The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance’s BetterBricks initiative announced winners of the annual BetterBricks awards recognizing leading green building professionals from Portland, Oregon and the Puget Sound in Washington who own, design, build and operate commercial buildings. The BetterBricks Awards celebrate the champions of energy efficiency whose forward-thinking business practices set the industry standard for sustainability in commercial real estate. The Awards recognize architects, engineers, developers, building owners, property managers, building operators, facility managers and other building professionals for their leadership in reducing the use of energy and other resources in our commercial.

“Northwest green building professionals lead the country in their commitment to energy efficiency,” said Claire Fulenwider, Executive Director of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA). “Our high caliber winners this year are making impressive strides in both the private and the public sector. They demonstrate that through innovation and collaboration, significant energy savings can be accomplished.”

Puget Sound, Washington winners and finalists were selected in the following categories:

· Owner/Decision Maker: Winner — Daniel Coxall, Senior Project Executive, Hammes Company Winner — Brian Fritz, Vice President of Development, AvalonBay Communities, Inc.

· Architecture: Winner — Ron van der Veen, Principal, DLR Group

· Design Engineer: Winner — Dick Moeller, President; Norm Brown, Principal; and Finn Jakobsen, Associate, CDi Engineers, Lynnwood; Finalist — Scott Rushing, Principal, Rushing Company

· Facility Manager / Building Operations: Winner — Stephen J. Grose, Administrative Director, Virginia Mason Medical Center; Winner — Edward Krause, Chief Operating Engineer, Providence St. Peter Hospital

· Property Manager: Winner — Unico Properties Puget Sound Property Management Team; Finalist — Jeff Myrter, General Manager and Jeff Kasowski, Director of Engineering, Wright Runstad & Company

· Service Contractor: Winner — David Nieman, Senior Building Performance Engineer, & MacDonald-Miller Building Performance Group, MacDonald-Miller

· Emerging Leader: Winner — Chris Flint Chatto, Associate Partner, Sustainable Designer, ZGF Architects LLP; Winner — Jason Twill, Senior Project Manager, Sustainability, Vulcan, Inc.

· Advocate: Winner — Peter Dobrovolny, Green Building Specialist, City of Seattle; Winner — Kathleen O’Brien, President, O’Brien & Company

Portland, Oregon winners and finalists were selected in the following categories:

· Owner/Decision Maker: Winner — Bill Wyatt, Executive Director, Port of Portland; Winner — Greg Herrenbruck, Director of Design and Construction, New Seasons

· Architecture: Winner — Lisa Petterson, Manager of Sustainability Group, SERA Architects; Finalist — Phil Beyl, Managing Principal, GBD Architects; Finalist — James Meyer, Principal, Opsis Architecture

· Design Engineer: Winner — Omid Nabipoor, President, Interface Engineering; Winner — Steven Straus, President, Glumac

· Facility Manager / Building Operations: Winner — Lewis & Clark Facilities Services Team; Finalist — Rose Quarter Operations Team

· Property Manager: Winner — Unico Portland Property Management Team · Outstanding Industry Contribution: Winner — Mark Frankel, Technical Director, New Buildings Institute

· Emerging Leader: Winner — Kipp Baratoff, Partner/President, Equilibrium Capital Group, Gerding Edlen Sustainable Solutions

· Advocate: Winner — Elaine Aye, Principal, Green Building Services; Winner — Clark Brockman, Director of Sustainability Resources/Associate Principal, SERA Architects

To achieve high performance buildings, award winners used and promoted a variety of best practices such as maximizing local climate in the design, employing early design decision-making and energy modeling, supporting building commissioning, educating tenants and brokers about sustainability and implementing better building operations. Their projects have achieved substantial energy savings, reduced building operation and maintenance costs and enhanced productivity of building occupants among other benefits.

Winners were selected by a panel of judges comprised of industry professionals, utility representatives and green building experts. For more information, visit www.BetterBricks.com.