BUILDING GREEN:

Adding Value Through Process

Acknowledgments

The project was sponsored jointly by the Green Buildings BC, Greater Vancouver
Regional District (GVRD) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).
Project Team
Dr Raymond J Cole
Nicole Miller
Selena Schroeder
Graphic Layout
Tomas Machnikowski

Project Supervisor, UBC School of Architecture

Research Assistant, UBC School of Architecture
Research Assistant, UBC School of Architecture

Contents

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................1

BUILDING KNOWLEDGE...........................................................................................5
Local Context............................................................................................................6
Broader Expertise......................................................................................................8
Life-cycle Costing (LCC)...........................................................................................10
Life-cycle Assessment..............................................................................................12
Modelling................................................................................................................14

INTEGRATION..........................................................................................................17
Building Environmental Assessment Methods.......................................................18
Goals Setting.......................................................................................................... 20
Design Charrettes....................................................................................................22

VERIFICATION..........................................................................................................25
Third Party Certification.........................................................................................26
Commissioning........................................................................................................28
Post-Occupancy Evaluation.....................................................................................30

WAY FORWARD.......................................................................................................33

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.......................................................................................35

INTRODUCTION
Green buildings offer value that extends well beyond the standard measures of
profit and cost savings they represent improved tenant comfort, health and
productivity, increased marketability and asset value, reduced susceptibility to
future energy price volatility and an expression of corporate environmental
responsibility.
Green building positions environmental considerations as guiding notions
within the full breadth and complexity of decision making evaluating the
potential of natural systems and resource-efficient options prior to conventional
ones. It requires a change in the culture of building development and design
so that alternative strategies can be considered and increased performance and
value can be achieved. Modifying the development and design process involves
a redefinition of priorities, the creation of improved forms of participation
and communication, and a shift in the mindsets and patterns of the many
participating professionals. It takes time and effort to establish new working
relationships, build knowledge, and form consensus.
1

Integrated Design Process

The successful integration of environmental systems and strategies requires
transcending professional boundaries towards a comprehensive, team-based
approach known as an Integrated Design Process (IDP). During an IDP, the full
design team and key stakeholders in the IDP - architects, landscape architects,
engineers, energy modellers, cost consultants, construction managers, owners
- work together from the outset. Where appropriate and possible, this can be
further complemented by a broader set of experience offered by operators,
future tenants and environmental consultants.
The benefits of an Integrated Design Process are considerable:
Collaboration: Cultivating collaboration among all players in the building
process to create a context in which a design team can better achieve
goals, maximize benefits, alleviate both real and perceived risks and to
introduce specialized and local knowledge in a timely manner.
Communication: Creating a context that permits a rigorous and intentional
communication process to both reconcile the multiple points of view and
enhance the synergies between systems and strategies.
Cost savings: Exposing potential cost savings through synergistic strategies
and systems and permitting more effective solutions to be discovered
through direct exchange of ideas and feedback. The additional time and
money for meetings and communication can often be offset through
savings from more efficient design and the avoidance of costly mistakes.
Improved performance: Bringing operations personnel into the process
early can help ensure that a building performs as intended. Selecting
contractors experienced in green buildings can reduce the need for
change orders, as they will have more knowledge of fulfilling alternative
design strategies and including them early in the process to offer practical
experience to the design team and provide more accurate estimates of
construction consequences and costs.

IDP is not a checklist or formula for integrating environmental issues into

design, nor is it a source of prescriptive guidance. It is an organizational model
or process that can and should be adapted to the unique circumstances of each
project.

Financing Green Projects

Designing and constructing green buildings occurs within demanding time and
cost constraints. Additional time invested early in the process to allow for extra
design meetings, materials and systems research, and modelling of alternative
design strategies can pay off significantly by avoiding costly mistakes and time
expenditures later in the process, and by achieving significant efficiencies in
operating costs. The extent of increased initial outlay, if any, is influenced by the
level of performance targeted and by contextual factors such as the maturity
of the local green building market, the openness of the client to alternative
solutions, the size and type of project and the experience and creativity of the
design team.
The existing financing system for buildings is complex and rigid, and typically
does not recognize the long-term value of environmentally sound investments.
However, planning authorities, financial institutions and government agencies
are becoming increasingly more knowledgeable, receptive and supportive
of green building initiatives. Within this context, it is possible to draw upon
2

creative financing packages and incentive programs in support of green

building practice:
Rebates and incentives: Funding such as utility rebates, government
programs, or tax incentives for redeveloping brownfield properties.
Streamlined building approval: Streamlining the permitting process by
local building and planning departments for projects that demonstrate a
strong commitment to advanced building performance.
Performance contracting: Contracts in which the fees to the projects
design and construction professionals are partly contingent upon how
well the building meets established performance goals during a prescribed
period of operation.
New purchasing models: Manufacturers which offer new product delivery
systems based on providing services rather than selling products and
thereby reducing upfront, maintenance and disposal costs.

Scope and Structure of Booklet

The primary role of Building Green: Adding Value Through Process is to highlight
key approaches that can individually and collectively support green design
practice and provide a positive environment for delivering higher performance
buildings. The processes reviewed provide a means to revisit and question
current norms, assumptions and rules of thumb and to assess if they are still
valid in the context of green building design.

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The booklet is organized into three domains Building Knowledge, Integration

and Verification:

Verdant Residential Project,

Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
After traditional construction financing
was secured for its 60-unit residential
project, the developer, VanCity
Enterprises (VCE), chose to add a
geothermal heating system and was
able to secure secondary financing for it
through one of its affiliated companies,
VanCity Capital Corporation (VCC).
VCC provides debt and equity financing
for energy-efficient systems, including
those using promising emerging
technologies. The second mortgage
covered the costs to design, install
and commission the geothermal
system. The loan is being amortized
over 25 years and purchasers pay a
monthly amount to cover both the
debt and the operating expenses. The
amortization period is relatively long
because electrical and natural gas utility
costs are low and Burnabys climate is
mild. In locations where the climate
varies dramatically between seasons
and where utility costs are high, the
payback period can be reduced to as
little as 5 - 8 years.

Building Knowledge: Enhancing the basis of decision-making to include

techniques and expertise that bring new insights to design through:
Local Context
Broad Expertise
Life Cycle Costing
Modelling
Life Cycle Assessment

Integration: Developing challenging performance goals and viewing the

project as an integrated system using:
Building Environmental Assessment Methods
Ray & Maria Stata Center,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Frank O. Gehry/Cannon Design, 2005
A 40,000m2 classroom and research
facility building with two-story
neighborhoods, an outdoor terrace, a
fitness centre, a childcare centre and an
expansive interior boulevard to promote
social and intellectual interaction.

