In Florida, the proprietors of RE Properties Ltd. — Alan and Dexter Avney — are known for their “over the top” luxurious and energy efficient design.

Now they plan to bring their technology to the Bahamas, as the duo of father and son plan to revolutionize the building industry in Grand Bahama when they complete their first state of the art custom home in March 2009. “Our vision has been to bring revolutionary Green Block building technology to the waterways of the Bahamas” remarks an excited Dexter Avney. The Avneys’ began construction on a spacious five bedroom, five and a half bath, 7000 sq.ft. custom home in 2008. The home is being built on a gorgeous Grand Bahama canal lot in the prestigious Fortune Bay. But, what really excites Mr. Avney is that “It will be the first custom home built to LEED Standards on Grand Bahama.”

What are LEED standards and why are they important to Grand Bahama? The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

According to RE Properties President Alan Avney, “LEED certified buildings use key resources more efficiently when compared to conventional buildings that are simply built to code. LEED certified buildings provide healthier work and living environments, which contributes to higher productivity and improved comfort.”

“On the outside an RE Properties LEED Luxury home may look like any other ordinary house, but if you look beneath the surface you’ll see that RE Properties walls are far superior to conventional construction methods”

What’s their secret? “Our secret,” says Alan, “is the cutting edge technology, Green Block insulated concrete form (ICF) that RE Properties has introduced to the Bahamas. As the exclusive distributors for Green Block, we believe that it will revolutionize the building industry.”

Green Block is an interlocking block system that forms solid walls. The centers are then filled with reinforced steel re-bars and concrete. This gives them 11″ thick walls that are insulated on both sides of the concrete wall. Remarks Alan Avney, “These walls will continue to cure for years ensuring a hardening of the concrete and continuous strengthening, in comparison to the standard light weight block walls presently used in a conventional building in the Bahamas.”

Adds Dexter, “The USGBC has compiled a long list of benefits of implementing a LEED strategy which ranges from improving air and water quality to reducing solid waste. These benefits are reaped by anyone who comes into contact with the project which includes owners, occupants and society as a whole.”

RE Properties is bringing to light not only how a beautiful house should look like, but also how it should be built!”