Building Wellness Selected by City of Fort Collins to Lead ‘Designed to 2030’ Pre-Approved High-Performance Home Plans Pilot Program
Fort Collins, CO - [Jan 29, 2026] - Building Wellness is pleased to announce that we have been selected by the City of Fort Collins to serve as the Project Lead for the Designed to 2030 - Pre-Approved High-Performance Home Plans Pilot Program, an initiative focused on making it easier and more cost-effective to build all-electric, high-performance homes in Fort Collins. Together, these efforts support a broader vision within the Fort Collins “Our Climate Future” policy and a community desire that everyone lives and works in healthy, energy- and water-efficient buildings that are designed to transition toward zero emissions over time.
Fort Collins joins thousands of cities that offer “stock” plans to help builders and homeowners save thousands of dollars in design fees, reduce permitting timelines, and offer plans designed for ease of construction with prefab options that can cut 3-6 months from construction timelines. The city is investing in stock designs specific to meet city energy codes and housing demands. Plans will be complete construction plan sets and pre-evaluated through energy modeling, high-efficiency mechanical system design, and advanced building science creating additional savings that can directly support housing attainability for local builders and homeowners.
The pilot program will create a portfolio of available residential pre-approved plans that will include multiple high-performance home designs, at least one of which will be ADU-compliant, intended to reduce upfront design costs, shorten permitting timelines, and remove common barriers builders face when pursuing above-code performance. Our team will work closely with the city and community outreach programs to create a selection of homes that suit the ambitious energy goals, Fort Collins’ unique housing styles, climate appropriate systems, and a size mix to serve occupant demands for the area.
“Buildings play a critical role in our climate future,” said Brad Smith, Building Energy Code Project Manager for the City of Fort Collins. “The Designed to 2030 Pilot Program helps ensure that new projects in Fort Collins are designed with long-term performance, resilience, and community benefit in mind while strengthening partnerships across the building industry.”
“We’ve heard consistently from designers and builders that the path to high-performance housing can feel complex and expensive,” said Karen Ramsey, Founder of Building Wellness and Fort Collins resident. “This program is an opportunity to lower that barrier. I see it as a meaningful opportunity to help translate the City’s climate goals into design solutions that are practical, affordable, and grounded in the realities of how homes are built in our community.”
Building Wellness will lead an interdisciplinary team that brings together technical, architectural, and construction expertise, including Steven Winter Associates, Inc., B.PUBLIC Prefab, and Hereabout Home.
Steven Winter Associates, Inc. brings more than five decades of experience in energy efficiency and high-performance building consulting, supporting residential projects across North America in meeting ambitious performance targets.
B.PUBLIC Prefab contributes expertise in panelized building envelopes that prioritize airtightness, durability, and constructability to reach optimal energy and comfort performance, helping reduce both construction waste and long-term energy demand. They have developed a catalog of standard home plans that align with the goals of the Pilot to support rapid adoption of best practices.
Hereabout Home is a firm specializing in predesigned home plans with projects across the US and Canada. They will provide expertise in design excellence with goals focused on livability, aesthetics, and broad market use.
“Fort Collins is leading the way with a path to Net Zero for all new home construction in the US and we believe that this program and the portfolio of high-performance home plans that it will create will be a pilot for Colorado and the US,” said Edie Dillman, B.PUBLIC Prefab.
Together, the team will deliver a set of pre-approved home plans designed to support builders, thrill homeowners, and align residential construction with Fort Collins’ long-term climate and housing priorities.
About the Designed to 2030 Program
The City of Fort Collins Designed to 2030 - Pre-Approved High-Performance Home Plans Pilot Program is intended to simplify the delivery of above-code residential buildings by providing pre-approved designs and associated engineering support. The program advances local climate and housing goals by creating more efficient permitting pathways for high-performance, all-electric homes.
About Building Wellness
Building Wellness is a Colorado-based sustainability strategy and high-performance building consulting firm. The firm specializes in Passive House methodologies, energy modeling, embodied carbon analysis, and wellness-centered design, supporting communities and project teams in delivering durable, healthy, and climate-aligned buildings.