Goal Setting
Design Charrettes

Verification: Ensuring that buildings perform as closely as possible to that

anticipated by undertaking:
3rd Party Certification
Commissioning

Cost savings in the mechanical and

electrical systems translated directly to
an increase in available dollars for finish
materials. If the client has thought
through what it really means to
undertake sustainable design, they are
more likely to welcome the integrated
process. If this is so, the incremental
costs of finish materials are a very
small piece of overall design strategies
and must be seen as part of a bigger
picture. If the client is grabbing onto
the idea of green design without
fully understanding what it is or the
processes behind it, he or she will react
negatively to increased material costs.
The clients reaction relates directly
to his or her underlying motivation
and educated commitment to green
design.

Post-Occupancy Evaluation
The approaches in Building Knowledge and Integration are typically embraced
directly within an Integrated Design Process, while those in Verification offer
a means to demonstrate and communicate the success of that effort. Many of
the techniques and processes situated within these domains are also clearly
inter-related and several are valuable throughout the entire design process.
Building Green: Adding Value Through Process presents the key components,
benefits and potential pitfalls associated with each of the techniques and
processes individually and, where appropriate, additional links and resources
are highlighted.

Barbra Batshalom, Executive Director,

The Green Roundtable.
http://www.isdesignet.com/
Magazine/2004/jun/ncidq.html

BUILDING KNOWLEDGE
Green building projects require design professionals to strengthen their
knowledge base, drawing on both local experience and specialist expertise.
Successful green designs achieve a delicate balance between these two
perspectives, integrating local culture and materials with appropriate
technologies and strategies from various professional disciplines. As noted in
Rocky Mountain Institutes Green Development:

Countless developments have stalled because the team failed to understand

the needs of the community, or did not consider the influence and control that
local residents, government and civil servants may have on the success of a bid to
develop a property. Harnessing the ideas and influence of local government and
citizens will foster development that is better suited to, and better accepted by,
an existing community (http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid226.php) .

Similarly, understanding that initial design decisions have profound impacts

over a buildings life, a wider range of tools and resources is necessary for
furthering the development, adoption and successful implementation of
green strategies. Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) have
successfully instilled the notion of an extended time context for examining
the environmental characteristics of buildings beyond the short horizons that
dominate current design and construction.
Using environmental modelling techniques to test alternative designs and
drawing upon financing packages and incentive programs which support of
green building are two amoung many approaches which have the potential to
enhance the design process.

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Green buildings place greater emphasis on natural systems and processes,

regional materials and practices and occupant behaviour, than do conventional
designs. They explicitly recognize and respond to local context and place value
on protecting, enhancing and celebrating it is unique characteristics.

Components
Understanding the environmental, social, political, economic and regulatory
context in which one builds is an essential requirement in the green design
process. This includes:
Ecological knowledge: Understanding natural systems and processes
hydrological, climatic, ecological, etc. and the ways that buildings can
potentially integrate in a mutually supportive manner.
Bidding & procurement climate: Assessing the interest and willingness of
local contractors and subcontractors to participate in green design and
accept the challenges involved in documentation, application of Indoor Air
Quality (IAQ) credits, scheduling, etc.
Regional and municipal regulatory context: Becoming familiar with
officials, policies, and codes, and seeing these as an opportunity rather
than a limiting factor to the project.
Green building market: Assessing public interest in and understanding of
green building issues and technologies.

 Regional products and partners: Becoming familiar with local products and
companies as sources of materials, information, or potential partnerships.
Local culture: Understanding how local preferences and priorities and
demographic trends might affect the intent and values of the project, and
enhance the implementation process.

Benefits
Cost savings: Preventing costly and time-consuming mistakes from being
made by having greater understanding of community and regulatory
issues, of regional climatic conditions, and of local contractors, material
suppliers, and government incentives.
Better fit: Greatly increasing the potential of a project to be appropriate to
the site, responsive to the culture, and accepted by the local market.
Improved credibility: Gaining credibility and support among community
members who feel the project has been developed with their best interests
in mind.

Pitfalls
Unbalanced representation: Assuming that consultations with a narrow
subset of the local population (e.g. the local chamber of commerce or the
parent action committee of the local elementary school) will represent the
interests of the community at large.
Dated Regulations: Attempting to challenge local codes which are wholly
outdated and incapable of accommodating green building innovations.

Resources
Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate: The Rocky
Mountain Institute, 1998.
Cutting Green Tape: An Action Plan for Removing Regulatory Barriers to
Green Innovations, West Coast Environmental Law, April, 2002.
An Action Plan for Overcoming Non-Regulatory Barriers to High
Performance Green Buildings, Report to LEED-BC Steering Committee,
The Sheltair Group Resource Consultants Inc., August 2003

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When trying to enrich our social

community projects with experimental,
environmentally progressive strategies,
some are always doubtful that these
ideas are too theoretical and foreign
to our context. At Benny Farm we
tried to respond to these legitimate
apprehensions and mitigate the risks
(technically, socially and economically)
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The project deployed specialist

consultants from Transsolar, Germany,
to support and validate the project
engineers on the innovative energy
systems risk management, including
cost-benefit analysis; included
volunteers from the different housing
organizations in the IDP to understand
the technical, social, political and
economic aspects of the overall project
and its long term goals; and legal
advisors to understand mechanisms
where the long term buy-in to shared
infrastructure was often blocked red
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The Green Energy Benny Farm project

provides the shared environmental
infrastructure linking 187 units in four
housing projects. It is a prototype for
community-driven sustainability housing
that provides a unique integration
of building, sustainable systems, and
community process in the low-cost
housing sector.

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Contemporary building design relies on a broad range of specialized knowledge

embedded in a number of disciplines. LEED Accredited Professionals typically
act as champions of green issues and strategies that may challenge current
design norms, but an integrated design process can be enhanced through the
inclusion of an even wider array of participants.
Components
The breadth of knowledge necessary to implement green design generally
requires a wide range of experts and participants who make unique
contributions to the success of a project. These include:
Green building coordinator: Gathering documentation and orienting
project staff, especially contractors who may not have been party to initial
decisions and goal setting.
Quantity Surveyor/Cost consultants: Working through all stages of the
project to ensure that the built project respects all budget parameters
including the life cycle costs of operation and maintenance.
Valuation/Appraisal professionals: Providing estimates and evidence of the
costs-in-use and the value of green strategies.
Energy and environmental modellers: Providing estimations of the
environmental performance of alternative design options.
Planning officials: Expediting approvals for alternative design strategies,
identifying possible bonuses, and garnering civic input on, and support, for
the project.
8

 Environmental consultants (Ecologists, daylighting specialists, renewable

energy technologists, etc.): Providing valuable insights and suggestions for
addressing issues central to green design.
Community members: Providing insight into how a building may be used,
and helping to establish community support for the project.
Future building occupants: Helping to assess how the project will be
occupied and used and, by participating in the design, preparing to inhabit
the building after its construction.
Future operations staff: Providing information on maintenance and
operational needs for the building, as well as benefiting from witnessing
the design process and learning how new systems will work.

