Lafarge North America recently partnered with a number of its customers to donate materials and labor for building the first three homes in Habitat for Humanity's Fairview Cottages Project in Olympia, Wa. Working under the Washington State Evergreen Green Building Standards, the planned 15-home development is making major advances in achieving Habitat for Humanity's goal to create sustainable housing, as well as in promoting the numerous green living benefits that concrete products offer.

Habitat for Humanity International is a volunteer-driven, non-profit organization that partners with low-income families to make the dream of home ownership a reality. The South Puget Sound affiliate of Habitat for Humanity has built 34 homes since 1989. A corps of volunteers helps with the construction of each home, which takes about a year to construct.

The Fairview Cottages feature a wide range of sustainable benefits, including:

• Insulating Concrete Form construction uses the combination of stay-in-place plastic foam forms and concrete to create walls that provide superior insulation properties with an R-value of R-26, which reduces energy consumption by approximately 40 percent. They also reduce noise, which is ideal for the small lots these homes reside on. In addition to energy efficiency and sound transmission reduction, ICF walls give a house superior comfort, solidity, durability, resistance to natural disasters, and fire safety features as well.

• Radiant Floor Heating, which uses the thermal mass benefits of concrete to efficiently heat the home.

• Cement-Fiber Siding, which is produced using wood fiber and cement, resists cracking, rotting, hail damage, termites and many other possible problems. Designed to last a lifetime, the product comes with a 50-year warranty.

• Pervious Pavement to build 15 homes on a lot that would normally hold only six. Pervious pavement was used as a solution for storm water management. A 30-car parking area and pathways were paved using pervious materials.

Companies that donated or supplied products at cost include: Lafarge (cement); Miles Sand & Gravel (gravel, concrete, and ICF block); James Hardie (cement-fiber siding); Utility Vault (concrete vault); and PCI (pervious concrete placement).

“We greatly appreciate the support of Lafarge and its generous customer base for providing products and sweat equity toward the construction of these first three homes,” said Curt Andino, executive director of South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity. “We would also like to extend a special thanks to Lori Peterson, Lafarge's local office manager, and Scott Woodard, Miles sales representative, for their team leadership and key contributions to seeing that the project was a huge success.”

“Lafarge and its customers are proud to be associated with local community efforts such as the Fairview Cottages project,” said Patrick Cleary, major market manager for Lafarge's Pacific Northwest District. “Our products and focus on sustainable building practices are a perfect fit with Habitat for Humanity's goals for this magnificent housing development for low-income families in Olympia.”