Press Release
For Immediate Release: May 1, 2008

McCownGordon Debuts
Eco-Friendly Mobile Office

Green Trailer is First of its Kind in the Nation

Kansas City, MO — McCownGordon Construction has given an eco-friendly makeover to one of the energy-guzzling jobsite trailers that dot the Kansas City landscape. The Green Trailer consumes a fraction of the energy of a typical trailer and provides a more pleasant user experience.

“It seemed fitting to apply the same green thinking to a job trailer as we do to our building projects,” said McCownGordon senior superintendent Kenneth Bonin.  “We used a variety of techniques – from alternative power and natural lighting to salvaged and recycled materials – to develop a space that was completely friendly to the environment and to the people using the trailer.”

Solar and wind power provide nearly all the trailer’s necessary energy.  A composting toilet requires no water, and repurposed and recycled building products keep material out of landfills.  Annually, the Green Trailer saves $3,000 in energy costs and 1,600 gallons of water. If all of the roughly 1,250 trailers in the Kansas City area were Green Trailers, that would equate to a savings of $3.8 million in energy costs and two million gallons of water annually.

“It is extremely valuable to see companies step up and take innovative and creative steps forward,” said Casey Cassius, a principal of BNIM Architects, who is working with McCownGordon on the LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum-driven K-12 school for the City of Greensburg, Kansas.  “Having the green trailer on a job site will provide a subtle yet powerful reminder of the commitment to green.”

The trailer will be placed at a McCownGordon jobsite in the metropolitan Kansas City area to make it readily available for tours. It will provide a direct benefit to a client seeking LEED® status, as it satisfies one of the “innovation credits” necessary for certification.

The Green Trailer also offers its users a better place to work, with three times the amount of natural light, cleaner air from solar-powered exhaust fans and better climate control from spray insulation. “Not only will McCownGordon be saving energy and other valuable resources, but they are providing significantly better accommodations for their project field staff,” said Neal Angrisano, Johnson County’s Deputy Director of Facilities Management, who worked with McCownGordon on the LEED® Gold Sunset Drive Office Building.  “Sustainability is very much about high quality, healthy places for people to work.” 

For McCownGordon Construction, being eco-friendly is both good business and the right thing to do. More than 60 percent of the firm’s operations and estimating team have earned LEED® Accreditation, and they are currently the only Kansas City contractor to have built a LEED® Gold building in the state of Kansas.

Carrie Plummer, 816-686-8377
carrie@openbookhome.com
Krista Kutter, 816-506-7926
kkutter@mccowngordon.com

http://greentrailer.mccowngordon.com