LUBBOCK, Texas – As part of its ongoing commitment to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of cement and concrete to sustainable building solutions, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) honored the City of Lubbock’s Brad Reed, inspection coordinator, with a 2008 PCA Sustainable Leadership Award. PCA recognized winners in eight cities across the nation who have enacted policies or completed projects that promote sustainable development through the use of concrete and other cement-based products.

PCA recognized Mr. Reed for his use of insulating concrete forms (ICFs) in the construction of low-income homes in Lubbock, Texas. ICFs are lightweight forms or molds for concrete made with high-density polystyrene insulation. These large, hollow blocks are shipped to the construction site where they are stacked together to form walls and then filled with reinforcing steel bar and concrete. The end-result is a high-performance wall that is structurally sound and is ready to accept final exterior and interior finishing.

In 1998, Mr. Reed, then a senior inspector for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Department in Lubbock, proposed that the energy efficiency, maintenance requirements and security of homes built for the Department’s low-income clients could be improved through the use of ICF construction. Three years of monitoring the performance and customer satisfaction of wood-frame versus ICF-constructed homes demonstrated that ICF wall systems required less maintenance than wood frame; had improved energy efficiency, which resulted in more affordable utility bills; and provided another measure of safety from natural disasters such as tornadoes, which frequent Lubbock.

“It was not uncommon for the substandard homes replaced under the HOME project to have heating bills in the range of $400 per month,” said Mr. Reed. “But today, residents of the
ICF-constructed homes can expect heating bills of $70 to $80 per month, which means an important savings for the lower income families in these homes. In addition to the reduction of energy use and fossil fuels required to heat the ICF homes, the development of the ICF industry in our community has stimulated economic activity as well as property values and related taxes by more than $6 million.”

Ten years and more than 100 homes later, the City of Lubbock is committed to having every home in the program meet U.S EPA ENERGY STAR standards. Its first zero-energy home is currently under construction.  The City of Lubbock and organizations supporting its construction of sustainable low-income housing are recognized regularly for their achievements.

Jim Niehoff, director of residential promotion, Portland Cement Association, presented the Award to Mr. Reed. “The efforts of this project improved lives and property values, conserved resources and significantly raised the standard of construction — not for upscale homes, but for the most affordable homes in the community for those most in need,” said Niehoff. “These achievements are just the beginning of a much greater commitment to build a better community for tomorrow and for the generations to come.”

Patrick Murphy, president of American PolySteel, a leading manufacturer of ICFs, nominated Mr. Reed.

To learn more about the Award and sustainable development benefits made possible by concrete, visit http://www.cement.org/newsroom/SLA_2008_Awards.asp.

About PCA
The Portland Cement Association, based in Skokie, Ill., represents cement companies in the United States and Canada.  It conducts market development engineering, research, education, and public affairs programs.  Additional information is available at PCA’s Web site, www.cement.org.