2011 Excellence in Corporate Responsibility Awards

Category: Small Business Team: Lanefab Design/Build

The company: A home design and custom building company focused on lane housing—small secondary residences or studios typically located at the rear of an existing home and often replacing an existing garage or parking area.

The achievement: Lanefab Design/Build is working in partnership with the City of Vancouver to transform some of the city’s most under-utilized spaces by developing highly energy efficient laneway houses. In May 2010 the company completed the city’s first laneway house and subsequently won an Eco/Green award from Western Living magazine. Lanefab’s homes are among the most energy efficient homes in Vancouver and make use of new sustainable construction technologies. Laneway houses allow more people to live within the city’s limits and thus walk or cycle to work and recreation, reducing the need for cars and lessening the pressure to expand suburban development. Lanefab’s team has worked extensively with city planners, local NGOs, inspectors and manufacturers to adapt the city’s rules such that use of these green technologies can be adopted by other homeowners and builders throughout the city. “We’ve put a lot of effort into getting the green technologies approved,” says company principal and LEED-accredited designer Bryn Davidson . “We come at it with the goal of having a positive impact, and that’s why we’re willing to put effort, sweat, money and frustration into trying to update these policies to make it easier for everybody to build this way.”