Louisville Builder Wins International Recognition for Groundbreaking My Green Kentucky Home Project
GCCM Construction Services’ project selected to represent the United States in Saint-Gobain Gypsum international competition this June in Berlin
(Valley Forge, Pa.) – GCCM Construction Services, LLC’s, project is the United States winner in Saint-Gobain Gypsum International Trophy Competition for its creative use of CertainTeed Gypsum products in “My Green Kentucky Home”— Kentucky’s first LEED® Platinum, Net Zero Energy and Water home. The Louisville, Ky., green designer and builder is one of only two building professionals selected to represent North America at the Ninth Saint-Gobain Gypsum International Trophy Awards ceremony this June in Berlin.
“The Saint-Gobain Gypsum International Trophy is a great way to show our appreciation and respect for talented building professional partners who have demonstrated creative and exceptional uses of our products in recent projects,” says Dave Engelhardt, president of CertainTeed Gypsum. “GCCM Construction Services has demonstrated green homebuilding innovation with My Green Kentucky Home, which provided a functional showcase of the ways our products can help builders and homeowners meet their sustainability goals. We applaud their efforts and commend them for a job well done.”
As part of its sustainable design strategy, the My Green Kentucky Home project utilized a variety of high-performance CertainTeed products, including: AirRenew® Indoor Air Quality Gypsum Board, GlasRoc® Diamondback® Tilebacker, M2Tech® Moisture & Mold Resistant Gypsum Board, SilentFX® Noise Reducing Gypsum Board and Easi-Lite® Lightweight Gypsum Board. The home also incorporated CertainTeed insulation and decking, as well as Form-A-Drain foundation materials. Other sustainable features in the home include: insulated concrete-form walls, spray foam insulation, cellulose insulation, geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels with battery backup storage, 3,300-gallon rainwater collection tank, low-flow water fixtures, ENERGY STAR® appliances, zero-VOC paints and finishes, LED lighting and repurposed Kentucky horse farm fencing into hardwood floors. Architect Clive Pohl of Pohl Rosa Pohl and sustainability consultant Sanyog Rathod of Sol design + consulting were integral to the success of the project.
“I'm always looking for ways to improve with building science and our industry's best practices for people's health and the environment so I try to stay on top of what's out there. I found out about AirRenew in one of our green publications. When I further explored AirRenew I realized CertainTeed has a strong commitment to sustainability and that our goals are in line with each other. I was using CertainTeed for commercial drywall projects and it didn't dawn on me that their residential line was so diverse, so I tried to use everything I could from CertainTeed. It was also like the cherry on top when I found out they manufacture many of our materials locally in our great state of Kentucky, reducing our carbon footprint while supporting local jobs and families,” said Sy Safi, owner of GCCM Construction Services.
Awarded every two years, the Saint-Gobain Gypsum International Trophy recognizes excellence in design, drywall installation and finishing. The competition judges building professionals for their gypsum-related skills in the following categories: Gypsum Board Craftsmanship and Design; Finishing Application; Innovation; Residential; Mixed Use – Commercial (including Hospitality and Retail); and Sector Specific – Hospitals, Hotels and Educational Institutions. This years’ winning projects and a brief video showcasing the event can be viewed at www.saint-gobain-gypsum-international-trophy.com.
Offering a broad range of gypsum and finishing products for interior and exterior needs, CertainTeed Gypsum has served the North American building industry for more than 80 years and is a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, the world’s leading producer of gypsum products. This, in combination with the full range of affiliated CertainTeed Corporation building products, provides architects, contractors, builders and dealers one partner to provide service and support for commercial and residential building projects. For more information, go to certainteed.com.
About CertainTeed
Through the responsible development of innovative and sustainable building products, CertainTeed, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pa., has helped shape the building products industry for more than 100 years. Founded in 1904 as General Roofing Manufacturing Company, the firm's slogan "Quality Made Certain, Satisfaction Guaranteed," quickly inspired the name CertainTeed. Today, CertainTeed® is North America’s leading brand of exterior and interior building products, including roofing, siding, fence, decking, railing, trim, insulation, gypsum and ceilings.
A subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, the world’s largest building products company, CertainTeed and its affiliates have more than 5,700 employees and more than 60 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States and Canada. For five consecutive years, the company has received top honors from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its contributions in protecting the environment and was most recently the recipient of the 2013 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award. The group had total sales of approximately $3.3 billion in 2013. www.certainteed.com
###