Dec 24 2007
Davis Frame Company Inc., an established New England manufacturer of timber frame homes, has revealed plans to build an environmentally-friendly timber frame manufacturing facility in Claremont, New Hampshire. The Davis Frame Company is designing their newest building to meet the high energy conservation and environmental standards required to be Silver-Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.
"The Davis Frame Company is committed to environmental conservation and stewardship. By designing and building the most energy-efficient and environmentally responsible shop that we can, we are trying to set a new standard for manufacturing," says Jeff Davis, cofounder of Davis Frame. "Aside from generating excitement and pride within our organization, we'll be preserving natural resources, reducing energy costs, improving workplace comfort and well-being, and limiting the impact of construction in our local environment." "We also hope to demonstrate to others how far environmental design has come," adds Rick Bascom, co-owner of the company. "All of the methods we are incorporating in the construction of our new facility can be applied, in part or in whole, to the construction of beautiful, traditionally constructed timber frame homes. What many people don't realize is that environmental designs typically return enormous cost-savings in the long run because they use so much less energy."
The new shop space will provide approximately 13,000 square feet that will be used to house specialized machinery and to manufacture a wide range of timber frame products. There are significant benefits to manufacturing the component parts of timber frame buildings at an off-site facility such as this one. Because it offers a controlled environment, the advantages include improved overall construction quality, reduced site construction costs, and the ability to more easily control and reduce waste.
Environmentally-friendly aspects of the new Davis Frame Company shop's design include: a high percentage of recycled material, primarily in the steel and concrete of the structure; wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council; building materials with high insulation values to reduce heating and cooling costs and energy requirements; lighting engineered for efficiency and low energy use; low and no-VOC paints and adhesives; recycled and recyclable carpet tiles; low-flow bathroom fixtures; and on-site collection, storage and use of rainwater thanks to a rain capture system and rain gardens (beds planted with special vegetation that naturally filters and treats the water).
The LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. The rating system was designed to promote buildings that are economically profitable, environmentally friendly and healthy for humans. For more information about the USGBC and the USGBC's LEED rating system, please visit www.usgbc.org.