CaGBC honours Canada’s green building leaders at 2017 Leadership Awards

Theme: Membership

Leadership program includes Excellence in Green Building Awards for first time

VANCOUVER, BC – June 1, 2017 – Canada’s green building projects and innovators were in the spotlight at the Vancouver Convention Centre last night, as the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) honoured the 2017 Leadership Award recipients as a part of Building Lasting Change, the 2017 CaGBC National Conference and Showcase.

The annual Leadership Awards recognize individuals and organizations that show outstanding leadership in the industry, and those who have made a significant contribution to the CaGBC’s mission and goals in advancing green building in Canada.

New this year, the CaGBC has also added two new categories of awards that showcase Excellence in Green Building for new construction and existing building projects. These awards are presented to the team responsible for green building projects that demonstrate optimal building performance and occupant satisfaction. We are also recognizing projects that have achieved WELL certification putting Canada in the spotlight as a global leader in this space.

“I am very pleased to congratulate this year’s CaGBC Leadership Award, Green Building Excellence winners along with the first wave of WELL certified projects, who represent some of the very best minds, innovators and projects in the Canadian green building industry,” says Thomas Mueller, President and CEO of the Canada Green Building Council. “I believe that individual leadership and commitment to affect change is critical in moving toward a low carbon economy that will benefit all Canadians. This type of leadership is embodied by our Lifetime Achievement winner this year Stephen Carpenter. He has dedicated his professional life to advancing green building in Canada through project work, his extensive advocacy and volunteer contributions. His involvement has helped shape the LEED rating system and significantly contributed to its success in Canada.”

The winners of the first-ever CaGBC Green Building Excellence awards are:

New Construction: Amber Trails Community School
Located in the heart of a new neighbourhood in North Winnipeg, Amber Trails has achieved over 50 per cent reduction in water use, and impressive energy savings of 65 per cent in energy cost and 68 per cent in energy use. This is a school for more than its students – it is open and accessible and has evolved into an important hub within the community.
Existing Building: Vancouver Convention Centre (VCC)
The VCC goes above and beyond daily operations to create a spectacular environment that visitors from around the world want to experience. Among its many sustainability efforts, this LEED Platinum building has the largest non-industrial green roof in North America that is fully composed of native and adaptive species. As a result of the numerous features and best practices, the VCC operates 44 per cent more efficiently than a typical Canadian convention centre – no small feat for such a large venue.

Runners up for the Green Building Excellence Awards are: Telus Garden Office Tower, Q Lofts, Toronto Dominion Centre, and the NSCC Institute of Technology Campus.

Projects that earned WELL Building^™ certification are:

Toronto-Dominion Centre, a 222 Bay Street in Toronto, which earned WELL Gold certification for its entire building – the first project in North America to do so. This was in addition to its earlier WELL Gold certification for floor 23 at TD Centre, which was the first WELL certification under v1 in the world.
MNP Tower owned by Oxford Properties Group at 1021 West Hastings in Vancouver, which earned WELL Gold certification.
The CBRE Vancouver office at 1021 West Hastings St. in Vancouver, which earned WELL Gold certification.

The winners of the 2017 CaGBC Leadership Awards are

CaGBC Lifetime Achievement Award

Winner: Stephen Carpenter, former President and Founder of Enermodal Engineering Ltd.
Presented by: Darryl Neate, Honourary Chair of Building Lasting Change 2017 and Director of Sustainability, Oxford Properties Group

For over 35 years, Stephen Carpenter has designed and promoted energy efficient and sustainable buildings and communities. He was the co-author of the first LEED Canada Reference Guide and was the LEED Canada Technical Chair for 10 years. Steve has not only shaped the CaGBC and the LEED Canada rating system, but as president of Enermodal Engineering, Canada’s largest firm exclusively dedicated to creating green buildings, he has shaped how LEED is applied in the Canadian building industry, with his firm responsible for 23 of the first 25 LEED for New Construction certified buildings in Ontario. In 2014, Steve was awarded the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnson for his work in energy efficiency and sustainable buildings.

CaGBC Inspired Educator Award

Winner: Dr. Janet Moore and Duane Elverum, Co-Directors and Co-Founders of CityStudio
Presented by: Great-West Life

CityStudio Vancouver is an innovation lab for the city. As a partnership between the City of Vancouver and six public post-secondary schools, they place students inside City Hall and communities to co-create, design and launch real projects on the ground. Since 2011, CityStudio has engaged 3500 students, 75 City staff and 163 faculty members, co-creating 206 projects, experiments and prototypes on the ground in Vancouver communities. Students have contributed 100,000 hours in project creation, research and public sector innovation to the Greenest City, Healthy City and Engaged City.

CaGBC Emerging Green Builder Award

Winner: Hilary Corneau, Project Delivery Analyst, Brookfield GIS
Presented by: Martin Nielsen, Principal, DIALOG

In addition to her work at Brookfield GIS, Hilary was peer-elected as co-chair of the Greater Toronto Chapter’s Emerging Green Professionals (EGP) Committee, where she oversaw 14 team members striving to promote the green building industry and provide opportunities to students and young professionals. Hosting more annual events, with greater rates of participation than in previous years, the EGP membership has grown rapidly. As a result of her input and the committee’s dedication, the EGP committee has evolved into a significant force bridging academia and the green building industry.

