First LEED Platinum heritage conversion planned

by mdoyle | February 3, 2014 2:51 pm

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A planned 31-storey office tower in Vancouver’s financial district will incorporate the neighbouring Old Stock Exchange building originally built in 1929.

The $200-million project is targeting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification, which would make it the country’s second-tallest structure to receive the highest Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) rating. A 35 per cent reduction in energy costs and an 85 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions have been predicted. The renovation of the Old Stock Exchange building as part of the project will be Canada’s first LEED Platinum heritage conversion.

Swiss architect Harry Gugger, in collaboration with consultant Vancouver’s Iredale Group are putting together the project.

“The important elements of the immediate context are of course the Old Stock Exchange as a heritage building itself together with the streetscape that it defines,” Gugger told Construction Canada Online.

Some of the original building’s design elements will remain intact.

“The project celebrates the history of the Original Stock Exchange Building by preserving the old elevator lobby, rehabilitating the existing area ways, and re-creating the original Stock Exchange trading floor,” Iredale Architect Group’s Peter Hildebrand told Construction Canada Online. “The process has been a careful dance between old and new, whereby each has benefitted from the presence of other.”

The new design includes floors as large as 1300 m² (13,993 sf), and space for up to 1700 occupants.

Credit Suisse Real Estate Management is spearheading the project for the city of Vancouver. A projected shortage of office space was a growing concern, but seven new office buildings are now underway and will generate (2.18-million sf) of office space. The Exchange is expected to be complete in 2016.

Source URL: https://www.constructioncanada.net/first-leed-platinum-heritage-conversion-planned/

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