On December 11th at the 20th Annual Green Gala, the USGBC California (USGBC-CA) community - for the first time representing the entire state - will honor movers and shakers from across the state’s green building industry during the 14th Annual California Green Building Awards and Community Awards. The Orange County Sanitation District Headquarters, designed by HDR, has been selected as Project of the Year, with a deeply sustainable and cost-effective design that exceeds EPA standards, offers Fountain Valley's first pedestrian bridge transporting hot water, generating 60% of new Headquarters’ power, and provides a strong civic space.
 
 Twenty additional exceptional individual projects are being awarded, from entertainment, tech, cultural and educational institutions to hospitality, county buildings and parks. USGBC-CA is also proud to recognize Community Leaders, people or organizations that reflect the spirit of community, including Rising Sun, Bottom Line Utility Solutions, Green Sports Alliance and NBCUniversal (full list below).
 
“This has been a remarkable year where we brought together leaders of our industry, unifying green building communities across California to accelerate the scope and scale of our work in response to the climate crisis,” states USGBC-CA Executive Director Ben Stapleton. “Our California Green Building Awards now represent the leading buildings across this beautiful and diverse state, raising the bar for what is possible for our built environment to better support the communities they serve, not just here, but everywhere.”
 
 The California Green Building Awards (formerly known as the Sustainable Innovation Awards) affirm a project team’s commitment and leadership in creating a sustainable built environment for all. The awards are merit-based, for built and designed (unbuilt) projects, that go above and beyond in demonstrating innovation, sustainable strategies, and exemplary performance in the fields of sustainability, occupant health and community engagement. These awards are open to California projects, and while a certification (or pending) under any sustainability rating system is preferred, it is not required.
 
CA GREEN BUILDING AWARDS -- Project Teams at the end:
 
Project of the Year

• Orange County Sanitation District Headquarters (Fountain Valley) - complete information below  

Energy / Operational Carbon
Honor - Orange County Sanitation District Headquarters (Fountain Valley)
Merit - BUCK Los Angeles (Los Angeles)
Merit - Crafton Hills College Performing Arts (Crafton Hills)
Merit - Edwards Lifesciences Campus Expansion (Irvine)
Merit - Malibu High School (Malibu)
Merit - San Bernardino Valley College, Technical Education Project (San Bernardino)
Merit - NBCUniversal THE COMMONS
Merit - May Lee State Office Complex (Sacramento)
 
Environmental Justice 
Honor - The Environmental Justice Center at Puente Hills Landfill Park (Puente Hills)
Honor - Westlands Solar Park (San Joaquin Valley)
Merit - The Village SF Wellness Center (San Francisco)
 
Health + Well Being  
Honor - L’Oréal’s El Segundo Office (El Segundo)
Honor - Google - Gradient Canopy (Mountain View)
Merit - My Angel Apartments (North Hills, Los Angeles)
Merit - SFO Alaska Airlines T1 Lounge (San Francisco)
Merit - The Burbank Studios / Warner Bros. Discovery Second Century (Burbank)
 
Water  
Honor - San Bernardino Valley College Career Pathways 2 (San Bernardino)
Merit - Waldorf Astoria (Beverly Hills)
 
Zero Waste and Circular Solutions
Honor - Contra Costa County Administration Building B (Martinez)
Merit - Environmental Nature Center (Newport Beach)
Merit - Gateway to Chinatown (San Francisco)
 

The annual Project of the Year embodies not only premier green building practices but reflects the complete spirit of the CA Green Building Awards. The new Orange County Sanitation District Headquarters builds on the District’s long commitment to sustainable wastewater treatment that exceed EPA standards. For decades they have been collecting on-site biogas and running it through a central cogeneration plant to generate electricity, hot water, and steam, which reduced CO2 emissions by 95%. Their new Headquarters continues this commitment to high-performance, cost-effective design that achieves Net Zero Energy with an innovative strategy to capturing excess hot water from the plant and bringing it across Fountain Valley's first pedestrian bridge to provide 60% of new Headquarters’ power. Prior, they had over 3000 visitors per year, and with their new Headquarters and deep commitment to serving their community, they aim to attract even more visitors with a community board room and interactive exhibits to educate the community about wastewater treatment, public health, and sustainability.
 
