The Globe and Mail discusses SvN’s approach to net-zero building
The Globe and Mail discusses SvN’s approach to net-zero building
This project will be our client's first purpose-built net-zero building as they shift their entire real-estate portfolio to become net-zero by 2045.
Based on our experience with zero-carbon buildings, our client approached us to design a 12-storey purpose-built rental building as their first Net Zero Carbon building in their award-winning portfolio. This building will become a critical part of our client's ambitions to tackle climate change in all their projects and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045. We immediately looked to the CAGBC Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) standard as referenced in the Toronto Green Standard (TGS), a highly regarded policy intent on reducing building emissions in new projects. The site is 880 Eastern Avenue, located at the south end of Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood.
SvN is fortunate to have a client that intends to go well beyond the minimum requirements set out in the TGS for this project on Eastern Avenue. SvN Director of Regenerative Design Aaron Budd is an architect leading the project. He will guide the design of the building towards achieving the TGS and ZCB standards--crucial tools in measuring building innovation that supports the green building sector's efforts to decarbonize buildings in Canada. Strategies for this project include an efficient structural design that minimizes materials, including transfers, low-carbon concrete, geothermal heating and cooling, green roofs, unit configurations that allow cross ventilation, and a highly efficient building envelope.
For this project, SvN is adopting a Whole Life Carbon approach that assesses and anticipates the significant impacts of all design decisions on upfront embodied carbon emissions and its relative impact on longer-term operational carbon emissions.
The current provincial government is proposing legislative changes to build more housing in Ontario over the next decade. In a recent article published in The Globe and Mail, award-winning journalist John Lorinc discusses the importance of 880 Eastern Avenue and the Toronto Green Standard, an invaluable planning instrument the City of Toronto uses to persuade builders into designing projects that meet the minimum, if not elevated, TGS standards.
The full article can be found here.
SvN is fortunate to have a client that intends to go well beyond the minimum requirements set out in the TGS for this project on Eastern Avenue. SvN Director of Regenerative Design Aaron Budd is an architect leading the project. He will guide the design of the building towards achieving the TGS and ZCB standards--crucial tools in measuring building innovation that supports the green building sector's efforts to decarbonize buildings in Canada. Strategies for this project include an efficient structural design that minimizes materials, including transfers, low-carbon concrete, geothermal heating and cooling, green roofs, unit configurations that allow cross ventilation, and a highly efficient building envelope.
For this project, SvN is adopting a Whole Life Carbon approach that assesses and anticipates the significant impacts of all design decisions on upfront embodied carbon emissions and its relative impact on longer-term operational carbon emissions.
The current provincial government is proposing legislative changes to build more housing in Ontario over the next decade. In a recent article published in The Globe and Mail, award-winning journalist John Lorinc discusses the importance of 880 Eastern Avenue and the Toronto Green Standard, an invaluable planning instrument the City of Toronto uses to persuade builders into designing projects that meet the minimum, if not elevated, TGS standards.
The full article can be found here.