Government Leadership Award

Winner: Office of Climate Change, Executive Council, Government of Newfoundland & Labrador (accepted by Perry Trimper)
Presented by: Graham Twyford-Miles, Discipline Leader, Energy & Sustainability, Stantec

The Provincial Energy Plan established environmental sustainability as a strategic objective of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s energy policy. Key departments and agencies were engaged to develop the Build Better Buildings Policy which centred on LEED, including a requirement to strive for LEED Silver status which has been an ambitious goal in a province that is mostly rural and a vast geography with limited access to green building materials, products and expertise. The Office also organized a public awareness program called Turn Back the Tide which offers information and tips on green buildings to a variety of audiences, including a current program that is developing resources for students and teachers in all 263 public schools in Newfoundland to raise awareness of energy efficiency in existing buildings.

CaGBC Volunteer Leadership – Technical Expertise

Winner: Wendy McDonald, Sustainability Consultant and Professional Engineer
Presented by: John Pontarollo, SVP Ontario, Great Lakes, NW US & Western Canada, CRH

Wendy has a long background in energy conservation, sustainability and mechanical design. In the mid 1990s while still at the University of Victoria, she began volunteering as a member of the Greater Victoria Water District’s Water Resources Conservation Advisory Committee. In 2008, Wendy joined the Energy & Engineering Technical Advisory Group where she has continued to appeal for LEED’s accessibility to this day. Wendy has also chaired the EAc1 Modelling Rules Task Force and the CaGBC LEED NC Submittal Improvement Task Force.

CaGBC Volunteer Leadership – Chapter

Winner: Tony Iacobelli, Manager, Sustainability at the City of Vaughan

Tony has extensive experience working with the not-for-profit sector and within the Municipality of Vaughan. He has a unique understanding and valuable insight into environmental planning and policy implementation and has been a key contributor for the Chapter’s submissions to the Province on land use planning amendments as well as working on multiple initiatives such as Energy Benchmarking, Health and Wellness, and the Climate Change Action Plan discussion. Tony is also dedicated to advocating broader public policy to support sustainable communities and green building.

CaGBC Green Building Champion Award

Winner: David Ramslie, Head of Sustainability, Planning and Research, Integral Group
Presented by: Enbridge

Dave has been an exceptional advocate and partner to the CaGBC over the last year, primarily in the form of his major contributions to two key initiatives. In early 2016, he coordinated the development of the CaGBC’s National Framework for Energy Benchmarking, bringing together stakeholders from across the industry under the umbrella of the CaGBC to develop a new Canadian approach to energy benchmarking. In 2016 and 2017, he has turned his focus to the development of the CaGBC’s Zero Carbon Buildings Standard. Dave brings a clarity and strength of vision that complements the ambitions of the CaGBC to make Canada a leader in emissions reductions in the buildings sector.

CaGBC Green Building Pioneer Award

Winner: Liviu Craiu-Botan, Manager, Energy and Technical Services, Oxford Properties Group
Presented by: Gord Hicks, President and CEO, Americas, Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions

Liviu is considered to be one of the country’s leading technical minds when it comes to energy use and building portfolios. Since 2013 he has been the driving force behind Oxford Properties’ energy management program across more than 35 office or retail sites and over 300 people from the Canadian REM operating teams. The performance outcomes across the large portfolio are exemplary, and the systems scale programs and practices, and demonstrated outcomes set a precedent in Canada for other large building portfolios holders.

Students Leading Sustainability: Andy Kesteloo Memorial Project Award

Winner: Andrew Martins, British Columbia Institute of Technology
Presented by: Thomas Mueller, President and CEO, Canada Green Building Council

Andrew won for his project called The Center for Urban Energy Exchange. His vision sees buildings resembling something similar to a living organism, rather than a conventional building, and this idea forms the basis of his architectural methodology, which he calls Whole System Design. The Centre for Urban Energy Exchange would use the potential energy stored in organic food waste, municipal solid waste, and black water waste and convert it back into usable heating and electricity, while producing profit-generating revenue via the conversion’s by-products. Through this submission, Andrew also demonstrated a net revenue stream for this building prototype, which could be turned it into smaller, economically-feasible business models that are scalable, more easily implemented and able to help distribute wealth and share the benefits of micro grids.

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About Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC)

CaGBC (portal.cagbc.org) is the leading national organization dedicated to advancing green building and sustainable community development practices. As the voice of green building in Canada, we work closely with our national and chapter members in an effort to make every building greener. The CaGBC reduces environmental impacts from the built environment through project certification, advocacy and research, and has helped meet the demand for skilled workers by providing green building education to over 20,000 professionals across the country since 2002. CaGBC is the license holder of the LEED green building rating system in Canada and launched the country’s first Zero Carbon Building Standard on May 29, 2017. CaGBC also supports the WELL Building Standard and GRESB in Canada, oversees the Canada Coalition for Green Schools, and is a member of the World Green Building Council.About Building Lasting Change
Building Lasting Change, which took place this year from May 31 to June 1 the Vancouver Convention Centre, is the premier green building event held in Canada. Each year, the Building Lasting Change program mirrors the changes affecting the green building industry and the diversity of innovation occurring across the country. It features education sessions, a showcase floor, B2B sessions, keynote speakers and panels, and a variety of networking events.