Monday, November 9, 2009

Environmental Works Named SCA's Project of the Year

Published in Springfield Business Journal
Article by Jeremy Elwood





SCA's Project of the Year Award - recognizing the project with the best cooperation between the owner, designer and contractors - went to Environmental Works Inc.'s headquarters.

The design-build project, employed only local workers and renovated a vacant building, saving time, money and materials, according to SCA officials.

"We used a local builder and all local subcontractors," said Environmental Works Owner Robin Melton. "It was a real investment in the community and ... gave a nice face lift to a (center city) building."

The project, 1455 E. Chestnut Expressway, also was chosen for its environmentally sustainable features, not the least of which was reuse of the building on one of the city's busiest corridors, said Chris Ball of project designer Jack Ball & Associates Architects PC.

"The most sustainable thing you can do is take an older, vacant, somewhat blighted facility like that and turn it into something new and impressive," Ball said. "Derelict buildings are very contagious. It's very dangerous. What we hope is that it's also contagious in the other direction, and that will be a motivator for continued development on corridors like that."


Link to full story here