Ford Engineering, Inc. was awarded First Place in the 2007 Texas Council of Engineering Companies Engineering Excellence Awards Competition. FEI's project titled "Wild Wind Subdivision" secured one of two gold medals awarded to Ford Engineering in the competition.
The Wild Wind Subdivision is a Natural Habitat that nestles a Custom, Single Family Residential Development in among it's heritage oak trees. The development contains numerous lots ranging in sizes from 3/4 acres to 2.5 acres. Wild Wind consists of three units and is ecologically friendly due to the fact the thousands of trees were conserved during construction. The subdivision flows through the natural woodland area and derives it beauty from the surrounding habitat. The mission behind the development of this subdivision was to support the existing mature growth of trees and natural environment, minimizing the impact on the existing wildlife habitat of the area, primarily deer. This was accomplished by using a new method of land development known as "Coving".
Coving is a concept in which the natural habitat is conserved and the homes are positioned in a fashion that saves the natural growth of trees and natural plants. By protecting the beautiful habitat and effectively using the natural resources to maintain the existing environment; the ecosystem suffers little or no damage. The section of land that Wild Wind was developed on contains thousands of Heritage Trees or older, established native trees. In order to conserve the trees, Ford Engineering, Inc. designed a preliminary layout and sent a survey crew to identify all the trees within the proposed right-of-way, selectively protecting the heritage oaks with contouring roadways and islands of trees throughout the development. After it was staked, Ford Engineering's engineers along with the developer, Mr. Fritz Van Nest, walked the site and made adjustments to the preliminary design in order to save additional trees where possible and maintain the natural beauty of the area. For example, if a proposed road was going to require the removal of heritage trees then the road was adjusted and the tree was left untouched. The designers of this development went to extreme care to protect the areas natural wildlife habitat by ensuring the survival of the mature growth of existing trees thus defending the habitation of local wildlife.
The importance of wildlife conservation is a growing concern for all of humanity. Land developers continue to clear-cut land in order to create rigid, symmetrical subdivisions and fail to adequately restore the natural habitat. By doing so, the earth's biological diversity and welfare is suffering. When earth's elements suffer; so do the human elements. Ford Engineering, Inc. is proud to be a part of this conservation project.
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