Former Sears Canada building becoming green home for Ontario Realty Corporation

The government of Ontario says it is “getting its own house in order” by undertaking one of the largest green building retrofits in North America.

The Ontario Realty Corporation, a crown corporation, is having the former Sears Canada head office at 222 Jarvis Street in downtown Toronto renovated with a host of advanced green technologies.

The 455,000-sq. ft. (42,270 m3) office building, which is vacant now, is being renovated for LEED Gold standing. It will have features such as a green roof, photovoltaic solar rooftop panels, HVAC upgrades, wireless infrastructure and grey water recovery.

With an opening scheduled for summer 2011, the retrofit is being led by WZMH Architects, who have a team of consulting engineers involved. They include: Hidi Rae (mechanical), Mulvey + Banani (electrical, security, communications IT), Halcrow Yolles (structural), Johnson Sustronk Weinstein (civil), Enermodal (LEED), Leber Rubes (code), Soberman (vertical transport), Hunter Facilities Management (commissioning), and A.W. Hooker (cost).

Urbacon is construction manager. Pinchin Environmental are the independent environmental consultants, and CB Richard Ellis is project manager.