Honouring Ontario’s innovative green builders
BILD members awarded for energy-efficiency leadership
Builders and developers across the GTA are raising the bar for building green, sustainable communities. They do this in a range of ways and techniques that include innovative technologies, creative architectural design and reducing construction waste, among others.
And each year, to encourage continuous innovation, the building and development industry celebrates those builders committed to energyefficient and sustainable homes. BILD members who make that effort are often recognized as industry leaders in green building. Recently, some of the leaders stood out at the annual EnerQuality Awards. EnerQuality is Canada’s top certifier of energy efficient homes and is the market leader in the design and delivery of green building programs such as Energy Star for New Homes. Today, 32 per cent of all new homes built in Ontario are Energy Star qualified.
Each year, EnerQuality presents a series of awards, the most prestigious of which is the Ontario Green Builder of the Year. The honour recognizes a builder that raises the bar for the rest of the industry through leadership in improving the environmental, energy efficiency and overall image of the industry.
At the awards presentation this past February, BILD member Minto Communities took home the top prize for the second straight year. Among the builder’s list of accomplishments last year was offering net-zero-energy ready homes in one of its new communities in Ottawa, featuring increased insulation and air tightness.
Minto also made headlines late last year after announcing that it will give away free electric cars to the first 20 homebuyers who purchase a parking space equipped with an electric vehicle (EV) charging station in their new Toronto condo.
Among this year’s winners was another BILD member, Mattamy Homes, picking up the Energy Star for New Homes Builder of the Year, Large Volume Award for the third time. Mattamy was one of the first builders to participate in the Energy Star Program, which has grown to become the most successful green building program in Canada.
Mattamy homeowners have saved $14 million in energy costs since 2006, the saved energy equivalent of filling the Rogers Centre 40 times with carbon dioxide. To cap it off, Mattamy communicated the benefits of high-efficiency homes to consumers ensuring a higher degree of awareness and knowledge BILD member Tridel won EnerQuality’s inaugural Building In- novation, Mid and Highrise Award for demonstrating technical excellence while integrating innovation in energy efficiency and green building practices. Noteworthy accomplishments include Tridel’s netzero-energy condo suite NetZED — featured in both the Aqualina and Aquavista condominiums in Toronto’s East Bayfront — where the energy consumed equals or exceeds the energy produced by the suite’s solar panels. Tridel is the largest green LEED certified vertical communities builder in Ontario.
A typical Tridel building consumes 30-per-cent less electricity, 43-percent less natural gas and 40-percent less potable water than a model reference building.
Builders across the GTA are pushing their teams to find new and innovative ways of increasing the environmental performance and sustainability for new homes and it’s not only homebuyers who benefit, but everyone living in the GTA. Bryan Tuckey is president and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and is a land-use planner who has worked for municipal, regional and provincial governments. Find him on Twitter at @bildgta, facebook.com/bildgta and bildblogs.ca.