SBP to Receive 2018 Henry C. Turner Prize for Innovation in Construction

The prize recognizes SBP for their lean and efficient approach to repairing, reinforcing, and rebuilding houses in the aftermath of natural disasters, and for their efforts to increase the resilience of homes, businesses, and communities at risk for floods, tornadoes, and other events, and to provide guidance throughout the recovery process.

Co-founded by Zack Rosenburg and Liz McCartney on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, SBP has grown from a three-person volunteer team to an established organization, responding to disasters across the United States and championing building resiliency and disaster preparedness on the national stage.

Through their Disaster Resilience and Recovery Lab, SBP offers disaster preparedness training and resources to help small businesses make critical preparations for natural disasters, in turn shortening their post-disaster recovery time. They work with policy makers and state and local leadership on their disaster preparedness and response plans and efforts, and help them navigate the challenging Federal recovery funding landscape. Believing that when something works well you must share it, SBP partners with other organizations involved with resiliency, relief, and recovery to share best practices and collaborate on effective, scalable solutions.

In the spirit of their growing mission, SBP will use the Turner Prize’s $25,000 honorarium to advance their program to develop kit-style prefabricated/modular building elements.

“We are developing a system of housing blueprints and prefabricated materials that are inexpensively shipped and easily built by the layperson,” explained Zack Rosenburg, emphasizing the time savings that comes with prefabrication of building elements, and the value of being able to use volunteer labor. “The honorarium will enable us to devote leadership and resources to this effort, which will further improve the speed and efficiency of rebuilding. With modularization, we can prepare to rebuild—literally cutting and assembling replacement building elements—before a storm. Imagine the impact this will have for a family seeking a safe a stable home.”

“SBP has shrunk the time between disaster and recovery, with the result that families get back into their homes and back to a sense of normalcy that much faster,” said Chris McFadden, vice president, Turner Construction Company, and a Turner Prize juror. “We are thrilled with SBP’s intention to use the honorarium to further their research and implementation of improvements in the building process. Prefabrication has incredible potential to further accelerate recovery in the aftermath of natural disasters and we look forward to the results of SBPs ongoing research, and development, and implementation of streamlined processes.”

Turner president and chief executive officer Peter Davoren and National Building Museum executive director Chase Rynd will present the award to SBP on March 5, during Turner’s annual Innovation Summit in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The National Building Museum will host a public program with SBP at their Washington, D.C. home in the fall.

About the Henry C. Turner Prize for Innovation in Construction

The prize, named after the founder of Turner Construction Company, recognizes an invention, an innovative methodology, and/or exceptional leadership by an individual or team of individuals in construction technology including construction techniques, innovations and practices, project management, and engineering design. It is presented with a $25,000 honorarium.


Recipients of the Turner Prize include champions of emerging technology and tools, architectural visionaries, pioneers in sustainability, leaders in the preparation of a 21st century workforce, and other industry innovators and thought leaders. Past winners of the Turner Prize include:

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Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
Department of Architecture Engineering of the Pennsylvania State University
Lean Construction Institute
Society of Women Engineers
Caterpillar, Inc.
Engineers without Borders
Charles H. Thornton
Gehry Partners and Gehry Technologies
Dr. Paul Teicholz
U.S. Green Building Council
Charles A. DeBenedittis
I.M. Pei
Leslie E. Robertson
About SBP
SBP seeks to achieve its mission--to shrink the time between disaster and recovery--via five interventions: rebuilding homes quickly after disasters by mobilizing private sector innovations and assigning a single point of contact; sharing rebuilding innovations with other organizations to allow for efficient, predictable recovery on a national scale; preparing home and business owners prior to and following disasters; advising policy makers immediately after a disaster so they can deploy federal dollars sooner; and advocating for the reform of disaster relief strategies to improve the predictability and speed of recovery. For more, visit http://sbpusa.org.
About Turner Construction Company

Turner is a North America-based, international construction services company.  Founded in 1902, Turner first made its mark on the industry pioneering the use of steel-reinforced concrete for general building, which enabled the company to deliver safer, stronger, and more efficient buildings to clients. The company continues to embrace emerging technologies and offers an increasingly diverse set of services. With an annual construction volume of $11 billion, Turner is the largest builder in the United States, ranking first in the major market segments of the building construction field, including healthcare, education, sports, commercial, and green building. The firm is a subsidiary of HOCHTIEF, one of the world’s leading international construction service providers. For more information please visit www.turnerconstruction.com.

About the National Building Museum
The National Building Museum is America’s leading cultural institution dedicated to advancing the quality of the built environment by educating people about its impact on their lives. Through its exhibitions, educational programs, online content, and publications, the Museum has become a vital forum for the exchange of ideas and information about the world we build for ourselves. Public inquiries: 202.272.2448 or visit www.nbm.org. Follow us on Twitter: @BuildingMuseum and Facebook: www.facebook.com/NationalBuildingMuseum.