ICF Buildings Take Hold in Kentucky

Louisville, KY, is home to numerous Insulating Concrete Form (ICF) buildings, including schools, houses, retail buildings, student dormitories and now hotels, reports NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Gregg Lewis. Thanks in part to the ongoing promotion efforts of the Kentucky Ready-Mixed Concrete Association and local architect Jill Lewis Smith, AIA of Civic Consultants, Louisville continues to enjoy widespread adoption of ICFs in virtually every building category. Currently under construction is a new Drury Hotel (shown here) just a stone’s throw from the Gene Snyder Freeway. Drury Hotels has been taking advantage of ICF’s noise reduction qualities, speed of construction, and durability for years.

When cost is an issue, as it always is in the affordable housing sector, ICFs show additional benefits, noted Lewis. Smith’s firm, Civic Consultants, is showing that an ICF home can be built for less than a typical manufactured home while providing real long-term value to its owner. The energy cost savings were so significant on another Louisville ICF housing project that the tenants were reluctant to provide their utility data fearing there may have been a metering error!

For more information, contact Gregg Lewis at glewis@nrmca.org.