 Additional highlights include:

• On target for Net Zero (NZ) ILFI Zero Energy Certification, using an innovative strategy to deliver 60% of the new HQ’s power with the excess hot water run from the Central Plant across the pedestrian bridge, and adding the remaining 45% with on-site photovoltaic arrays on the roof and shading the parking.
• On target to deliver >58% Reduction in embodied carbon compared to a typical steel building, demonstrating mass timber as a viable, cost effective and beautiful construction material in Southern California.
• On target to achieve LEED Gold with a pathway to Platinum.
• The team worked with and shifted the client’s perspective to embrace a sustainable approach, proving that the design would not cost more and would payback significant dividends over the life of the building. Key supporting strategies: 
  • Use of hybrid mass timber steel structure to reduce the weight of the building and thereby reduce the costly caisson footings for a net savings.
  • Use of mass timber as the biophilic finishes throughout the facility to make a memorable interior rather than the use of fancy finish materials. 
  • Careful selection of healthy, durable, red-list free materials.
• The team delivered a beautiful and welcoming civic building to serve the OC community as part of a new model walkable neighborhood plan.

“Projects like this start with building deep trust between the client and the designers that allows them to go on an aspirational journey together. We are so grateful to the team at Orange County Sanitation District for taking this journey towards regenerative design with HDR and our entire project team,” said Kate Diamond, FAIA, LEED AP, HDR Design Director. “We hope this project will serve them, their community, and their staff for many decades to come and will help demonstrate to the entire design, construction, and development community that we can and must achieve triple bottom line sustainability.”
   
Community Awards
 
 USGBC-CA also honors the ongoing importance of its community by recognizing that spirit in ten people or groups this year. These awards were selected by the USGBC-CA leadership:
 
Emerging Leader Award:  Surabhi Khanderia, Sustainability Design Manager, Leading Edge Consulting Services
 Recognizing an individual who is still early in their career, but is demonstrating industry leadership in pushing us all forward to a more sustainable built environment.
 
Kevin Devine Award:  Adwoa Dora, Chief Engineer, Metro Services Group, Shorenstein
 This award honors the life and work of Kevin Devine, commemorating a leading green building operations and maintenance, or facilities professional who demonstrates the highest values that Kevin represented: true leadership and setting an example for others.
 
Environmental Justice Award:  Rising Sun Center for Opportunity 
 Honors an organization or person who has led in putting equity and the environment at the center of focus for projects and buildings in our region.
 
Corporate Sustainability Award:  NBCUniversal
 Recognizes a company creating lasting change through ambitious goals, policy, and action towards a more sustainable future.
 
Sustainable Entertainment Award:  Green Sports Alliance
 Recognizes a company, organization, or person in the entertainment industry who is creating lasting change through ambitious goals, education, policy, and/or action toward a more sustainable future.
 
Community Impact Award:  Noura Bishay, Social Impact Urban Designer
 Recognizes outstanding leadership paving the way toward a more sustainable future.
 
Partner of the Year Award:  Bottom Line Utility Solutions 
 Recognizes organizational leadership and commitment to accelerating the transformation of Southern California into a more sustainable region for all.
 
Heart of the Chapter Award (2 recipients):  
Farah Lavassani, Sr. Advisor, Brand & Strategy, USGBC-CA
Seth Strongin, Building Decarbonization Operational Director, HDR
 Honors a USGBC-CA member - this year two - who has gone above and beyond in their dedication to creating a more sustainable future for us all and inspires us to keep doing this work.
 
Volunteer of the Year Award:  Pete Marsh
 Honors a USGBC-CA member who consistently and actively contributes to and supports USGBC-CA and its community, and inspires others to do the same.
 
 All the Awards will be presented during the Green Gala, in front of a guest list of over 500 top industry professionals including real estate owners and developers, local government representatives, architects, engineers, contractors, agencies, sustainability professionals and other supporters. With the built environment touching energy, water, waste, health, and so much more, USGBC-CA convenes and collaborates across a broad spectrum of community, corporate, and government partners.
   
 Adds Stapleton, “We are at a critical crossroads of our movement where we will need to take up the mantle of leadership on climate, delivering effective building performance policies and business models to help create a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable future for California and beyond.”
 
 The Green Gala is supported through the donations of many corporate partners:  Anser Advisory, Athens Services, Bernards, DLR Group, GreenWealth Energy, ICON West, Leading Edge Consulting Services, San Bernardino Community College District, VCA Green; and additional support from HMC Architects, Metropolitan Water District, and SIG Earth.
 
Significant Annual Support for USGBC-CA comes from these: Platinum sponsors - CIM Group, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, USGBC; Gold sponsors - NBCUniversal, Southern California Edison; Silver sponsors – Architype, Arup, Beneficial State Bank, BNBuilders, Brightworks, Carpet Recovery, GAIA, HDR, Howard Building Corporation, Hudson Pacific Properties, Kilroy Realty Corp., LivCor, OneClick LCA, Perkins&Will, Suffolk Construction, Verdical Group, Willdan; Bronze sponsors - AEG, Assa Abloy, Clayco, Cumming Group, Disneyland Resort, Epic Metals Inc., Green Building Initiative, Greneker, Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI), Momentum, Mott MacDonald, Suffolk, and Verdani Partners.