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Better Bricks Award
Kathleen O'Brien is recognized as a Finalist
On October 17th the fourth annual awards presentation by Better Bricks honored a total of 10 green building professionals in the Puget Sound region. There were many award categories, but Lucia Athens, Senior Sustainable Futures Strategist for Collins Woerman, was the ultimate winner in the Advocate category. Kathleen O'Brien and Jason McLennan, CEO of Cascadia Region Green Building Council were recognized as finalists in the Advocate category.
Kathleen said, "It was great to see so many colleagues receiving well-deserved recognition for their efforts through the years. Congratulations to Lucia and Jason who are two of the most respected and effective green building advocates I know."
Kathleen was recognized for her work on some of the first green buildings in the region (Sakai Intermediate School, the Central Market and Bainbridge Island City Hall on Bainbridge Island) as well as her broader contributions to high performance buildings.
Better Bricks recognized her with the following statement:
Kathleen is credited with building critical early momentum for the green building movement in Puget Sound. Nearly ten years ago, she designed the first courses for the Sustainable Building Advisor program in Seattle, and has been instrumental in expanding the program to more than 20 locations around the country. She also developed the protocol and managed the pilot for the Washington Sustainable Schools Protocol. As a result, more than 20 new high performance schools have been built in the state following these energy guidelines.
Today, Kathleen is the founder and president of her own green building consulting company and has many opportunities to influence energy efficiency in numerous buildings. She founded the Sustainable Development Training Institute to equip more professionals to influence the way our built environment performs. The recipient of Sustainable Seattle’s Outstanding Leadership Award, Kathleen currently serves on the project committee for ASHRAE’s Design Guide for K-12 schools, aiming to achieve 30 percent savings toward net zero energy buildings.
To read more about the winners and finalists, visit the Better Bricks awards page.
