Vales of Glenway embraces sustainable design
New development designed to reduce environmental impact gets nods of approval
This fall, 185 families will be moving into one of the most environmentally sustainable communities in the GTA.
Located in the town of Newmarket, the water-conscious and energy-saving community, called the Vales of Glenway, is raising the bar for innovation and overall environmental performance and sustainability for new homes.
BILD members Bazil Developments Inc. and Mosaik Homes are transforming what was a 30-acre farm into a community featuring innovative technology and building techniques that have received nods from local, regional and conservation authority officials.
Bazil principal Paul Bailey says they didn’t set out to be an example, but rose to the challenge presented by town officials as part of a pilot project aimed at speeding up approvals for low-impact development.
The project team included staff from the Town of Newmarket, York Region, Lake Simcoe and Toronto Region Conservation Authorities. Everyone worked together to come up with innovative solutions to conserve energy and water inside and outside the homes and throughout the overall development.
It wasn’t always easy, Bailey says, but they overcame a number of obstacles and learned a lot. The project has since been recognized by the Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority as a model of environmental sustainability.
For indoor water and energy conservation, every Vales of Glenway home is designed to exceed Ontario Building Code requirements by at least 25 per cent. The homes will be outfitted with newly designed lowflow toilets, EnergyStar appliances, water-saving whole-home furnace-mount humidifiers, programmable thermostats, additional insulation and more. The team also undertook a seed and sod study on the site to determine the best way to use soil and plants to help conserve water and participated in Enbridge’s Savings by Design program, an initiative that helps builders design and construct homes that will help homeowners save on energy costs.
The team is also working to reduce the phosphorus that is going into Lake Simcoe by more than is re- quired by provincial regulation. Two fascinating strategies used to accomplish this are bioswales and rain gardens, which will look like nice landscaping but functionally will be doing amazing things to capture roof rain runoff and eliminate the need for storm sewers.
When the community at the corner of Bathurst St. and Davis Dr. is complete, it will be the first of its kind within the Lake Simcoe watershed to use these water and energy conservation measures, according to the Conservation Authority. For the innovation and incorporation of green infrastructure, the Conservation Authority presented Bailey with a Conservation Award of Merit in 2013 for his leadership. Across the GTA, BILD members and community builders such as Bazil, Mosaik and many others take the environment into account every day when making decisions related to planning, design and construction.
The industry is meeting strict regulations, such as the Building Code, and many exceed them. Those who are pushing to have their teams do things differently than they have in the past know that new homebuyers will reap the benefits, and as a region, we all will, too. Bryan Tuckey is president and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association and a land-use planner who has worked for municipal, regional and provincial governments. Follow him at @bildgta, facebook.com/ bildgta and bildblogs.ca.