Oct 28 2015
This November, twelve Santa Barbara families will celebrate Thanksgiving along with a very special one year anniversary – the day they received their keys to the first homes they have ever owned.
And, thanks to a unique partnership between Allen Construction and Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County, these 44 people—including 22 children—have the opportunity to live at Canon Perdido Affordable Homes, one of the healthiest and most energy efficient affordable housing projects in Southern California. Due to its unique design and cutting edge green features, the project received the rigorous Passive House US certification last April, making it the first multi-family development in Southern California to be certified to this prestigious energy efficiency and green building standard.
"Allen Construction's role was a unique one on this project," says Bryan Henson, President, Allen Construction. "In addition to managing traditional trades like electrical, plumbing, and carpentry, every new owner and their families were required to provide 250 hours of 'sweat equity' towards the construction of their home. We also managed over 700 community volunteers who donated thousands of hours of labor. Coordinating with volunteer assistance required much patience and working numerous weekends. Thanks to these volunteers, who spent hundreds of hours taping, sealing, and caulking gaps around drywall, windows, doors, wall penetrations, and siding to ensure air leakage was kept to a minimum, the project achieved Passive House."
The twelve California Craftsman-style townhomes are a model for other affordable housing projects. Unique features include passive solar design, a photovoltaic and solar thermal hybrid system, advanced framing, Energy Star appliances, heat recovery ventilators, energy-efficient lighting and heating fixtures, tankless water heaters, and Icynene spray foam insulation.
Source: http://www.buildallen.com/