Building Council.  This year, our Temple I North 16th Street project was highlighted, due to its prominence as the largest substantial rehabilitation project to be certified under LEED for Homes® at the Gold level. But most exciting for me was the selection of our Montgomery Hill Apartments project as a case study for a Charrette in the Affordable Housing Summit. Although the project is still awaiting funding, it is never too early to start planning.

By definition, a Charrette is “a fast-paced  intensive  workshop  with  key  client,  design,  engineering,  and  building  participants.... Charrettes  provide  a  framework  for  achieving  significant  production  and  meaningful  agreement  among  participants  in  relatively  brief  amounts  of  time.” With eight attendees in various roles as part of the case study team, and Walker Wells from Global Green USA facilitating, we discussed the project for four hours. Topics included: use of the commercial space; heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems; potential for solar or alternative power; interior finishes; and many other topics. We even discussed how to get the highest yields from a community garden, along with the possibility of an “edible campus” – using fruit and vegetable trees and bushes as the main landscape material so that residents can pick and consume the ripe produce.

Many of the outcomes of the Charrette were predictable and others were already being planned for, but one of the most technologically advanced ideas was the proposal to set a hydrogen fuel cell on the site. This cell could generate electricity and provide thermal energy in the form of hot water to heat the building, domestic hot water, and air conditioning. This sustainable technology has the potential to completely remove the project from the electrical grid and reduce carbon emissions by over 400 metric tons per year! While this technology is fairly new, the project lends itself to the use due to size, nature of the project and the potential for being LEED® certified at the Platinum level. Over the next few months, I will be researching this possibility further as we fine-tune the plans for Montgomery Hill.
As you know, CPM Housing Group has committed to meeting Enterprise Green Communities criteria in all of our new construction and rehabilitation projects. With this in mind, we continue to explore cutting edge possibilities that will not only improve the energy efficiency and lessen the environmental impact of our portfolio, but even more importantly, increase the long-term health of our residents. I look forward to the day when green housing and affordable housing are one and the same.

- David Hahn, Director of Construction & Corporate Operations, CPM Housing Group

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