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2016 Green Building Review results
Scroll down to view slideshows of the top three buildings in each of our four categories:
University and college buildings
Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence, Okanagan College
Gold (1st place)
City: Penticton, B.C.
• Windows indicate when they can be opened to maximize cooling
• Floors are polished concrete, heated and cooled with in-floor radiant system
• Building’s mechanical and electrical services are exposed, where possible, to demonstrate technology used – part of the building's teaching and "living lab" capability
• Solar chimneys draw warm air up and out of the building
Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, University of British Columbia
Silver (2nd place)
City: Vancouver, B.C.
• 100 per cent of all reclaimed water originates from the build- ing and campus sewer system, is treated onsite and reused within the building
• Thin floor plates allow light into the building from both sides
• Wood sourced from forests affected by mountain pine beetle infestation
• Living wall shades interior space from late afternoon sun in summer while allowing sunlight into interior spaces in winter
Mona Campbell Building, Dalhousie University
Bronze (3rd place)
City: Halifax, N.S.
• First university building in Atlantic Canada to become LEED Gold certified
• Built using Bubbledeck technology, which uses hollow, plastic balls, reinforced by steel within concrete slabs to reduce the amount of concrete used
• Features a bike room with two showers, 36 lockers and 32 indoor bike hanger racks
• 90 per cent of construction and demolition waste materials diverted from landfills
Hospitals
Sechelt Hospital
Gold (1st place)
City: Sechelt, B.C.
• Hospital includes 125 boreholes to provide zero-carbon energy for the building's heating and cooling, distributed through radiant slabs
• Patients look out over green roof combined with white roofs
• Local wood, stone and landscape elements echo the local ecology and materials
• Designed with the goal of being North America’s first carbon-neutral hospital
St. Joseph's Healthcare West 5th Campus
Silver (2nd place)
City: Hamilton, Ont.
• Site lighting layout is designed with no light spillage to adjacent properties, limiting light pollution
• One of first healthcare facilities in Ontario to be constructed on brownfield site
• Minimal solar heat gain through a predominant east-west orientation
• PVC roof to reduce heat island effect
Bridgepoint Hospital
Bronze (3rd place)
City: Toronto
• Mechanical equipment contains no harmful chlorofluorocarbons or hydro-chlorofluorocarbons that cause ozone depletion
• All adhesives, sealants, paints and coatings used in the building are low-to-no VOC
• Campus filled with garden spaces where patients and community members can enjoy therapeutic benefits of the outdoors
Office buildings
MEC Head Office
Gold (tied for 1st place)
City: Vancouver
Owner: Investors Group
• Building assembled in pieces and can be taken apart at the end of its useful life
• Artificial lighting only needed for a few hours of workday
• Heating/cooling provided by 20 geothermal wells optimized through ground source heat pump
• Passive ventilation system draws fresh air through three vertical stacks
TELUS Garden
Gold (tied for 1st place)
City: Vancouver
Owner: Westbank
• 10,000 square feet of outdoor garden terraces on six different levels
• Rainwater capture and recycling system for grey water and irrigation
• Over 300 solar panels produce approximately 65,000 kWh per year
• District energy system uses heat transferred from TELUS’s nearby data centre
• Fully integrated smart building program controls all systems
A Grander View
Bronze (3rd place)
City: Kitchener, Ont.
Owner: Carpenter Properties
• Landscaping requires no irrigation and provides habitats for native species
• Automated exterior window shades help mitigate solar heat gain and glare
• Buried concrete earth tubes used to pretreat ventilation air
• Low-flow fixtures throughout, including waterless urinal
• Recycled content used in construction, including stone from demolished church and retired river tunnel
Other public buildings
VanDusen Botanical Garden and Visitor Centre
Gold (1st place)
City: Vancouver
• Structure has been created to meet the Cascadia Living Building Challenge standard
• Majority of the roof is finished as a green roof; one of the roof "petals" is a rainwater catch-basin and another holds a solar hot water tube array
• Net zero water and net zero energy use
• Wide roof overhangs help to prevent heat gain and also provide rain protection
Bibliothèque du Boisé
Silver (2nd place)
City: Montreal
• Transparent partitions and open concept plan mean that 90 per cent of occupied floor area has views to the exterior
• Two-storey format minimizes the building footprint, opening up space to plant 105 trees and 5,000 shrubs
• Durable materials with minimum maintenance requirements selected for longevity
Centre for Green Cities at Evergreen Brick Works
Bronze (3rd place)
City: Toronto
• Operable windows throughout office space are augmented by cross ventilation, ceiling fans and three solar chimneys
• Building has programmable lighting control system that automatically shuts off lights when there’s enough natural light
• High-performance envelope reduces energy costs for the building
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