Calgary, AB - The Grow Home is an energy-efficient, narrow-front row house that has enabled more than 10,000 Canadian families to afford home ownership. Now the Grow Home's designer, Dr. Avi Friedman of Montreal, has received this year's $25,000 Manning Award of Distinction.

Friedman, associate professor at the McGill University School of Architecture, developed the Grow Home so that families with a minimum annual income could buy an attractive, well-built home for half the construction costs of a conventional house.

"People sometimes buy more home than they need. And they commit themselves to a huge mortgage for many years," says Friedman, 48. Born in Israel, he grew up in a small home of less than 350 square feet - typical for the time and place. He now lives with his own family in a duplex.

The Grow Home can be built for $40,000 construction costs in as little as two days. A new home, including lot with a fenced yard, can be purchased for $75,000 in Montreal, for example. The concept makes home ownership a reality for young couples, single-income families and single-parent families.

Friedman has won this year's $25,000 Southam Newspapers Manning Award of Distinction. The annual awards program has recognized leading Canadian innovators since 1982, presenting them with $135,000 in prize money each year.

The Grow Home is a 14-foot wide by 36-foot long, two-storey house on a narrow lot, which reduces land and infrastructure costs. To further cut costs, the basement or the second floor of each home is left as unfinished space. New homeowners can complete it the way they want - hence the name Grow Home. The row house design also reduces energy costs and conserves building materials.

"One can easily say that the Grow Home has revolutionized Quebec's and perhaps Canada's homebuilding industry," says Danny Cleary, president of Habitation St.-Laurent.

The Grow Home has generated a $1-billion investment in homebuilding in Canada and, in a prefabricated package design, has been exported to the United States, Europe and Latin America.

The Manning Innovation Awards Foundation will announce all of this year's recipients, including the $100,000 Manning Principal Award, throughout this month prior to the annual awards dinner on November 6 in Montreal.