Benefits
Cost savings: Avoiding significantly higher costs attributed to the learning
curve and potential mistakes by less experienced design teams. The
additional costs of hiring extra consultants at critical parts of the process
is offset by innovative solutions, fewer errors and significant reductions in
capital and operational costs.
Innovative design: Introducing new possibilities and creative ways of
attaining high environmental performance within tight cost constraints.
Improved performance: Engaging future occupants and operations staff to
smooth the transition from design to occupation, thereby increasing the
likelihood of successful performance.

Pitfalls
Inappropriate technology: Adopting specialized solutions that involve a
level of technology or expertise that is not sustainable throughout the
life of the building, rather than opting for simple and locally appropriate
solutions.
Scope creep: Involving too many players without clear direction, thereby
clouding decision-making and stifling progress.

Resources
Green Value: Green Buildings, Growing Assets Case Studies. Royal
Institute of Chartered Surveyors, October 2005.

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$35 million over 60 years, and over
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For example, while a LEED Gold rated

building was estimated to cost more
in construction costs, when compared
to a market building it can save in
operation and maintenance costs:

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The resulting Sustainability Matrix

demonstrated that the net present
value (all the expenses, annual and
capital, associated with a building over
a set period of time) of six scenarios
over a 100 year time period vary
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The design team was charged with

developing a decision making method
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Financial performance is generally one of the critical factors in investment

decisions, but the costs of a project extend well beyond initial investment. If
green materials, systems and strategies are to be adopted, confidence must
be instilled in both the client and the design team that there will indeed
be significant benefits reduced operating and maintenance costs, etc.
associated with such a choice.
Life Cycle Costing (LCC) is a tool that can provide supporting evidence. It is one
of several methodologies that can be used to provide a more comprehensive
view of costs. Total cost and full-cost are other accounting methods that
incorporate broader sets of cost issues that may or may not be incurred at some
point in the future the contingency as well as broader societal costs.
The earlier in the design that an analysis is undertaken, the greater the
potential for results to influence decisions. At this stage, however, cost and
performance data are less accessible and assumptions are more speculative. The
most accurate estimates can be obtained by involving a Quantity Surveyor from
the outset to ensure that the budget is reasonable, and throughout all stages of
the project to ensure that budget parameters are respected, including the LCC
aspects of operations and maintenance.
Components
The use of Life Cycle Costing in green building design involves:
Long-term considerations: Estimating future operations and maintenance
costs relative to initial capital outlay.
Choice of financial indicators: Employing alternative financial criteria (e.g.,
discounted cash flow analysis, rates of return) and calculating for longer
payback periods.
Feedback: Providing feedback on the cost of implementing alternative
green design strategies.
10

 Data Requirements: Collecting information on operational costs from

various sources.
Documentation: Recording life-cycle costs as solid evidence to support the
economic case for green strategies in future projects.

Benefits
Cost savings: Providing a basis for weighing initial investments against
future costs over a specified period of time, with the purpose of making
more informed design choices.
Evidence: Generating the evidence needed to break through common cost
barriers and expose the increased profits that can be made through more
environmentally sound solutions. This, in turn, can lead to recognition in
appraisals, lending markets, and budget allocations.
Business perspective: Illustrating the benefits of green design in terms of
capital and operating cost reductions, greater profit margins and returns
on investment, increased productivity and staff retention.

Pitfalls
Constrained options: Committing to one particular strategy over another as
a fait accomplish irrespective of cost ramifications.
Budget structure: Dividing budgets into capital and operating with
management of each making decisions and choices in isolation of the
other.
Complexity: Combining considerable amounts of hard and soft data, the
inaccuracy of which is compounded by extrapolation into the future.
Late start: Not using LCC sufficiently early in the process to provide
effective guidance.

Resources
Costing Green: A Comprehensive Cost Data Base and Budgeting
Methodology, Lisa Fay Matthiessen and Peter Morris, Davis Langdon, July
2004.
The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings: A Report to Californias
Sustainable Building Task Force, Greg Kats, October 2003.
US Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) Building Life-Cycle Cost
(BLCC) Program.
Site: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/information/download_blcc.html
Building Life-Cycle Cost Program BLCC 5.3-05. Program developed by
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to provide
computational support for the analysis of capital investments in buildings.
Site: http://www.eere.energy.gov/femp/information/download_blcc.cfm
Green Value: Green Buildings, Growing Assets Case Studies. Royal
Institute of Chartered Surveyors, October 2005.
11

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LifeCycle Assessment methodologies profile the environmental performance
of materials, components and buildings through time and are the only
legitimate basis to compare the long-term environmental impacts of competing
alternatives. Whereas Life Cycle Costing is concerned with evaluating the cash
inflows and outflows over the life of the product, Life Cycle Assessment is more
concerned with assessing the environmental impacts of the product over its life.
There are many parallels between LCC and LCA in that both methods attempt
to profile performance through time using a common currency economic
(dollar etc.,) and natural (energy, CO2 equivalents, etc.) units, respectively.

Components
LifeCycle Assessment requires the following considerations:
Systems analysis: Understanding of the environmental impacts associated
with the production (upstream) and use and disposal (downstream) of a
material or product.
Long-term horizons: Extending the time context for examining the
environmental characteristics of buildings beyond the short timeframes
that dominate current design and construction practice.
Documentation: Documenting the evidence gained from the LCA to
improve collective knowledge for future decision-making.

Benefits
Better decisions: Utilizing LCA to select materials and components that
cause minimal environmental damage and provide maximum performance
throughout the life of the building.
12

 Improved knowledge: Documenting the life-cycle impacts of material and

technology applications, which can offer further evidence for the support
of green strategies.
Marketing Opportunities: Providing the results of LCA as a basis for
promotional materials about the anticipated environmental benefits of a
project.
Mount Pleasant Community Centre
LCA Study
Busby Perkins + Will, 2006

Pitfalls
Lack of motivation: Failure to obtain a clients commitment to invest the
time and effort required for LCA.
Constraints of tools: Viewing the outcomes of LCA as a legitimate analysis
of options, when limited data sets and may not permit assessment of
innovative solutions.

Busby Perkins + Will conducted a

post-mortem (post-design) Life Cycle
Assessment of the Mount Pleasant
Civic Centre, a new mixed-use facility
currently under construction, developed
by the City of Vancouver in the heart
of the Mount Pleasant community in
Vancouver, BC.

