The Christopher Companies Recognized as Home Innovation NGBS Green Partner of Excellence
Local Builder Applauded for Excellence in Advancing High-Performance Mainstream Home Building
The Christopher Companies has been named a Home Innovation NGBS Green Partner of Excellence for 2017. NGBS Green, which is based on the National Green Building Standard™ (NGBS), has certified more homes than any other national green home certification program. Being one of an elite group of Home Innovation’s green certification participants to be recognized validates the commitment the Christopher Companies has made to providing its homebuyers with increased value, comfort, durability, and efficiency through its NGBS Green Certified homes.
“What a year!” said Home Innovation Vice President Innovation Services Michelle Foster. “NGBS Green celebrated its 100,000th NGBS Green Certified home in March 2017, and less than a year later we have certified an additional 28,000+ homes. In 2017 we also marked the first 2015 NGBS Green Certified home; started development of the 2018 NGBS, which will now cover mixed-use multifamily buildings; and Home Innovation was selected as ENERGY STAR MRO for high-rise multifamily buildings. We could not have attained all these milestones – while at the same time continuing to provide an affordable, rigorous certification program that provides value to the entire residential construction industry – without dedicated partners like Christopher Companies.”
Christopher Companies has more NGBS certified projects in Delaware than any other builder and are among the top two builders in Virginia. To date, Christopher Companies has constructed 286 homes across Northern Virginia and in Sussex county in Delaware that were NGBS Green Certified by Home Innovation Research Labs. These certified homes include energy and resource-conserving features such as:
- Installing energy-efficient and water conservancy appliances
- Advanced framing techniques
- Low VOC-materials
- Quality insulation
- High performance filtration
“We are thrilled as an entire company to be honored for our commitment to sustainable building throughout the course of 2017,” says Digital Marketing Manager for Christopher Companies, Allison Landry, “We are committed to continuously build high-efficiency homes that are both energy-efficient and provide energy savings for today’s modern homebuyer.”
To earn certification to the National Green Building Standard, a home must meet rigorous criteria in six categories – Lot & Site Development; Resource Efficiency; Energy Efficiency; Water Efficiency; Indoor Environmental Quality; and Homeowner Education. There are mandatory practices in each category that every NGBS Green Certified home must meet, and there are a wide range of additional optional practices in each category that a builder can select based on the applicability to buyers or renters in their market. There are also mandatory point minimums in every category in order for a home to attain the next level of certification, which is a more stringent requirement than in any other national certification program.
Since January 2009, when the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) became the first residential green building rating system to be approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Home Innovation Research Labs has certified nearly 130,000 green single-family and apartment homes, and more than 1,650 lots within green residential land developments. (For more details on current certification numbers, visit www.homeinnovation.com/ngbsgreenstats.) For more information on NGBS Green Certified homes and Home Innovation’s NGBS Green Partner home builders and remodelers, visit www.NGBS.com.
ABOUT HOME INNOVATION RESEARCH LABS: Home Innovation Research Labs, located in Upper Marlboro, Md., is a full-service research, testing, and consulting firm determined to improve the quality, durability, affordability, and environmental performance of single- and multifamily homes and home building products – in short, we aim to perfect the home. Founded in 1964 as a subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), our team has been integral in solving many of our client’s most difficult product and technology issues, and helping to introduce some of the most groundbreaking innovations in residential construction. Through an interdisciplinary research approach – including market research, building science analysis, laboratory testing, and standards development – we help to find a home for innovation in the residential construction industry.