Washington, D.C. - The Forest Stewardship Council-US (FSC-US) has announced a call for submissions for the third annual Designing & Building with FSC Award. This annual award recognizes building projects that have furthered responsible forest management through their purchase of FSC-certified wood products. The winning project will be announced at the Greenbuild '07 Conference and Expo in Chicago, November 7-9, 2007. Greenbuild is the annual conference of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Ned Daly, chief operating officer of FSC-US, notes, "the Designing &Building with FSC Award is a positive signal to the marketplace that creating buildings with the use of FSC-certified wood products from well-managed forests has its rewards. In addition to having the peace of mind that the wood products they used did not derive from an area of social conflict or where high conservation values are threatened, previous award winners have enjoyed great media attention in the green building sector for their efforts."
This award is open to owners, architects, interior designers, general contractors, builders, consultants or other professionals. Projects can be any building type, including commercial, institutional, mixed-use, or residential. To submit a project, it must have used a significant amount (at least 50 percent of the new wood by cost) of FSC-certified wood and been completed during or since 2004.
Projects will be judged on the use of wood, inclusion of FSC-certified wood, efforts to progress certified forest products market transformation, overall wood design and appropriate wood use. To learn more about the award and download an application form, go to the Green Building section of the FSC-US Web site, http://www.fscus.org/. All applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. (PST), Friday, September 14, 2007.
The selection committee that will ultimately choose the winner consists of architects from around the country; representatives from the non-profit organizations Ecotrust, Dovetail Partners, and Rocky Mountain Institute; representatives from Tembec Forest Products and Royal Plywood (both are suppliers of FSC-certified products); and a representative from Environmental Design & Construction magazine.
The award winner will be featured in a profile on the ‘Green Building' page of the FSC-US Web site and featured in green building related print media.
Last year's award was presented to HKP Architects, based in Mount Vernon, WA, for their work on the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center in Diablo Lake, WA. The 2005 award was presented to Goldman Sachs & Co. for their new building at 30 Hudson St. in Jersey City, NJ. Profiles on these previous winners can be found at http://www.fscus.org/.
About FSC
Forest certification enables consumers to make informed choices when selecting wood and other forest products. The Forest Stewardship Council, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is a global and national leader in the independent certification of forests managed to exemplary standards covering environmental, social and economic issues. FSC promotes responsible forest management by evaluating and accrediting certifiers, by encouraging the development of national and regional forest management standards, and by providing public education and information about independent, third-party certification as a tool for ensuring that the world's forests are protected for future generations. There are currently more than 23 million acres of FSC-certified forestland in the Unites States and more than 225 million acres globally. Further information about FSC-US can be found at www.fscus.org.