Resources
ATHENA v.3 Environmental Impact Estimator makes it possible for
designers and others to access reliable LCA-based answers without having
to undertake LCA. It is a practical, easy-to-use decision support tool that
provides high quality environmental data and assists with the complex
evaluations required to make informed environmental choices. The Athena
Sustainable Materials Institute.
Site: www.athenaSMI.ca

Seven building assemblies with different

cladding and structural materials were
compared using LCA software. Output
of the assessment comprised:
Primary Energy Consumption (MJ)
Global warming potential (CO2
equivalent)

Mount Pleasant Community

Centre LCA Study

Index of Air Pollution Effects

EPA and National Risk Management Research Laboratorys Life-Cycle

Assessment (LCA) web site. This site promotes the use of LCA to make
more informed decisions through a better understanding of the human
health and environmental impacts of products, processes, and activities.
Site: http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/lcaccess/

Index of Water Effects

Natural Resource use (kg)

Weighted Resource Use (kg)
Solid Waste (kg)

Busby Perkins + Will

Total Life
Cycle Energy
conducted
a (MJ)
post-

mortem (post-design)
Assessment
The designLife
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to rank of
these in order
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assemblya over
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However, after
peercurrently
review, theunder
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facility
team decided that this approach did
not accurately represent the LCA
results. The City of Vancouvers and
Greater Vancouver Regional Districts
set of ranked regional environmental
priorities (Water Pollution, Global
Warming Potential, Embodied Energy,
and Solid Waste) were used to limit and
discuss the appropriateness of each
building assembly.

13

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workshop to be a very effective
method for balancing the perceived
costs and benefits of various energy
conservation measures against
measured costs and benefits. It also
provided valuable feedback on when
the value vs. cost of a measure began
to drop off, so that attention could
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The modelling also identified energy

improvements associated with a
range of individual and bundles of
strategies. These were subequently
used to establish a series of
prescriptive design strategies to gain
performance points in UBCs Residential
Environmental Assessment Program
(REAP).

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A half-day energy modeling workshop

involving representatives of government
agencies, major utilities, consultants,
contractor and major trades, was
conducted to explore a number of
possible energy reducing scenarios and
develop a package of responses which
gave the greatest value for money.
Subsequent design changes made led
to a 35% reduction in enery use from a
normal project of this type.

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Legacy is Aderas third project at UBC

- a four storey wood-frame strata
titled apartment building with 55 units,
over a one level underground parkade.

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The use of simulation and analysis software is becoming increasingly common

at all stages of the building design process for exploring the potential
environmental performance of alternative solutions. The capabilities and
usability of computer simulation tools have progressed enormously over the
past decade and now range from advanced tool sets requiring specialized
services to those with designer-friendly interfaces for in-house use. A critical
issue in modelling process is understanding the range and variation in measures
used to objectively assess building performance and quickly identify and reject
invalid simulation results.

Components
Modelling techniques cover wide range of environmental performance issues,
including:
Energy simulation: Using computer simulation programs to assess building
energy use and thermal comfort conditions resulting from alternative
design strategies.
Natural ventilation: Employing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
techniques to evaluate complex natural air-flow patterns and associated
thermal comfort conditions.
Lighting simulation: Using simulation software and physical models for
quantitative and qualitative evaluation of lighting distribution within
building interiors and to unify solar, shading and daylighting issues.
4-D Design: Using software that enables consultant drawings to be
uploaded into a common model to prevent conflicts in complex building
systems, thereby improving construction schedules.
14

Benefits
Cost savings: Reducing costly change orders and improving overall
efficiency by highlighting conflicts before construction.
Confidence: Providing a clear understanding of alternative options and
potential building performance.

Pitfalls
Lack of training: Failing to ensure that users of sophisticated modelling
programs have the necessary skills to properly operate the software and
produce meaningful results.
Inflated expectations: Expecting modelling programs to yield highly
precise results. Energy modelling is most useful to compare the relative
performance of design alternatives rather than predict actual performance.
Lack of balance: Failing to balance energy performance with other critical
issues, particularly thermal comfort.

Resources
EnergyPlus: Building energy simulation program for modelling building
heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, and other energy flows.
Site: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/
EE4 CBIP: Program that automates energy use assessment, and applies
all the specific Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP) rules to
verify that a design is at least 25 percent more energy efficient than if
constructed to meet Model National Energy Code for Buildings (MNECB)
requirements.
Site: http://buildingsgroup.nrcan.gc.ca/ee4/english/home/index.php
DOE2: A comprehensive energy analysis program used to predict a
buildings hourly energy use and associated utility costs.
Site: www.doe2.com
National Renewable Energy Program (NREL) Energy-10: Software tool
for designing low-energy buildings that integrates daylighting, passive
solar heating, and low-energy cooling strategies with energy-efficient
shell design and mechanical equipment. The program is applicable to
commercial and residential buildings of 1000m2 or less.
Site: www.nrel.gov/buildings/energy10
ECOTECT: Environmental design tool which couples an intuitive 3D
modelling interface with extensive solar, thermal, lighting, acoustic and
cost analysis functions. Site: http://www.squ1.com
Radiance/4D+: Radiance is a powerful lighting program that simulates both
daylighting and electric lighting, and provides photo-realistic images, lux
and daylight factor contour, glare factors and comfort indices.
Site: www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/tools_directory
International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA):
A forum for the exchange of information between practitioners and
researchers on building performance simulation.
Site: www.ibpsa.ca
15

Victor Brodeur Regional School

Esquimalt, BC
Marceau Evans Johnson Architects,
2006
This new 7,000 m2 educational facility is
funded through the provincial Ministry
of Education with additional funding
from the Federal Government to permit
its use by the larger francophone
community of Victoria. It houses a
kindergarten to grade 12 educational
facility, with additional space for
preschool/daycare and communitybased functions.
Measures have been implemented
which are anticipated to result in an
annual energy savings of about 40%
of the Model National Energy Code for
Buildings. This will bring an estimated
$37,300 financial incentive from the
CBIP program. It is anticipated that
the project will attain a LEED Silver
designation.
The energy analysis workshop, which
modelled the building performance,
was a particularly useful tool in that it
brought all the consultant design team
members together with the client. The
life-cycle cost and performance impact
of altering the various design factors
could immediately be seen, allowing
the necessary trade-offs to be made
on the spot based on well-researched
information very efficient means of
optimizing a buildings performance
within a given set of cost criteria.
Greg Johnson, Principal, Marceau Evans
Johnson Architects

16

INTEGRATION
Successful green design combines enhanced energy and environmental
performance, architectural and engineering elegance, and improved value. This
requires a greater understanding of systems integration - exploring relationships
between building systems, their technical and formal integration, and the ways
that occupants interact with them. Viewing a project as an integrated entity
rather than as a series of systems working in isolation exposes potential cost
savings through synergistic strategies. For example, combining an improved
building envelope, high efficiency equipment and a passive ventilation strategy
can lead to the resizing or even elimination of expensive HVAC components.
Green building design and construction also requires improved communication
and collaboration to help break down the barriers that often exist between
disciplines. This enables:
A variety of strategies to be quickly developed for consideration, problems
and inconsistencies to be pinpointed, and incompatible decisions to be
identified and resolved early in the process.
Improved professional services, better building performance, and improved
value for money.
Several processes encourage and facilitate a greater level of integration: using
building environmental assessment methods, goal setting and design charrettes.
17

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Building environmental assessment methods such as Leadership in Energy

and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System and the
Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP) have emerged as a legitimate
basis for guiding design and evaluating potential green building performance.
Environmental assessment methods cover a broad range of performance issues,
organized into individual credits which can be earned to achieve ratings that
vary from certified to platinum. Some credits are easier or/and cheaper to
achieve than others, depending largely on location and building type, while
more difficult credits can often be attained through creative design to uncover
synergies.

