LONDON--(Marketwire - July 6, 2010) - Freeman Webb, the largest private owner/manager of apartments in Nashville, has won an International Green Apple Environment Award recognizing the outstanding environmental benefits and sustainable design of its new headquarters -- The Freeman Webb Building. The first Gold LEED pre-certified building in Tennessee history, the Freeman Webb Building was the only American entry out of 500 worldwide nominations to win at the sixteenth annual award ceremony recently held at the Tower of London in London, England.
The Freeman Webb Building was designed by Nashville-based Hastings Architecture Associates, LLC in partnership with Freeman Webb and the general contractor, Wieck Construction.
"We're elated that The Freeman Webb Building has been recognized on an international stage," said Kent Burns, president of the Freeman Webb Company. "There was a need in Nashville for sustainable office space, so we partnered with Hasting Architecture and Wieck Construction to design and build the greenest building in the state for companies seeking to improve their work environment. Winning a Green Apple Award when competing against sustainable projects around the globe is an absolute privilege. We're happy to bring this award home to Tennessee."
The International Green Apple Environment Awards are given by The Green Organisation, a United Kingdom-based, independent, non-profit environment group dedicated to recognizing, rewarding and promoting environmental best practice around the world. Winning projects were expected to demonstrate environmental, social and financial benefit as well as aesthetics, waste reduction and innovation.
As a result of this award, Freeman Webb was invited to join the National Green Heroes, an elite group of environmental achievers who will be recognized in November of 2010 at the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament in the UK.
Roger Wolens, director of The Green Organisation, said: "This is a significant achievement by Freeman Webb and our judges were most impressed by the high standards they had set and achieved.
"Sustainability was at the forefront of everything that they did and the statistics speak for themselves.
"As Green Heroes, we will publish their award-winning paper in The Green Book, the world's only annual work of reference on environmental best practice. We distribute this around the world free of charge, so that others can learn from their environmental experience.
"It is a constant source of reference among environment professionals, architects, builders, Government departments, universities, the media, reference libraries, etc.
"Freeman Webb have put down a green marker that other American companies should strive to achieve."
Every inch of The Freeman Webb Building's 60,000 square feet of class-A office space was designed to be sustainable. Most visible is the building's green roof, which features 1,200 plants from 15 different species. It addition to filtering water and reducing the building's cooling costs, it provides tenants with an outdoor gathering location for company events and meetings.
The interior and exterior of The Freeman Webb Building was constructed from recycled content and it utilizes an energy efficient HVAC system, air quality monitoring and metering system and high-efficiency elevators. The building offers preferred parking for hybrid vehicles and carpoolers, and it also features occupant detection sensors to automatically turn off the lights when employees have left.
Overall, The Freeman Webb Building uses 25% less energy and 30% less water than buildings of similar size. This reduced cost provides an economical benefit for both Freeman Webb and the building's other tenants.
Just 10 months after the opening and during one of the toughest economic times in the history of the US, the Freeman Webb Building is nearly 100% leased. Notable tenants include Ovation, Inc., a producer of live events, Vanderbilt Oncology, Bailey Robinson Holdings, Baptist Sports Medicine, Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets Division and Freeman Webb.
For more information on the Green Apple Environment Awards, visit http://www.thegreenorganisation.info/
About The Freeman Webb Company
Freeman Webb Inc. is the largest private owner/manager of apartments in Nashville and is ranked as one of Nashville's top 100 private companies. It presently has 12,000 multifamily units under management. Freeman Webb also manages more than 1,200,000 square feet of commercial property across the southeast. Nationally, the company manages a total of more than 12,000,000 square feet of residential and commercial property. It specializes in the acquisition, management and renovation of multi-family residential and commercial property in the Southeast, Midwest and Southwest. Freeman Webb Inc. employs over 350 associates.
