 Barton Malow is a green home contractor with a rich history. Barton Malow was founded in 1924 and has served as a general contracting business for more than fifty years. In the 1970's, Barton Malow broadened their services to encompass construction management. The firm, which currently has more than one thousand employees, operates throughout the United States. Barton Malow maintains their headquarters in Southfield, Michigan, with regional offices in Maryland, Virginia, Arizona, Ohio, Illinois, Florida and Georgia. Barton Malow, which incorporates green, sustainable designs in the designs they create for their customers, took things one step further and made sure they implemented green designs for the construction of their corporate headquarters in Southfield, Michigan, too. The headquarters is located next to natural wetlands, which Barton Malow believed to be incredibly important to preserve. While designing the building for their headquarters, Barton Malow designed their space in a way that did not disturb vegetation, topography or wildlife in any way. They even planted many native plants, including 64,280 black-eyed Susan perennials to enhance the site's landscape. Their headquarters also boasts a rainwater catchment system that feeds into the wetlands to replenish the water levels.
Keeping with the theme of green, energy-efficient design, the building is outfitted with a state-of-the-art heating and cooling system which promotes and utilizes the use of natural day lighting to reduce the need for electric, artificial lighting. The building is also retrofitted with other eco-friendly features, such as fences and filters to prevent erosion and to channel runoff to appropriate locations. The wood used in the building was not treated with any chemicals and all waste was property disposed. As per their policy, all communication at the Barton Malow headquarters is electronic to reduce paper waste as much as possible. At the Barton Malow headquarters, the recycling program encompasses typical office waste, such as paper, but also goes so far as to use recycleable cups and trays in the cafeteria and washable mugs are used instead of disposable coffee cups.
Carl Osborn Barton, born in 1898, was the founder of Barton Malow in 1924. In 1929, Arnold Malow joined Barton to form Barton Malow. The company has maintained an impressive history in the 85 years since their inception. Although they did not begin as a green home contracting firm, Barton Malow is a perfect example of how a traditional company can transform into a green, sustainable, eco-friendly company. Today, their business model is the same as it was decades ago in many ways. They believe in serving their customers well, providing quality, encouraging business diversity and maintaining community involvement. In other ways, Barton Malow has changed considerably in recent years, incorporating green, sustainable building designs into their mainstream paradigm.
EnviroCitizen.org believes that Barton Malow offers hope for environmentalists. If a company with such a long history can transform themselves into an eco-friendly leader in the green building sector, then we can only hope that other companies will be capable of the same. |