Components
While each system varies in its scope and structure, all building environmental
assessment methods offer the following possibilities to add value to a project:
Goal setting: Using an overall desired rating (e.g., attain a LEED Gold)
or specific levels within individual credit requirements (e.g., attain eight
EA Credit-1: Optimize Energy Performance points) to set performance
targets.
Decision making: Adopting the intentions and requirements of appropriate
performance assessment credits as a basis for budget, scheduling, and
design decisions.
Communication: Using the structure of assessment methods to present
green building to a client in a clear, easy-to-understand format.
18

Benefits
Funding: Gaining access to CBIP funds to achieve LEED Energy &
Atmosphere Prerequisites.
Comprehensive evaluations: Providing a common and verifiable set of
principles, measures and performance targets by which developers and
building owners interested in green design can gauge environmental
performance and make informed design decisions.
Common language: Providing a focus for discussion among the design
team. This makes green buildings more understandable and assists in
communicating the values, goals and strategies of green building practice
to clients and occupants.
Education: Presenting an organized and straight-forward suite of
information by which less experienced design teams can identify various
green building options for a project.

Pitfalls
Loss of intentions: Focusing solely on the LEED credit requirements and
losing sight of the overarching intentions behind them.
Point chasing: Identifying and attaining individual LEED points without
considering possible synergies or seeking the most environmentally
appropriate strategies.

Resources
LEED Canada for New Construction and Major Renovations version 1.0
and Reference Guide: Canada Green Building Council.
Site: www.cagbc.org
Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP): A financial incentive from
Natural Resources Canada for incorporation of energy efficiency features
in new commercial/institutional building designs. Up to $60,000 is awarded
to building owners whose designs meet CBIP requirements. An eligible
building design must demonstrate energy reduction by at least 25% when
compared to MNECB.
Site: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/commercial/newbuildings.cfm
Green Globes: An on-line auditing tool to guide integration of
environmental performance in project delivery and to assess the design of
green buildings against best practices and standards.
Site: http://www.greenglobes.com/

19

Vancouver Island Technology Park

Idealink Architecture & Bunting Coady
Architects, 2001
VTTP was the first LEED certified
building in Canada. The media
attention relating the LEED Gold
designation had a positive impact in
terms of the free advertising for the
project. The reputations of the owner,
developer and tenants were also
enhanced through positive coverage,
especially in local newspapers and
trade journals. The sustainability
aspects of the project have been one
of the key differentiators between VITP
and its competitors, and has increased
its ability to attract tenants.

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A multi-stakeholder group collectively

defined 22 demanding performance
goals at the outset, including:
Neutralizing ecological impact; using
renewable energy sources, net annual
power generation and GHG neutral;
100% day-lighting illumination during
the day; on-site collection of rainwater
to meet 100% of potable water
requirements, and all wastewater
collected and treated on site.

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CIRS will be an internationally recognized

research centre that accelerates the
adoption of sustainable building
technologies and sustainable urban
development practices.

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Up to 70% of life cycle costs are committed when just 1% of a projects upfront
costs are spent. The most successful green design projects are those that make
an explicit declaration of environmental performance targets at the outset,
with committed leadership from the top by the building owner.
By investing time in the goal-setting process, all parties can gain a better
understanding of stakeholder needs and concerns. This can subsequently
help to alleviate conflicts and contribute to the projects overall success. More
demanding goals can often lead to reductions in initial cost rather than small,
incremental improvements. For example, significant energy efficiency measures
can lead to the reduction and even elimination of mechanical equipment.

Components
The following components should be included as part of the goal setting
process:
Targets: Setting goals that are attainable yet sufficiently demanding to
challenge the design team to rethink current norms and develop more
environmentally appropriate solutions.
Sources: Drawing goals from a variety of sources including LEED, CBIP,
Green Globes, performance levels reported in other published case-study
projects, or the past experience of team members.
Documentation: Keeping a record of goals to provide guidance for asking
the right questions and collecting the right data throughout the project.
Periodic review: Revisiting performance goals at each step of the design
process to maintain commitment and assess progress.
20

Benefits
Cost savings: Reaping the financial benefits of eco-efficiency by integrating
green strategies into the core intentions of a project, rather than
considering them as an added requirement. Add-on strategies invariably
increase costs.
Focus: Establishing a critical reference against which alternative strategies
can be evaluated. Goals help design teams to remain focused, assess
progress and continually identify potential areas of improvement and
innovation.
Photo credit: Nic Lehoux

Communication: Conveying the intent and spirit of green design strategies

to all participants, in tangible and concise terms.
Marketing: Including goals in promotional materials to communicate
anticipated performance.

Pitfalls
Failure to revisit: Allowing performance goals to fade and lose potency by
failing to review them periodically.
Fuzzy goals: Framing performance goals with imprecise terms such as
minimize or maximize, rather than using clear, quantitative targets.

Resources
LEED Canada for New Construction and Major Renovations version 1.0
and Reference Guide: Canada Green Building Council
Site: www.cagbc.org
Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP)
Site: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/commercial/newbuildings.cfm
Green Globes
Site: http://www.greenglobes.com/

21

BC Cancer Research Centre,

Henriquez Partners / IBI Group,
Architects in Joint Venture, 2005
The $95 million BC Cancer Agency
Research Centre is the first newlyconstructed health care or laboratory
building in Canada to attain a LEED
Canada Gold ranking.
The success of this project is a
testament to the clear vision of the
BC Cancer Foundation and BC Cancer
Agency Research Centre users, the
articulation of this vision by the design
team, and the craftsmanship of the
builders and all who combined an
inspired architectural design, advanced
building systems and sustainable design
in this world-class facility!
Blair McCarry, Project Engineer
Stantec

