Spinnaker Group Projects Shine at USGBC Florida's GalaVerde 2021 Celebration

Virtual Celebration Event (February 4, 2021) -- Spinnaker Group
proudly took home six Project-of-the-Year awards in several
green-building honors categories during the US Green Building
Council (USGBC) South Florida Chapter's GalaVerde Leadership
and Green Awards celebration. The gala was held virtually
for the first time due to the pandemic on Thursday, February 4.
Three other Spinnaker projects were recognized as finalists
in their respective categories.

The 11th Annual GalaVerde Leadership Awards recognized
excellence in high-performance building design and
environmental stewardship and community impact, and
highlighted the green-building initiatives and achievements
of South Florida projects, businesses, elected officials, and community members. The judging for the event's awards categories was a "blind judging", whereby project submissions' names, teams, and geographic locations were not identified. USGBC Florida is a nonprofit organization, and GalaVerde is the USGBC South Florida Chapter's flagship event of the year.

The following Spinnaker-assisted projects were judged as the best in noted categories:

  • Innovative Project of the Year Award:
    Miami Worldcenter, LEED ND Silver, Miami, Florida

  • Innovative Project of the Year – Resilience Award:
    Miami Beach Convention Center, LEED Silver, Miami Beach, Florida

  • Marquee Green Building Legacy Award:
    1450 Brickell, LEED Gold for Core & Shell, Miami, Florida

  • Innovative Project of the Year – New Construction, Public Safety:
    Broward Addiction Recovery Center (BARC), LEED Gold, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

  • Innovative Project of the Year – New Construction, Core & Shell:
    Paradise Plaza, LEED Gold for Core & Shell, Miami, Florida

  • Innovative Project of the Year – New Construction, Commercial:
    Christine E. Lynn University Student Center, LEED Silver, Boca Raton, Florida

"We are extremely honored and pleased that these projects were recognized by our green-building peers as superlative examples of the highest quality, sustainable building undertakings," noted Jonathan Burgess, President of Spinnaker Group. "Achieving LEED certification is more than implementing sustainable practices. These projects represent a commitment to making the world a better place, as well as a challenge to others to do better. I congratulate and thank each of the outstanding contractor and vendor teams for their significant contributions to this transformational journey toward a more sustainable, healthy, and prosperous built environment, as well as the owners for stepping up and doing the right thing to make an important environmental difference in our South Florida community."

Founded in 2003, the award-winning Spinnaker Group helps facilitate the delivery of the highest quality, sustainable building projects. Using an integrated team approach with a diverse range of clients, the firm has nearly 160 LEED Certified projects under its belt and more than 700 million sf of commissioned building space worldwide. In addition to tapping USGBC's LEED and other rating systems as anchors of its sustainable consulting services, Spinnaker's diverse team of design and construction professionals offer project management, energy modeling, fundamental and enhanced building commissioning, neighborhood planning, operations and maintenance consulting, indoor air quality testing, and life cycle analyses for all types of building projects.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. Available for virtually all building, community and home project types, LEED provides a framework to create healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings. Created by the U.S. Green Building Council in Washington, DC, LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement. The voluntary, consensus-based rating system for developing high-performing, sustainable buildings is designed to inspire project teams to seek innovative solutions that support public health and our environment, while saving building owners money over a project’s life cycle. LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED APs) have demonstrated a thorough understanding of green building techniques and the LEED Green Building Rating System.