October 14— On the heels of last month’s Design Charrette, where GreenBuild students brainstormed on plans for an upcoming construction project with key partners (including Saint-Gobain), a group of students paid a visit to the Saint-Gobain Headquarters in Malvern, PA for a closer look at the facilities and to learn more about the details of Green construction. 

Lucas Hamilton, Manager of Building Science Applications and Jessica Floersch, Communications Specialist at Saint-Gobain led a guided tour of the facilities explaining details about the construction design layout covering hot Green topics such as: Net Zero buildings, Greenbuilding/retrofitting with Green elements, renewable energy, and LEED certification. Students had a chance to learn about the in-depth process and planning that it takes to construct a project as large-scale as the Saint-Gobain headquarters. Great preparation for their upcoming project in West Philadelphia later this year!

During the tour, students were briefly guided through the work-life experience at Saint-Gobain and met some employees including YouthBuild Philly Alumnus, Alonzo Williams, Class of 2015. Alonzo currently works Full-Time in the Customer Experience department of CertainTeed, and has been with the Saint-Gobain team since the summer. Alonzo even had time to meet some of the current GreenBuild students and provided them with words of encouragement about the opportunities that await them after graduating YouthBuild Philly if they stay the course. 

After further Q&A with Lucas and Jessica, students visited fun communal spaces of the facility, such as the on-site gym.

GreenBuild students left Saint-Gobain even more excited about upcoming projects throughout the school year. They even dropped hints to Jessica about planning a return visit in the near future. 

Special thank you to our friends at Saint-Gobain for the warm welcome!
See below for a slideshow of more photos from the tour: