Social Responsibility
Building Strong Communities : A Corporate Social Responsibility Statement
Background
Marz Homes helps build strong communities. That’s the company’s tagline, and the core belief in the Marz Homes culture. With more than 50 years in southern Ontario’s homebuilding industry, Marz has created thousands of homes for hardworking families. As the company has grown, so too has Marz’s desire to become an active presence within the greater community. With this in mind, Marz began to develop a corporate social responsibility framework to guide the company in its initiatives. It is a reflection of the motivations and beliefs that Marz Homes holds as a corporation, and as it evolves, will help determine the company’s role as a social entity within the community.
The Environment
As a production homebuilder, Marz Homes has a hand in shaping the communities of southern Ontario. The company’s footprint is large and prevalent, so one of the key points for Marz is ensuring its environmental impact is as small as possible. To this end, Marz has undertaken several initiatives, partnering with other eco-conscious suppliers to deliver homes that feature several environmental components.
Clean Energy
In southern Ontario, energy is the most pressing environmental concern. In 2010, Marz Homes partnered with Bullfrog Power, a utility that provides 100 percent, clean, renewable energy. Through this partnership, each new home that Marz builds and sells is outfitted with Bullfrog Power. Marz also uses Bullfrog Power in its head office and at all of its construction sites to ensure environmental stewardship throughout its operations.
By using only clean energy in the homes it produces and in its head office, Marz Homes will reduce its energy consumption by 1,395 megawatt hours per year. The company will also lessen its environmental impact by 297.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide, 916 kg of sulphur dioxide, and 377 kg of nitric oxide.
Green Suppliers
Marz also offers a selection of options for homebuyers to help them green their new homes even further. As a homebuilder, Marz relies on its suppliers to deliver the quality materials that go into each Marz home. Marz encourages its suppliers and potential suppliers to offer environmentally sustainable products that the company can incorporate into its homes.
One initiative that Marz has undertaken is to lower the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the homes it produces. VOCs are commonly found in everyday household products, and are a by-product of many synthetic materials. To this end, Marz only uses low-VOC paints throughout its homes, and, thanks to its partnership with Bamco Custom Woodworking of Guelph, Ontario, Marz now offers an Eco Kitchen option.
Bamco produces the VOC-free Green Board, an all-natural, plywood-type material used in the construction of kitchen cabinets. Many wood products typically used in the home construction industry contain products that off-gas, or emit VOCs. Being all-natural, the Green Boards do not off-gas, and make for a healthier living situation for the home’s inhabitants.
Known as Marz’s Eco Kitchen Option, the Green Board kitchen cabinets are just one more way Marz is incorporating environmentally sustainable homebuilding.
Community Involvement
Marz works with community organizations and socially conscious companies to ensure that people who are working to make a difference in their community have the support they need to reach their goals.
Canadian Cancer Society
In 2006, Marz became the title sponsor of the CCS’s annual Golf for a Cure tournament. Since then, Marz has helped raise more than $90,000 through the tournament. But it’s Marz’s contribution to the prize table that gets the most attention.
Since 2006, Marz has offered a home valued at $500,000 to anyone who could sink an ace on a specified hole. To date, no one has claimed the top prize, but every year a couple of golfers make it interesting by coming within inches of the hole.
Marz furthered its partnership with the CCS in 2010 by becoming the title sponsor for the Great Ride ‘n’ Stride. Held in Hamilton’s Bayfront Park on October 17, participants could walk, run, bike or rollerblade to raise money for a worthy cause. Together, Marz, the CCS and teams and individuals from throughout the region combined to raise more than $35,000.
Building Strong Communities
Marz Homes believes that its duty to the community is to always find new opportunities to better the community. For more than 50 years, Marz has been a trusted homebuilder in southern Ontario. Looking forward, the company will continue to reach out and partner with organizations and companies that want to make a difference.