NEW ORLEANS WORKSHOP UNITES LEADERS TO IMPLEMENT SUSTAINABLE RELATIONSHIP WITH WATER

February 08, 2010 NEW ORLEANS -- As a call to address the threats and opportunities of living with water, the workshop Building Resilience: Implementing Innovative, Sustainable Flood Mitigation Solutions for the Gulf Coast will gather diverse experts, including keynote speaker Gen. Russel Honoré, in New Orleans February 26 & 27 at the Old U.S. Mint, 400 Esplanade Avenue.  Local and global practitioners, policy-makers and community stakeholders are invited to share best practices and initiate community action and policy plans for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. To register and view complete information, visit www.resilienceworkshop.org.  Professional development credits will be available for the AIA, LAPELS and possibly the USGBC.

Lead organizer Dr. Elizabeth C. English, of the Buoyant Foundation Project, seeks to broaden two vital dialogues in this region: the sharing with local practitioners of innovative flood mitigation techniques currently in practice in Europe, and the sharing with local community stakeholders and policy makers of successful strategies for overcoming administrative obstacles and implementing new, sustainable solutions that promote community resilience.

The workshop’s plenary speakers include a German expert on cascading levee systems, a Dutch expert on amphibious housing, and the long-time chair of the US Army Corps of Engineers National Non-Structural/Flood Proofing Committee.  Convening partners, from which many of the panelists are drawn, include: the American Institute of Architects New Orleans Chapter; the Applied Technology Council; the Buoyant Foundation Project; FutureProof, LLC; Global Green; Groundwork New Orleans; Innovative Green Solutions; the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development; Sustainable Ecosystem Restoration, LLC; the Center for Hazard Assessment, Response and Technology at UNO; Our School at Blair Grocery; the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy; and the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Ontario, Canada.  Innovative Green Solutions is the official sponsor of Keynote Speaker Gen. Honoré.

An opening reception will be held at the new Rock ‘N’ Bowl on S. Carrollton Ave. on  February 25th.  Group-rate accommodations have been arranged at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter. Registration includes all receptions, speeches, panels and lunches. Registration is $225 in advance and $250 at the door, if space permits.  Advanced registration is highly recommended as space is limited. We welcome applications for reduced registration fees from those in need. 

For more information, contact Dr. Elizabeth C. English at 504-717-5098, english@ecenglish.ca; www.resilienceworkshop.org.
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The Building Resilience Workshop is sponsored by the Buoyant Foundation Project, Inc.  Dr. Elizabeth C. English is founder and director of the The Buoyant Foundation Project (BFP) and Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  Dr. English was formerly Associate Professor - Research at the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center in Baton Rouge and Assistant Professor of Architecture at Tulane University in New Orleans.

The mission of the BFP, founded in 2006, is to support the recovery of New Orleans' unique and endangered traditional cultures by providing a strategy for the safe and sustainable restoration of traditional housing. Flood-proofing the city's traditional elevated wooden shotgun houses by retrofitting them with buoyant (amphibious) foundations avoids the destruction of neighborhood character that results from permanent static elevation high off the ground.  Buoyant Foundations provide increased safety and resilience in cases of extreme flooding and support the restoration of both the physical and the social structures of pre-Katrina New Orleans neighborhoods.  Visit http://www.buoyantfoundation.orgfor more information.

Innovative Green Solutions, official sponsor of the lecture by Keynote Speaker Gen. Honoré, is a small business that understands our Nation’s need to create sustainable green solutions in our construction, transportation and facilities management projects.  Lisa Miles Jackson is President and one of the original founders of IGS, and is also an organizer and panelist for the Building Resilience Workshop.  IGS markets several key infrastructure products, including affordable housing and alternative energy solutions, as well as bridges, retaining walls, bulkheads and marine pilings, made from 100% recycled, non-toxic plastic composites.  Developed over the past 10 years by scientists from Rutgers University and tested with the help of the US Army Corps of Engineers Construction & Engineering Research Laboratories, these composites are field-tested and shovel ready for today’s critical infrastructure needs.  IGS also markets a Fire “Inhibitor” (which makes fire “Retardants” obsolete and exceeds current industry standards)  and a clean, nontoxic product for current Halon replacements.  For more information visit www.igsfederal.com.