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A design charrette is an intensely focused workshop in which participants with

a wide range of backgrounds and expertise are brought together to collaborate
on a design problem. Through consensus, a multidisciplinary project team
can use their specialized knowledge to create comprehensive strategies for
a project, and enhance communication among otherwise unfamiliar parties.
Charrettes can be held at any point throughout the design process to set goals,
generate a series of ideas, and resolve technical and strategic issues.
Components
The scope, focus and timing of design charrettes will vary depending on the
type and complexity of the project, but all share common aims:
Education: Creating a context that allows the dissemination of knowledge,
experience and information across disciplines, and accelerates learning
among the design team
Shared vision: Allowing participants to establish performance goals and a
vision for the project that is understood and supported by everyone.
Consensus: Enabling a broad range of participants in decision making to
share specialized and local knowledge and to discover solutions through
consensus.
Expectations and targets: Setting early quantifiable targets to lend
direction and collective understanding to a project.
22

Benefits
Cost savings: Generating immediate feedback on ideas, which can reduce
the time and expenses needed for future design changes or conflicts.
Definition of scope: Establishing preliminary project schedules and budgets,
and identifying sources of project support such as specialist expertise and
funding.
Improved collaboration: Allowing participants to become invested in a
project through the creation of team cohesion, measurable goals, and new
partnerships.
Reduced conflicts: Offering a platform from which to analyze early design,
construction, and cost issues, in order to address potential conflicts that
would otherwise have to be resolved at greater cost later in the process.
Education and communication: Accelerating the education of the design
team and the generation of new ideas through improved collaboration
and cross-fertilization between disciplines, and improving communication
among parties through the consensus-building activities.

On January 27-29, 2005, Parkdale

Liberty Economic Development
Corporation held a two-and-a-halfday design charrette for a sustainable,
affordable housing project.

Pitfalls
Weak start: Failing to hold a kick-off charrette to get the design team
both motivated and comfortable working together.
Lack of clear facilitation: Failing to designate an experienced and impartial
facilitator, resulting in a charrette becoming unfocused and ineffective.
Facilitation by the architect can be problematic as the process may revert to
the traditional process (i.e., enlightened dictatorship) vs. IDP (collaborative
decision making).

Resources
Lindsay, G., Todd, J.A., Hayter, S.J.; A Handbook for Planning and
Conducting Charrettes for High Performance Projects, National Renewable
Energy Laboratory, August 2003.
Site: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/highperformance/pdfs/
charrette_handbook/33425.pdf
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Design Charrettes.
Site: http://www.cmhc.ca/en/search/search_001.cfm

23

The goal was to produce designs to

add about 20 new, green, affordable
rental units to a site in Toronto that
already supports a 11-storey Phoenix
Place and a century old house. The
charrette attracted more than 40
participants, including architects,
engineers, planners, housing workers,
building operators, community and
church representatives and a variety of
green technology specialists. It was
organized as the first stage of an IDP
to create more environmentally friendly
and energy-efficient designs for the
new apartments.
CHHC, 2006

24

VERIFICATION
The processes described in the previous two sections Building Knowledge and
Integration help improve the capacity of the design team to deliver green
buildings. The actual environmental performance of almost every building,
however, does not always match performance levels anticipated during design.
The reasons for this gap include: unanticipated patterns of behaviour by
tenants and occupants; the ways and extent to which users and building
operators understand and engage with environmental technologies; design and
equipment changes; and poor installation practices.
Commissioning, monitoring and measuring of actual building performance and
user satisfaction during operation is an essential requirement to ensure that
operations are optimized and to improve the feed-back to design professionals
on how innovative green strategies work in practice. Similarly, although
building environmental performance methods provide a valuable focus and
guide during design and construction, third party verification is an important
and necessary requirement it the assessments are to have credibility within the
market place.
25

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Although the intentions and requirements in building environmental

assessment methods such as LEED can guide a design, having third party
certification is essential to support performance claims. LEEDs significance lies
in the demonstration of performance as evidenced in third party certification.
The additional time to document the project and coordinate among consultants
can add to the costs of the design process but these continue to decrease as
design teams become more experienced and the certification becomes more
streamlined. In Canada, projects can plan to use the CBIP approach to LEED
Energy & Atmosphere Prerequisites and any remaining funding from CBIP to
support the LEED process.

Components
The 3rd Party Certification of buildings involves the collection, organisation
and submission of design, construction and operation information:
Documentation: Recording how the requirements of the individual credits
have been met in preparation for submission.
Coordination: Collecting and coordinating the supporting documentation
during the design and construction phases, rather than waiting until the
end.

Benefits
Discipline: Introducing the discipline to ensure that performance targets
established in the design phase are actually implemented in construction.
Without this discipline, modifications and substitutions will inevitably be
made during construction that will impair performance in the buildings
operating phase.
26

 Evidence and Quality Control: Improved documentation and verification

can offer clear evidence of building performance, including reduced
environmental impacts, improved health and productivity, and savings in
energy and water.
Access to incentives: Providing eligibility for tax incentives, grants,
fast track permitting, and special loans as an incentive for building
more responsibly. Different types of funding are increasingly linked to
certification.
Improved marketing: Communicating overall building performance to
potential buyers or clients. LEED is now synonymous with green design
and attaining LEED Certification is an essential part of marketing green
performance. The plaques that accompany LEED and CBIP certification
become a highly visible demonstration of corporate environmental
responsibility.
Credibility: Offering much greater public credibility in distinguishing
green products within a competitive market. This can provide developers
with confidence that their green investments are substantiated.
Public profile: Facilitating regulatory approvals, garnering community
support, generating positive media exposure and increasing public interest
in a project.

Pitfalls
Burden of documentation: Spending excessive time and money to collect
and submit documentation required by the certification process. This
burden can be significantly reduced if documentation is started in the early
phases of a project.
Snapshot of Performance: Assuming that the single snapshot of
performance required by certifi cation

OMRON Dualtec Inc. Oakville, ON

LEED Canada Silver
Cooper Construction/Enermodal
Engineering/Akitt Swanson + Pearce
Architects
The new building is the Automotive
Controls Electronics facility of ODI, a
manufacturer of electronics and other
components for the global automotive
industry. While the new facility appears
to be a conventional, 8,826 m2 ,
two-storeybig box plant, a unique
design process resulted in a building
with dozens of innovative features
anything but conventional.
To date, the principles and practices
of green building design are applied
less often in the manufacturing sector
than for other building types. Thus, the
new OMRON Dualtec Inc (ODI) facility
in Oakville, Ontario, certified LEED
Canada Silver, is an important example
of how a company-wide commitment
to sustainability can result in improved
building performance and workplace
quality. In addition to designing a LEED
certified facility.

