Recognizing his lifetime commitment to sustainable building practices, ASHRAE President Gordon Holness has been recognized with the High Performance Building Congressional Caucus Coalition (HPBCCC) Award.

The award was presented June 15 as part of HPBCCC activities related to High-Performance Building Week, June 13-19. This is the first time such recognition has been given by the Coalition. Holness, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, was recognized for his leadership and work in the area of high-performance buildings as well as for ASHRAE’s establishment and continued support of the Coalition.

“Gordon Holness has been a strong advocate for high-performance buildings both inside and outside of ASHRAE. His support of Building Information Modeling, focus on the totality of a building, and recognition of the need to make existing buildings high-performance has led the Coalition’s leadership to select him to receive the award”, said Henry L. Green, Hon. AIA, President, National Institute of Building Sciences, which is serving as the chair for this year’s celebration.

As ASHRAE president for 2009-10, Holness selected his presidential theme, Sustaining Our Future by Rebuilding Our Past, to address energy efficiency in existing buildings. “I have had a wonderful opportunity throughout my career and through my long relationship with ASHRAE to address the development of high-performance buildings”, Holness said. “Today we really see the confluence of energy availability, cost and environmental impact driving change in the way we design, construct and operate buildings.   Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. Architects and Engineers, the company where I spent the last 30 plus years really practiced what they preached in terms of ensuring building occupant health, comfort and safety and as a result we were fortunate enough to win many ASHRAE Technology Awards for high performance and energy efficiency.  I was privileged to benefit from the strengths of both great organizations”.

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