September 10, 2013
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.C.W. Driver Breaks Ground on Manhattan Beach Library
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — The new 22,000-square-foot Manhattan Beach Public Library is currently under construction after C.W. Driver, with offices in Irvine, Calif., broke ground on the facility in August. The $19 million project includes demolishing the existing 43-year-old facility (about half the size of the new structure) and replacing it with the new, two-story facility. Los Angeles-based Harley Ellis Devereaux Architects designed the facility, and the master plan was created by Johnson Favaro, based in Culver City, Calif. It is designed to meet LEED Gold standards.
Goats Hired to Clean Up O’Hare
CHICAGO — As part of a Sustainable Vegetation Management initiative, officials at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in August launched an environmental pilot program that uses goats, sheep, llamas and wild burros to eat the overgrown grass and cattails at the far northeastern corner of the 8,000-acre airport.
Mike Thomas
Mike Thomas has been named vice president and business development director at Environmental Systems Design Inc. (ESD), an international leader in the consulting-engineering design of high-performance building systems. Thomas will be responsible for sales, business development, thought leadership and client relation strategies for the firm, in particular in ESD’s commercial, institutional, health care and science practices.
Eco-friendly Ceiling Panels
CertainTeed Ceilings is boosting the sustainability of its Ecophon acoustical fiberglass ceiling panels with the addition of 3RD Technology, a fiberglass manufacturing method that combines a high-recycled content with a renewable plant-based binding agent. The new binder significantly reduces the environmental impact of the Ecophon product line, having the equivalent effect of removing more than 800 vehicles from roads, according to the company.