Resources
LEED Canada for New Construction and Major Renovations version 1.0 and
Reference Guide: Canada Green Building Council:
Site: www.cagbc.org
Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP)
Site: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/commercial/newbuildings.cfm
Green Globes
Site: http://www.greenglobes.com/

27

I view LEED certification as

(inexpensive) insurance that the design
and construction teams did their job
well and the owner got what they
paid for. Designing to LEED is only half
the job. Site reviews and verification
that systems are installed properly are
considered mandatory in a conventional
project -- they are even more important
on a green project.
Stephen Carpenter
Enermodal Engineering Limited

Case-Study

COMMISSIONING

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Commissioning created savings in

all four of the major categories:
architectural, structural, mechanical,
and electrical. Structural reviewers
determined that the structural design
for the floor system was excessive by
20%, because the live loads estimated
for the worst case conditions within
the building (the library) were used
throughout, instead of just in those
areas requiring it. This finding alone
saved over $740,000 US.

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At ground breaking, the return on this

investment was 28 times - $3.4 million.
In the initial stages of construction,
DAFPC had less than 0.01% in change
orders, and most of these are primarily
system or material upgrades.

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Because design phase commissioning

was not budgeted, DAFPC deferred
non-critical design elements to pay
the upfront cost. Since 6% of the
$100 million US construction cost was
budgeted for change orders, even a
minor reduction of these would more
than pay for their investment.

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State of Louisiana Division of

Administration Facility Planning and
Control (DAFPC) North and West
Building projects, Capital Complex,
Baton Rouge.
CH2M Hill

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Commissioning ensures that building systems are verified to be designed,

installed, used and maintained according to specifications. This process can
be implemented at a variety of levels, ranging from basic to comprehensive
commissioning, but ideally extends from design through to building occupancy.
Commissioning is critical in the operation of green buildings because equipment
and control strategies employed in green buildings can be highly refined with
little redundancy built into the design.

Components
Commissioning is critical in the design and operation of buildings and embraces
abroad range of considerations:
Continuity: Verifying and documenting from the initial design phase
through to construction and building occupation.
Documentation: Documenting performance tests, verification and
validation checks, and archiving operations and maintenance manuals,
schedules, data sheets, warranties, and quality assurance plans.
Training: Providing building operators with adequate instruction and
information on the use and maintenance of building systems, especially
when systems are new to building operators.
LEED: Going beyond the Commissioning prerequisite in LEED and attaining
the additional credit for a more comprehensive, third party commissioning
protocol.
28

Benefits

Phases of Commissioning

Cost savings: Reducing change orders and call-backs. Although there

are significant costs involved in the commissioning process, even a small
reduction in change orders and call backs can pay for the investment.
Commissioning is also one of the most cost-effective means of improving
efficiency: the average operating cost of a commissioned building ranges
from 8 to 22 percent below that of a non-commissioned building.
Improved performance: Fine-tuning systems so they work more reliably
and need less maintenance during their lifetime. This, in, turn leads to a
reduction in the number of call-backs, change orders and warranty claims
following occupancy, eliminating significant cost and time expenditures,
reducing liability risks, and providing building systems with significantly
fewer defects over the life of the building.
Efficient design: Creating small, efficient and cost-effective systems as a
result of greater certainty. Commissioning allows a much higher degree of
refinement, avoiding the tendency to overcompensate with larger systems
to avoid the risk of inadequate performance.
Marketing: Providing a credible way to document and claim benefits like
improved air quality, increased productivity, and reliable system operations,
all of which increase value and market appeal.

Pitfalls
Failure to start early: Engaging a commissioning agent in the later stages of
a project. The commissioning process is most effective when it is initiated at
the beginning of the design phase.
Access to Tenant Improvement: Without being able to follow
commissioning through to tenant improvement compromises the overall
success of the process.
Resources
ASHRAE Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process, American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE): contact
ASHRAE Customer Site: www.ashrae.org
Douglas, Kristin Ralff (2001) From High-Risk to High-Performance through
Design Phase Commissioning, Environmental Design and Construction.
Site: http://www.edcmag.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__
Features__Item/0,4120,21189,00.html
Building Commissioning. GSA Public Buildings Service.
Site: http://www.gsa.gov/gsa/cm_attachments/GSA_DOCUMENT/BCG_3_
30_Final_R2-x221_0Z5RDZ-i34K-pR.pdf
White Paper: Commissioning for Great Buildings. Building
Commissioning Association, February 2005.
Site: http://www.bcxa.org/download/bca_white_paper_cx.pdf

29

Pre-construction and Design Phase:

Set performance expectations, identify
the design intent and ensure design is
able to be commissioned once it goes
into construction.
Construction Phase:
Monitor design and construction work
to ensure quality of workmanship, code
and LEED credit compliance, and certify
pre-commissioning tests, cleaning of
ductwork, appropriate installation of
systems, etc.
Documentation Phase:
Develop a comprehensive report
incorporating all installation,
completion and pre-commissioning
checks and tests. Provide an operations
and maintenance manual and shows
demonstration of results to building
owners.
Post-Construction Phase:
Monitor the installed systems for
performance, ensure that operations
personnel are fully trained to properly
operate the building, and provide
calibration of systems with checks at
prescribed intervals for a minimum of
one year after construction.

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A key goal of the project was to make

interactions between the built and
natural environments visible and easy to
interpret. With over 150 environmental
sensors installed throughout the
building and landscape, the AJLCs data
monitoring and display system provides
a unique opportunity to visualize in
real-time the flows of energy and
cycling of matter that are necessary to
support the built environment.

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Post Occupancy Evaluation involves systematic evaluation of opinions about
buildings in use, from the perspective of the people who use and operate
them. It assesses how well buildings match users needs, and identifies ways
to improve building design, performance and fitness for purpose. Success in
building design cannot be confirmed without doing post-occupancy evaluation.
For green buildings and new green technologies such as innovative daylighting
or natural ventilation strategies, post-occupancy evaluations are particularly
useful. Post-occupancy evaluations are important in determining if buildings
and technologies are functioning as intended and if they are compatible with
the occupants and uses of a building.

Components
A Post Occupancy Evaluation requires identifying key performance issues and
engaging appropriate participants:
Performance issues: Evaluating resource, energy, and water use, thermal
comfort, acoustics, lighting, productivity, ease of operations and
maintenance, or other relevant issues.
Participants: Involving building owners and operators, tenants,
maintenance workers, visitors, etc.

Benefits
Demonstration of results: Providing a way to measure the success of
a green strategy, in terms of actual efficiency, operating costs, and
productivity impacts. This helps justify the allocation of budget resources to
targeted projects or technologies.
30

 Future decision-making: Providing accurate feedback to produce better

buildings in the future and highlighting mistakes so that they are not
repeated.
Occupant engagement: Increasing occupants level of awareness
surrounding the building they inhabit, reducing potential damage
or inefficiencies caused by improper use of systems, and facilitating
understanding and buy-in for new technologies.
Education: Helping confirm life-cycle performance projections, and serving
to reassess outdated assumptions and design guidelines commonly
followed in the building industry.

