Sustainability Has New Home on Campus

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Office for Sustainability has moved to a new location: the Sustainability House, at 238 Harmon Avenue. The building will be a central location for all sustainability related activities on campus and will act as a resource for faculty, students, and staff.

“We had thought a lot about the naming of the new building and decided to embrace the identity of our new location,” said Carlos Ochoa, director of the Office for Sustainability. “We’re located in one of the few houses on campus.  This fact makes us unique and an easily identifiable resource in our community.”

Before November, the Office for Sustainability was located in the Facilities Management building.

“Our office is now located on the core campus. This means the office is positioned to provide enhanced resources to campus groups interested in campus sustainability,” Ochoa explained. “The Office for Sustainability will be more involved in student life and campus activities.  We’re  excited to take campus sustainability to the next level. We’re also excited to be located in such a unique building on our campus.”

The house was built in the 1930s and was home to the Buchanan Family. The U of A bought it in 2003. Facilities Management finished renovations to the building, including a new roof, paint, and floors, in November, prior to the move-in by the Office for Sustainability. The office plans to have an open house in early 2013.

“We are still settling in and accruing additional resources, but we will soon be a fully functioning office,” Carlos said.  The office is in the process of setting up for the sustainability internship program. In an effort to reduce waste and increase efficiency the Office for Sustainability is repurposing and reusing furniture and equipment through campus surplus.

The Sustainability House is home to Ochoa, Mallory Jenkins, an Energy Corps member, and Marty Matlock, the executive director for sustainability.  In addition, 10 new interns for the office work out of Sustainability House.  The main floor the house has 3 offices, a conference room, and kitchen.  There is an attic and a basement as well. Jenkins recently completed an energy audit of the house, and the staff will be implementing energy savings strategies to demonstrate residential energy conservation practices. 

The Sustainability House welcomes visitors and is happy to give interested parties a tour of the home. Anyone interested in stopping by should look for the yellow stone house directly east of the Hunt Center for Academic Excellence and directly south of Mechanical Engineering on North Harmon Avenue.