Sustainability

At the Forefront: LEED, Passive House & more

Wright-Ryan has been at the forefront of sustainable construction for over twenty years beginning with the ground-breaking Gilsland Farm Maine Audubon Environmental Center in Falmouth, Maine. Since that time, we have built dozens of highly efficient buildings including Cranberry Ridge in Freeport, Maine, the first LEED Platinum home in the Northeast, and Oak Street Lofts in Portland, the first affordable multifamily building in Maine to achieve the LEED Platinum distinction.

Passive House Expertise

Wright-Ryan continues to push the envelope, finding new ways to deliver high performance buildings for our clients and our communities. We served as Construction Manager for Village Centre Apartments in Brewer, Maine. In September 2016 Village Centre earned final certification through the Passive House Institute US’ PHIUS+ program, which defines climate-specific passive house standards. At more than 54,000 square feet, it is one of the first of its kind in the U.S. – currently the largest Passive House building in New England and the second largest in North America.

Wright-Ryan also served as Construction Manager for Bayside Anchor, a multifamily housing community developed by Portland Housing Authority and Avesta Housing and designed by Kaplan Thompson Architects that is pursuing PHIUS+ certification. Bayside Anchor added 45 units of mixed-income housing to downtown Portland, Maine. The building also houses administrative offices for Portland Housing Authority, a Head Start program operated by the Opportunity Alliance, and a community policing headquarters. Bayside Anchor has been selected as a finalist in Affordable Housing Finance Magazine’s Reader’s Choice awards.

Our team also completed Waynflete’s new Lower School in Portland, a project built to Passive House standards. The project included a full gut renovation to the campus’ oldest structure as well as the new construction addition.

Wright-Ryan has since completed four new senior housing dormitories on the Bowdoin College campus that was also built to Passive House standards. The team is currently working on another set of student apartments across campus.