Pitfalls
Poor data availability: Failing to obtain required data, due to a lack of basic
utility usage information. Buildings must be equipped with meters etc., to
permit access to data.
Identification of failure: Clients may not want to know outcome through
fear of liability and confidentiality agreements may limit disclosure.
Absence of funding: Typically no budget is allocated to conduct POEs.

Resources
Turner, C., (2006) LEED Building Performance in the Cascadia Region: A Post
Occupancy Evaluation Report. Prepared for Cascadia Region Green Building
Council, January 30th 2006
Green Building Post-Occupancy Evaluations: Learning from Experience.
AIA Best Practices, BP 19.07.01, January 2004
Site: http://www.aia.org/cote/SiteObjects/files/19-07-01.pdf
Occupant Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Survey developed and
administered by the Center for the Built Environment at the University of
California at Berkeley, California. Use of their surveys is available for a fee.
Site: www.cbe.berkeley.edu.
The Useable Buildings Trust: Promotes better buildings through more
effective feedback on how buildings actually work.
Site: www.usablebuildings.co.uk

31

Terasen Gas Operations Centre,

Surrey, BC
Musson Cattel Mackey Partnership,
2000
This building of four stories with an
area of 16,700 m2, providing space
for 670 Terasen staff and offering
office space, meeting rooms, a caf, a
fitness room and 550 stalls of parking.
Approximately 6% of the floor area is
for a 24/7 facility.
In general, the building was rated
satisfactory by occupants and was
particularly well received by occupants
under the age of 31 even though
that was the age-group reporting
most thermal discomfort. Occupants
expressed higher satisfaction than the
benchmark group for air quality and for
cleaning and maintenance and nearly
as high for lighting.
In addition to providing feedback on user satisfaction with
the building, the Post Occupancy
Evaluation provided Terasen with
immediate direction and focus for
allocation of funds for operations and
maintenance improvements and future
refurbishment.

32

WAY FORWARD
Understanding the various tools and techniques that can support a more
integrated design process is of increasing importance. Building Green: Adding
Value Through Process has highlighted their scope and benefits, illustrating the
considerable potential performance improvements and cost savings that can
result from their timely deployment. More significantly, perhaps, these tools
and techniques should not be considered in isolation but as a suite of mutually
supportive processes.

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Beddington Zero Energy

Development (BedZED)
Bill Dunster: Zed Factory, 2002

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Experience in green building design is maturing rapidly and, in doing so, the
processes identified in Building Green: Adding Value Through Process are contantly
evolving. The booklet has focused on processes and approaches that are being
successfully used to support current green building design. They have presented
generically in the full recognition that they take on different forms and
significance depending on the type and complexity of the project at hand.
Increasing green building design is being framed within the overarching
notion of sustainability. This shift in emhphasis and scope is redefining the
performance targets and the required knowledge and negotions neessary to
attain them. The Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) project in
the UK, for example, used a globally equable Ecological Footprint of 1.9 ha/
person as an absolute performance target for the project. Such a goal, they
have discovered, is only attainable through new approaches to building that
permit, and are accompanied by, life-style changes by its occupants. Similarly,
the Natural Step is increasingly being positioned as a key set of fundamental
principles used to frame all strategic choices.
33

In addition to integrating innovative

green technologies, BedZED proactively
shapes a micro-community and mixeduse development that supports more
sustainable lifestyles. Whereas other
innovative environmental projects use
standard practice as a benchmark
to judge performance improvements,
BedZED references a globally equable
ecological footprint of 1.9 Hectares/
person as a performance aspiration.
The Bioregional Group negotiated a
10% reduction in the purchase price
of land from the London Borough
of Sutton on the basis of BedZEDs
anticipated reduced greenhouse
gas emissions. The Borough, which
has committed to Agenda 21 was
shown that the project would save
the equivalent amount of greenhouse
gases to meet their carbon reduction
commitments.

The Dockside Green project is a groundbreaking collaboration between

Windmill Developments and VanCity Enterprises. It represents the largest
brownfield redevelopment in Victorias history, and entails the reclamation
and redevelopment of approximately 15 acres of former industrial waterfront
property previously owned by the City of Victoria. The proposed scheme
includes commercial, residential, live/work, work/live, and light industrial uses
and will comprise 26 buildings totaling 121,000m2 built over 5-10 years.

Dockside Green
Vancity Enterprises + Windmill Development
Whole site integrated design will be critical for this project given the
challenges associated with remediation, meeting the communitys needs, and
achieving the necessary density to make the project financially viable. The
planned integration of such a wide range of uses within one development
clearly enhances the three bottom lines - environmental, social and economic
- and creates opportunities for each specific use to feed off each other, thus
embracing the principals underlying the waste is food concept. Waste
resulting from one use will provide the nutrients for other uses. Holistic,
closed loop thinking and design, as opposed to individual components and
design characteristics is key to enhancing synergies between building systems,
building scales and faades, landscapes, surrounding communities, activities
and amenities, community health and well-being, transportation, economy, and
relationship building.

34

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Integrated Design Process
Integrated Design Process, Buildings Group, CANMET, Energy Technology
Centre, Natural Resources Canada.
Site: http://www.buildingsgroup.nrcan.gc.ca/projects/idp_e.html
Engage the Integrated Design Process, Whole Building Design Guide.
Site: http://www.wbdg.org/design/engage_process.php
Malin, N., The Mindset Thing: Exploring the Deeper Potential of Integrated
Design, Environmental Building News (EBN): Feature, December 2005
Transforming your Practice: Integrated Design Charettes for Sustainable
Buildings. Prepared for: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
(CMHC) IndEco Report: A1205, 31 January 2002.
Site: http://www.indeco.com/www.nsf/papers/A1205
Guide to Value Analysis and the Integrated Green Design Process, Green
Buildings BC New Buildings Program, May 2000
Financing
Funding Green Buildings Toolkit: A comprehensive resource on the subject
of funding strategies for commercial/ public Green Building projects.
Site: http://www.fundinggreenbuildings.com/fundingtoolkit.html
Business for Social Responsibility (BSR): A nonprofit organization, BSR
promotes cross-sector collaboration and contributes to global efforts
to advance the field of corporate social responsibility. BSR provides
information, tools, training and advisory services to make corporate social
responsibility an integral part of business operations and strategies.
Site: http://www.bsr.org
Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP):
Site: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/commercial/newbuildings.cfm
Natural Resources Canadas Renewable Energy Deployment Initiative
(REDI). Offers incentives of up to 25% of the capital cost of solar water
and air heating, and efficient biomass combustion systems for commercial
building projects of 75kW or more, to a maximum of $50,000.
Site: http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/es/erb/reed/redi_e.htm

35