Photo courtesy CaGBC
The first commercial project in Canada to be certified to Platinum under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) v4 program is the Canada Green Building Council’s (CaGBC’s) Vancouver office. Specifically certified in the Interior Design + Construction category, this project achieved success thanks to various efforts from the project team. CaGBC, along with Dialog, Ledcor Construction, and Integral Group, worked to create a design promoting both wellness and sustainability.
“Our goal with this office was to set an example by achieving the most rigorous level of certification under LEED v4, and to do so by highlighting the innovation and capabilities that CaGBC has fostered over the past decade,” says Thomas Mueller, CaGBC’s president and CEO. “As the pressure builds to urgently address climate change and other environmental issues, CaGBC and our thousands of members and stakeholders across the country continue to lead by example. This project is demonstrating how we can reduce carbon impact, improve efficiency, and eliminate toxicity while stimulating innovation.”
Materials certified under Cradle2Cradle, those offering Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and those with life-cycle information readily available were prioritized for the project. Items such as flooring, shades, and fabric were selected based on this objective, while 80 per cent of the office’s furniture was made from recycled or otherwise reused sources.
The office is predicted to save 25.3 per cent in energy costs compared to American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1-2010, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-rise Residential Buildings, and should reduce water use by 39 per cent. Further, its location in accessible downtown Vancouver encourages employees to use bicycles and public transit, indirectly reducing carbon emissions otherwise generated from car use.
CaGBC strove to promote healthy practices within the office as well, incorporating features such as sit-stand desks, numerous workspace options, and an open-plan design to help employees make the most of the workplace. To ensure indoor air quality (IAQ), volatile organic compound- (VOC)-absorbing gypsum and low-VOC products were also selected.
More information on LEED v4 is available online.
