Ben Lowry, Associate, BuildGreen Solutions (A Windmill Developments Company)
Ben began his career wearing a tool belt, building high performance green buildings throughout the province. He has a passion for working with his hands and building with natural materials, which he cultivated while working for Evolve Builders Group in Ontario. At Evolve, he worked on several straw bale buildings, green roofs, timber frame homes, rainwater harvest systems, solar photovoltaic systems, and many other sustainable building elements. Later, he returned to Evolve as a business developer, helping to establish a green retrofit program for the business.
After working with Evolve for 2 years, Ben went back to school to complete an MBA, specializing in Sustainability and Real Estate & Infrastructure. While in school, Ben was the president of Net Impact, where he led a series of workshops, presentations, and conferences related to business and sustainability.
Since completing an MBA, Ben has worked on a variety of development and consulting projects. Immediately out of school, he brokered an option-to-lease agreement and managed the pre‐development phase of a commercial scale solar photovoltaic project under Ontario’s Feed‐In Tariff program. As project manager at ONE Development he managed the green retrofit of the new Centre for Social Innovation (720 Bathurst). Recently, Ben consulted to the Toronto District School Board regarding a number of sites, helping them to understand the financial viability of selling development rights as a means of funding capital improvements to schools. He has also consulted on a community scale, conducting market and financial feasibility analysis for the comprehensive planning study for Dartmouth Cove in the Regional Municipality of Halifax.
Ben is currently managing the Union Lofts project for Windmill Developments, which is a church conversion to residential lofts in Toronto targeting LEED Platinum. He is also helping to manage the RPDI Fund for ONE Development.