On September 25th, 2020, Cannon was awarded two honors by the Central Coast Green Building Council’s 2019 Green Awards program.

Our yakʔitʸutʸu Cal Poly Residential Community Project won the highest honor for the Green Schools category. yakʔitʸutʸu, Cal Poly SLO’s First-Year Residential Community, is a large-scale, concrete collegiate student housing project. To honor the Central Coast’s native residents, each of the seven buildings are named after tribal locations on the Central Coast. yakʔitʸutʸu translates as “our community” in the Northern Chumash Language.

The residential community includes 696 units, housing 1,475 beds, multiple study areas, large scale living rooms, outdoor courtyards and circulation routes, a mailroom, recreation center, offices, welcome center, and a food market, all of which wrap around a structured student parking deck. The outdoor spaces, which include a large lawn and amphitheater, volleyball and basketball courts, gardens, and bike paths, were all designed to enhance the Cal Poly experience for first-year students.

As part of the LEED designation and sustainable development efforts, the project includes a 1.1-megawatt solar system providing net zero energy consumption, low-flow shower heads for reduced water consumption, and Low Impact Development (LID) bioretention features for increased infiltration during rain events.

In addition to the Green Schools Award, Cannon also received an Honorable Merit Award for the Leading Sustainable Company category. Cannon has full-time LEED Accredited Professionals on staff to consult on projects and help incorporate environmentally responsible alternatives into our designs and operations. Cannon promotes and engages in green and complete street infrastructure design by incorporating low impact development features, and multi-modal roadways, into our public infrastructure projects whenever possible.