TORONTO – The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) announced today at Greenbuild the best commercial and residential buildings of 2011, based on innovative uses of FSC-certified wood products. At a time when the US Green Building Council is considering dramatically lower standards for wood in their flagship LEED program, the award-winning projects show that use of FSC-certified wood delivers benefits to the forest and the marketplace.

"These projects clearly show wood from responsibly managed forests can meet all your design and construction needs," said Corey Brinkema, president of FSC US. "At a time when the old guards of industry are trying to make us believe that all wood is 'green,' these projects demonstrate we can and must do better. So we applaud the award winners for pushing the envelope to incorporate as much FSC-certified wood as possible," he added.

The award for the best commercial project of the year went to the Hawaii Preparatory Academy (HPA) Energy Research Lab in Kamuela, Hawaii. The best residential project of the year was awarded to zHome in Issaquah, Washington.

While the HPA project achieved LEED Platinum, it was also certified as "Living" by the Living Building Challenge, the most ambitious measure of sustainability in the built environment. And the zHome project, which has received national acclaim for advancing deep-green thinking into suburban, multi-family residential development, received the highest-ever certification score by Built Green, a program of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.

"It's clear that high standards work," said Richard Thorne, Vice President, Kimberly-Clark Professional, the platinum sponsor of Design & Build with FSC at Greenbuild 2011. "Setting the bar high by using FSC-certified products has a very real effect on improving forest management and the market will respond," Thorne added.

The winning projects were selected based on the total amount of FSC-certified products used, the level of market transformation the projects achieved, as well as the creativity with which they used the products.

To maintain high standards in LEED and to continue to promote the highest standard of responsible forest management, FSC is currently hiring an advocacy director. To see the job description and learn more about the Forest Stewardship Council, visit: www.fscus.org/about_us/jobs.php.

Hawaii Preparatory Academy Energy Research Lab
100% of this 6,112 sq. ft. wood-intensive laboratory was FSC certified or salvaged, including FSC-certified glu-laminated roof beams, framing, roof decking, siding, millwork, and workbenches. In reverence to Native Hawaiian culture, the team installed a symbolic "Ohia" column sourced from local dead wood. For more: www.faiarchitects.com/projects/hawaii-preparatory-academy-p2/.

zHome
zHome is a 10-unit, 14,000 sq. ft. townhome development in the Seattle suburb of Issaquah. zHome is a remarkable example of the application of FSC-certified wood in speculative multi-family construction. Nearly all of the project's framing lumber was FSC certified from Oregon. Millwork was custom built in Washington with FSC-certified maple from Michigan. The project team also selected FSC-certified bamboo for flooring and FSC-certified Tigerwood for stair stringers. 78% of wood used was FSC certified and 9% was salvaged. For more: www.z-home.org.