Net-Zero Energy Ready Celebration

by Jay Starnino, Sustainability Analyst

Net-Zero Energy Ready

In October of 2018, Highstreet applied to compete in the Clean BC Net-Zero Energy Ready Challenge. This was a competition where progressive builders competed for incentives provided by the Government of BC in hopes of inspiring positive change in the industry and acquiring info around the cost and challenges associated with net-zero energy ready buildings. The program was inspired by the Exemplary Buildings Challenge held in Brussels, Belgium. The Exemplary Buildings Challenge is recognized as one of the most successful catalysts of change for building performance improvements.

51 projects applied for the Net-Zero Energy Ready Challenge. After three rounds of competition, 11 buildings were selected as winners; Carrington View Building A was one of these winners.

On Wednesday Nov. 27^th, 2019, Christina and I went to Vancouver to meet Bill Fisher (our architect) and present the building at a celebration for the winners.

The Vancouver West Conference Centre

The celebration was hosted at the Vancouver West Conference Centre. This is a beautiful building, achieving double LEED Platinum certification. Sustainability events are often held in buildings like this as a means of demonstrating excellence in sustainable design and inspiring further action.

Notable design components include a six-acre living roof (shown above), which is home to 400,000 indigenous plants and grasses and four beehives with European honeybees. The building also included a marine habitat restoration project, improving water quality in the area and providing homes to a variety of sea life. If you want to learn more about this amazing building, head to this link.

The building makes use of exposed mechanical in the ceilings, sprayed with a black noise cancelling foam for both acoustic and aesthetic purposes. Natural lumber provides contrast, helping further dampen sound, and creating a natural look. The garbage bins in the building are well labeled, encouraging people to use the “Recycle” and “Organics” bins before resorting to the “Landfill” bin as a last resort.

Our Thoughts

The showcase itself was an open house of designers, developers, policy makers, and sustainability professionals. We found we had a lot of traffic to our poster for Carrington View, especially since we have our average cost of construction listed on it: $185/sqft!

As a winner of the Clean BC Net-Zero Energy Challenge we will get a beautiful plaque to attach to the building upon completion. Just another way we can help increase education around these buildings and share our success with the people living-in and using the space.