Homesol Building Solutions partners with Owens Corning on new Sustainable Buildings Training Centre

Objective of LivelyUp Sustainable Buildings Training Centre is to create a new generation of energy-efficient homes and builders in Ontario

ALMONTE - Determined to help create a new generation of energy-efficient homes by training a new generation of builders to use the most advanced materials and green construction techniques, Homesol Building Solutions has successfully partnered with building materials company Owens Corning to create a green building training centre in the heart of the Ottawa Valley. The new facility, called the LivelyUp Sustainable Buildings Training Centre, will serve builders throughout Ontario.

Currently under construction with a completion date of Spring 2010, Homesol's LivelyUp Sustainable Buildings Training Centre is located on property owned by company president Ross Elliott and his wife and business partner, Kathryn Elliott, in McDonalds Corners, 27 kms from Perth, ON, and 80 kms from Ottawa.

"The opening of the new training centre demonstrates Ontario's position as a hub of sustainability building," stated David Flood, Insulation Expert, Owens Corning. "We are proud to support an initiative that will increase the use of sustainable and efficient building solutions."

As a lead partner in Homesol's LivelyUp Sustainable Buildings Training Centre, Owens Corning will contribute its most advanced building materials including:

PINK FIBERGLAS® Insulation, · Celfort®/FOAMULAR® Extruded Polystyrene Rigid Insulation, · Cultured Stone® veneer, · Duration® Shingles, · QuietZone® Noise Control Solutions

Other sponsors of products and services include Concord, ON-based Fibertec Window and Door Manufacturing and Ottawa's Linda Chapman, Architect.

"The Ottawa Valley offers some of Canada's most extreme climate changes, from minus-30-degree Celsius winters mixed with snow and freezing rain to plus-30-degree summers, and builders can come to the LivelyUp Sustainable Buildings Training Centre to learn how to maximize energy efficiency and comfort with these state-of-the-art products," said Ross Elliott. Homesol Building Solutions currently serves more than 30 of the province's largest builders in energy efficiency certifications and training, along with several Provincial and Federal building efficiency standards organizations.

"Builders use these products every day," said Elliott, "but we're demonstrating their use in unique combinations and with techniques that can meet or exceed LEED Platinum standards for energy efficiency, air quality and durability. The building technology is readily available from companies like Owens Corning, and with adequate training it can transform Ontario's housing stock to be the greenest on the planet."

Elliott's Fall schedule is ample evidence that there is high demand for training in green building techniques. On Sept. 23 his company hosted a LEED® for Homes workshop with Arborus Consulting at Queen's University's Innovation Park, sponsored by Eastern Lake Ontario Regional Innovation Network (ELORIN). Oct. 2-4 Elliott will be speaking at the Ottawa Home & Design Show: at 3:30PM Oct. 2, 11AM Oct. 3, and 1:30PM Oct. 4. His LEED® Homes workshop then comes to Ottawa Nov. 25 at Enbridge Inc.'s 400 Coventry Road facility in Ottawa. On Nov. 28 Elliott will give the first seminar at the LivelyUp Sustainable Buildings Training Centre on the topic of "How to build and operate a soap bubble insulated greenhouse."