DVGBC Celebrates the Momentum of Green Design

The Delaware Valley Green Building Council's 6th Annual Celebration attracted approximately 600 guests from the design and development arena and others from the local community. This event raised 62% more revenue for DVGBC in 2007 than in 2006, making it the most successful DVGBC event to date!

One of the event's shining stars was, of course, the tallest, greenest skyscraper in Philadelphia, the Comcast Center. The night's festivities began with a networking reception followed by building tours, highlighting the Comcast Center's Green Design features.

Principal of Meyer Architects and DVGBC Board Member, George Wilson AIA LEED AP, presented this year's DVGBC awards. Every year, since 2004, DVGBC has recognized a company or organization that has been instrumental in leading the implementation of sustainable design in the Delaware Valley. This year, 3 award recipients were honored at the annual DVGBC event for their visionary sustainable leadership:

DVGBC Business Leadership Award: Mr. Peter Kjellerup, Vice-president COEE (Chief of Everything Else) of Dansko

Dansko is best known for its stylish comfort footwear certified by the American Podiatry Medical Association for men and women. For Dansko's new headquarters building in West Grove, PA, Peter Kjellerup persuaded the company to create a sustainable building featuring a vegetated roof, energy-efficient lighting and a "living wall," which is constructed of pre-vegetated panels. The building is registered as LEED NC 2.2 and its energy performance is rated as 28% more efficient than the ASHRAE 90.1-2004 standard, which is a construction guidebook containing the principles and industry standards for HVAC design.

Non-profit Leadership Award: Mary Seton Corboy, Greensgrow Farm

Ten years ago Mary Seton Corboy, co-founder of Greensgrow Farm, started urban farming on a North Philadelphia brownfields development site and eventually converted it into a community-supported 1 acre farm with a range of hydroponically-grown vegetables, herbs and produce. Greensgrow Farm now provides fresh food for local restaurants and the community. In 2007 Greensgrow Farm began making biodiesel from waste oil from local restaurants to help reduce its carbon footprint.

Green Collar Jobs Leadership Award: The Challenge Program

For more than a decade, The Challenge Program has been a leader in green building practices and involving at-risk youth in construction apprenticeships. The organization has utilized its position as a nonprofit organization to promote innovative sustainable building, create recycling and deconstruction programs and is currently in the process of establishing a new Construction Training and Education Center. This building is aiming for a LEED Gold certification and will likely be the city of Wilmington's first LEED certified building.

Above: The Comcast Center is 975 feet tall with 57 floors and approximately 1,248,000 square feet of office space, and about 23,000 square feet of retail space. It is the tallest LEED registered building in the country.

Above: Tours were provided to DVGBC event attendees to view the inner workings of the Comcast Center. These pictures show the building's massive mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

Above: Approximately 600 attendees came out to the networking reception, building tours and the main DVGBC celebratory event.

Above: Principal of Meyer Architects, George Wilson AIA LEED AP, sports a green Phillies cap while getting ready to present this year's DVGBC awards. Pictured right is Mark Purcell, President of DVGBC; Jill Kowalski, DVGBC Executive Director; Mary Seton Corboy, Award Recipient from Greensgrow Farm; George Wilson, Meyer Architects; and (back row) Linda Knapp, DVGBC Board Member and Dan Garofalo, DVGBC Chair.

Meyer Design, Inc.
227 East Lancaster Ave. Ardmore, PA 19003
Tel: 610.649.8500 Fax: 610.649.8509 E-mail: jgould@meyerdesigninc.com