ABOUT
HBEC is a consulting firm working with architects, engineers, contractors, developers, building owners and building operators in a collaborative way to create sustainable and regenerative solutions that meet project budgets, design and operational parameters for new and existing buildings.
We have a comprehensive approach to projects—whether new designs, renovations and retrofits or building operations—working with design teams and building operators to develop sustainability goals and define methods to attain them.
HBEC brings to a team:
- project feasibility assessment
- collaborative design process
- knowledge of building systems
- energy modeling
- LEED certification
- Energy Star certification
- cost evaluation of energy conservation measures
HBEC brings expertise in sustainable and regenerative design practices to heal and preserve the natural environment for the wellbeing of future generations.
FOUNDER
Don Horton
RA, LEED AP BD+C, EB O+M
don@horton-bec.com
865-607-7040
Don Horton is a registered architect and early adopter of the LEED system for defining project sustainability, and earned LEED accredited professional status in 2003. He has participated as LEED project administrator in the accreditation of the three major LEED certification systems of New Construction and Major Renovations, Commercial Interiors and Existing Buildings Operations + Maintenance.
- After 23 years at McCarty Holsaple McCarty, left to form HBEC.
- Founding board member of the East Tennessee Chapter of the U S Green Building Council serving terms as chair and treasure.
- Served on the South East Regional Council for the USGBC.
- Graduated from Clemson University, College of Architecture
- Licensed, practicing architect in Knoxville, Tennessee for 40 years.
- Serving as Chair of the City of Knoxville Board of Zoning Appeals since 2014.
LEED Specialty Accreditations:
- LEED AP Building Design and Construction (BD+C)
- LEED AP Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (EB O+M)
The Bottle Cap
My introduction to sustainability began more than 50 years ago when I was on one of my father’s trout fishing trips. Walking back to camp with one of his friends, I saw in the sand a piece of red and gold colored metal. I grabbed it up, thinking that I had found a lost fishing lure and I was disappointed to find that it was a cap from an RC Cola bottle.
As we walked my father’s friend noticed my indecision of whether to throw it back to the ground.
His words to me were “You picked it up and now you own it.” I put the bottle cap in my pocket and ended up keeping it for many years.
That conversation has stayed with me over the years with the realization that the greater amount of knowledge I come to “own” the more responsibility I have for it.
I carry this philosophy to my work, my clients, my projects and to my students by imparting my knowledge to them in a way that they own it and it’s responsibility.
Knowing is the first step to commitment.