The greening of condo construction
Green, we’re told, is the new black. Everyone is buzzing for things that are “eco-friendly” or “sustainable” because there’s greater awareness when it comes to understanding how big a carbon footprint we are leaving for future generations.
This has become especially apparent when it comes to Montreal’s new housing projects, particularly with regard to condos. More and more developers are going to great lengths to ensure that eco-friendly practices and features are put into place in the way these spaces are designed.
Two factors come into play when defining a so-called green project. “You need to l ook at how to make the neighbourhood more sustainable, which involves creating a space where people can live locally — creating neighbourhoods that are walkable, thinking about the width of sidewalks and the distances from house to house, thinking about the amount of public transport or parking, using recycled products in the streets or LED street lights, and so on,” explained Ilan Gewurz, executive vice-president of Proment Corp.
“And you want to make your building more sustainable. For that, LEED created a certification to say they’re green,” Ilan Gewurz said. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a rating system that is recognized as the international mark of excellence for green building in more than 130 countries. Over the past 11 years, the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has certified more than 1,000 LEED buildings in Canada and registered more than 4,000, the second-highest number i n the world (www. cagbc.org).
“When we launched our first green residential highrise in Quebec, it was certified LEED Gold,” Gewurz said. “It’s incredibly energy-efficient, with high-energy windows and heat exchangers.
“We put an emphasis on water conservation, so we use a raincatcher to water the landscaping, which are all native species that require less pesticides. We installed low-flow faucets that have the same water pressure but consume less water, and we put a high focus on healthy materials.
“Even the treatment and choice of the site itself, like recycling during the process of building and not polluting around the area during construction, was considered.”
At three ongoing projects from Prével — 21e Arrondissement, Lowney sur Ville, and Les Bassins du Havre — being conscientious about the building sites as well as the individual units is of utmost importance.
“We’re projecting a LEED certification and have had professionals following the progression of the (Bassins du Havre) project. We’ve undergone a whole series of exercises to make these more sustainable,” said Jonathan Sigler, Prével’s co-president.
The Bassins du Havre pool is heated with solar panels, and both the air conditioning and heating are run through a common boiler/cooling tower rather than individual heating elements in each unit, which is much more efficient. There is bicycle parking for each resident, recycling cen-
LEED is recognized as the international mark of excellence ... in more
than 130 countries.
tres in the basement, and highspeed garage doors to minimize heat loss. Local materials were also sourced whenever possible.
For Groupe Dayan, going beyond the sustainability of their Se7t condo units and looking at those projects’ neighbourhoods were major priorities.
“We are trying to be sustainable on many levels,” said architect Josee Bérubé.
“The fact that the project is located close to existing commercial streets as well as public transportation makes it very sustainable in itself.”
Energy Star appliances, lowflow faucets and toilets, bike parking, recycling areas, and LED lights were all incorporated into the project.
“We also recouped the material that we took when we demolished the old building and are now (using it) to try and integrate some interesting industrial features,” added Georges Dayan, company president.
When today’s potential condo buyers purchase a sustainable home in the truest sense of the word, then “the result is environment sustainability, huge savings for our buyers (because of energy reduction and t he l ong-term value of green buildings), and the lifestyle benefits of living locally in a neighbourhood designed for smarter, healthier living,” Gewurz said.