Master plan and green design rejuvenates community

Once a blighted South Boston housing development, Phase One of the new Homes at Old Colony were reborn as an award-winning, super-green LEED Platinum certified community. Stemming from a grant for "environmentally sustainable public-housing transformation" given three years ago by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act , Old Colony demonstrates how proper master planning and green building practices enliven communities that have obsolete, unsafe housing projects. Completed in December 2011, the revitalized development provides 116 affordable multifamily units, and a 10,000 s/f learning center. According to Michael Binette, AIA, principal at The Architectural Team, Old Colony was among the most physically distressed developments in the Boston Housing Authority's (BHA) portfolio. "This redevelopment does more than merely rejuvenate a large Boston site. It introduces ambitious green-building and energy-efficiency measures, and serves as a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization," said Binette. Old Colony achieved LEED Platinum certification for both the townhouse and midrise buildings. The Joseph M. Tierney Learning Center achieved LEED-NC Gold status. Planning for Old Colony began in 2009 with the BHA and master planner Chan Krieger NBBJ. Later that year, BHA engaged Beacon Communities as developer and TAT as master planner and architect. The master planning and design focus was to create unity between the new Old Colony community and its surrounding South Boston neighborhood. Beacon Communities Development LLC: owner Boston Housing Authority: owner The Architectural Team: architect Suffolk Construction: contractor New Ecology: LEED consultant HW Moore Associates: civil engineer Petersen Engineering: M/E/P engineer Odeh Engineers: structural engineer Beacon Concepts: interior design Stantec landscape: architect Medicine Wheel Productions: art consultant