The Annie E. Fales Elementary School, the first net-positive energy public school in Massachusetts, won the Green Building of the Year award at the 2023 Built Environment Plus (BE+) Green Building Showcase, an annual awards program recognizing projects for excellence in healthy, sustainable, and regenerative design.

Built Environment Plus is a membership-based community advocating for green buildings at the state and local level. The Town of Westborough’s commitment to renewable energy significantly shaped the design of the new school, which is the first facility to support the Town’s goal to be carbon-emissions free by 2035. The studies performed by the design team made Fales capable of generating 11.6% more energy than required to operate the all-electric school. The design achieves this ambitious target by reducing energy use with high efficiency geothermal building systems and producing energy on-site with a 25,000 square foot rooftop solar array.

The sustainability of hot-dip galvanizing as well as the proven long-term corrosion protection with minimal maintenance, complemented the values required in a Green project. Additionally, since the galvanizer was local, transportation costs, carbon emissions, and fuel costs were reduced.