The Wintergreen Awards for Excellence in Green Building is always a blast for the Lorax crew, but this year at the 10th Anniversary Awards Ceremony, Lorax Partnerships had a lot to celebrate! Some of our partners were honored, and two of our most sustainable projects, Horseshoe Casino Baltimore and Verde at Howard Square, were celebrated. For more information, see the USGBC Maryland Press Release here.
Leader Awards
We, at Lorax Partnerships, would like to congratulate our friends and partners, Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) and Floura Teeter Landscape Architects, for their receipt of the Wintergreen Leader Awards. COPT received the Leader in Green Building Award for support of USGBC Maryland’s mission; volunteering time to the chapter; and exemplifying leadership in the field of green building, advocacy, community outreach, and environmental stewardship. Floura Teeter Landscape Architects, Inc. was the winner of the Leadership Project Award for the demonstration of leadership in sustainable design, environmental impact, social benefit, community involvement, and achievement within green building rating systems. Both companies have shown their commitment to the green building industry, and continuously set an example in high performance, healthy building design, environmental stewardship, and community impact.
President’s Choice Award
Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, a Lorax Partnerships project, was the recipient of the President’s Choice Award, selected by Karen Evans, USGBC Maryland’s Board Chair and Vice President for The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company.
Horseshoe Baltimore is one of the only LEED Gold casinos in the country. The building stores storm water in a collection cistern for use in all lavatories and for landscaping irrigation. A combined heat and power system is helping the casino to achieve significant savings in its operational expenses. The casino is able to reduce interior potable water use by 50 percent and energy usage by 27 percent compared to other similar buildings. During the construction process, Horseshoe Baltimore diverted 97 percent of its waste from entering a landfill by recycling concrete, wood, metals, plastic, as well as demolition materials. Horseshoe’s management team was able to ensure that more than 49 percent of construction materials were extracted and manufactured locally and that roughly a quarter of construction materials contained recycled content.
Using high-efficiency lighting fixtures throughout the facility, incorporating green cleaning and low-environmental impact hardscape management plans and utilizing reflective materials atop the casino roof and top level of the adjacent parking garage are among the many ways that Horseshoe Baltimore minimizes its impact on the environment.
Brittany Eldredge, LEED AP BD+C managed the LEED certification of Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, and Katie Fink, LEED AP O+M served as the LEED Project Manager for the construction administration portion of the project.
People’s Choice Award
Verde at Howard Square was the winner of the People’s Choice Award, selected through a voting process amongst the Wintergreen Awards attendees. Lorax’s presence at the Wintergreen Awards may have contributed to this People’s Choice Award winner. Every vote counts!
Verde at Howard Square Apartments is the first LEED Platinum apartment building in the State of Maryland. Howard Square is a 47 acre mixed-use development located in Howard County. The 299 unit Apartment complex is the first component designed and built for the community with others to come. The development team has carefully designed the site to improve storm water management; StormTech technology captures, stores, and treats 100% of the water on the site.
By utilizing the underground rainwater capturing technology it allows the site to have a significant amount of open space for all of the residents to enjoy. The building also generates over 15% of the total power consumed through solar panels located on the building’s garage.
Andrea Shoaf, LEED AP BD+C and NGBS Verifier served as the LEED Project Manager for Howard Square, and Kristy Fiorelli, LEED AP O+M worked to assist Andrea through the certification process.
Project Awards
A hearty congratulation is in order for all of the other Project Award winners as well! Winners include The Porter Neuroscience Research Center Phase II (Large Commercial Project), Henderson-Hopkins School (Non-Profit/ Publicly Funded Project), Dunbar Senior High School (Educational/ School Facility), Baltimore Design School (Historic Major Renovation Project), Interstate 95 Maryland House and Chesapeake House Travel Plazas (Small Commercial Project), and Old Hopkins Road Gaddy House (Residential Project).
We are so proud of our partners, friends, clients, and especially of our project managers who worked so diligently to make these awards a possibility.