Bringing Multifamily Housing Quality and Affordability

Written By:  Jeff Beason, Premier SIPs SW Regional Sales Manager, LEED GA

If you are designing or building a multifamily project, why not specify or build with a material that can save the design professional, the builder, and the developer time and money?

Sarann Knight Apartment Complex Courtyard

I was involved with the Sarann Knight project, which is a four-story apartment complex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The developer, Community Development Programs Center of Nevada (CDPCN) used our 6” SIPs for all of the exterior walls on all four levels. And all of these SIP walls are load bearing and self-supporting.

•       SIPs reduce energy consumption
•       Easier to become Energy Star Compliant
•       Reduced construction time
•       Reduced job site waste and dumpster removal
•       End up with a durable, long-lasting building

Sarann Kinight First Floor

CDPCN owns and operates this apartment complex; therefore, the heating and cooling bills are paid by the developer.  Heating and cooling costs constitute a significant portion of the operating budget in the hot Las Vegas climate…one of the reasons CDPCN chose to build with energy-efficient SIPs!  Building on the efficiency of the R-23 SIP walls, CDPCN specified low emissivity (low-e) windows to further reduce solar heat gain and used tankless water heaters.  By using Premier SIPs and these other energy-efficient measures, CDPCN expects to save about 60% on their heating and cooling costs.

ENERGY STAR did not require a blower door test because they used SIPs…Sarann Knight project automatically surpassed the ENERGY STAR certification.

Sarann Knight Second Floor Goes Up

Cycle time savings were also a factor on this project. The developer believes that SIPs durability is something else to consider. This project is actually the third project that I have worked on with CDPCN. The other two were a 58 single home development (Daisy Lee Homes), and a 240 unit senior housing project (Senator Richard Bryan Senior Apartments) . They are now realizing reduced call-backs for things like stucco cracking because their SIP walls are straighter and stronger than a typical stick framed wall.

Sarran Knight Third Floor Goes Up

And now we have more large-scale projects coming up with CDPCN in 2011.

View Other CDPCN/Premier Projects on Flickr:

• Senator Richard Bryan Senior Apartments
• Daisy Lee Homes

For more information on the companies involved in this project:

Community Development Programs of Nevada, 702.873.8882

Architect: Winston Henderson, Las Vegas NV, 702.893.9700

Builder: National Construction Providers, Las Vegas NV, 702.220.9690