What do you get when you combine two of today’s hottest development trends? A green, prefabricated home.
“There’s an allure to building in a more sustainable way, and prefab can often be a more efficient way to build, particularly for infill lots,” says Steve Glenn, CEO of LivingHomes, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based developer of prefab homes. The firm is in the permitting stage for its latest prefab creation: A small, 3,864-square-foot project in Los Altos, Calif., that will include three attached units featuring large, glass sliding doors and windows and plenty of outdoor space. The project is aiming for LEED Gold certification.
Not surprisingly, California is ground zero for green, prefab development. Last summer, San Francisco-based prefab developer ZETA Communities completed 610 Lancaster, a four-unit über-green, net-zero energy townhome community in Oakland, Calif. The two-bedroom units feature single-car garages and a host of green features; the complex is targeting LEED Platinum certification.
Andrew Silverman, ZETA’s vice president of real estate and development, estimates that prefab shaves as much as 60 percent to 70 percent off a construction schedule and saves roughly 20 percent on construction costs.
Going Mod: ZETA Communities is converting this design for a 140-unit apartment community in Oakland, Calif., into a modular housing project.
