SWBR Wins Seneca Park Zoo Environmental Innovation Award
SWBR was selected as a recipient of the Seneca Park Zoo Society’s Environmental Innovation Award in the Large Business category. The Environmental Innovation Awards & Symposium celebrate leadership in environmental stewardship, raising the profile of innovative companies and people working to solve complex environmental problems in the Rochester and Finger Lakes Region.
As a recipient of the Large Business Award for Environmental Innovation, the firm has demonstrated original solutions to current environmental issues, with sustainability practices throughout the company. SWBR was recognized for a significant sustainable design portfolio, including over 1 million square feet of LEED-certified buildings, success in reducing their carbon footprint, and a commitment to educating and improving the community.
In 2018, SWBR became a signatory of the AIA 2030 Commitment, with the intent to transform their practice and work toward the design of carbon-neutral buildings across their portfolio by 2030. As part of this commitment, they created a Sustainability Action Plan to improve and formalize strategies to reduce office energy use, support alternative transportation, and address procurement procedures for office products. SWBR’s Sustainable Design Best Practices were created to provide a new information resource with firm-specific sustainable design information and resources to support their teams as they seek to design better, more sustainable projects.
SWBR has several employee groups that contribute to sustainability efforts in their work and culture. These teams, including the Green Building Initiative, the Green Operations Task Force, and Studio Sustainability Advocates, help to develop and implement the firm’s sustainability plan.
Efforts in the community include educational sessions on LEED requirements, university guest lectures, and annual Earth Week education events. For the past two years, the Syracuse office participated in national Park(ing) Day, collaborating to temporarily transform a metered parking space into temporary public place – complete with a pavilion and seating.
SWBR has also participated in several recent community initiatives including MeasureUp, Rochester Sustainability Collaborative, and the “Go All Electric!” initiative that supports electric vehicles use and champions transformation to carbon-free electrification.
The awards ceremony was held October 30 at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center.
Check out Mark Maddalina, AIA and Kristin Purdy, AIA in our award video coverage below.
