2019 Green Building Excellence Awards Results

Canada’s leading green building projects and innovators were honoured last night at the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) Leadership Awards Gala Dinner. The ceremony was held at the Vancouver Conference Centre as part of CaGBC’s National Conference and Showcase, Building Lasting Change.

The 2019 Leadership and Green Building Excellence Awards gala was held during the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) National Conference and Showcase in Vancouver. The winners of the 2019 CaGBC Leadership Awards are:

CaGBC Lifetime Achievement Award

• Daniel Pearl, co-founder L’OEUF (l’Office de l’Éclectisme Urbain et Fonctionnel), a trail-blazer and innovator in sustainable and environmental architecture.

CaGBC Inspired Educator Award

• Cheryl Fryers, Professor, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Architectural Technologies. Her Master’s thesis, “Gamification for Environmental Change,” explored whether gamification could help people adopt sustainable behaviours by introducing her students to an app that rewarded them for defined actions like recycling or taking public transit.

Government Leadership Award

• Public Services and Procurement Canada, the first federal department to complete a National Carbon Neutral Plan evaluation in support of a low-carbon Government. The Government of Canada occupies about 27 million meters squared of space, with the PSPC as a custodian for more than a quarter of it. The PSPC’s green initiatives, combined with policy adjustments significantly impacted the Government of Canada’s real property portfolio, furthering the mission and goals of the CaGBC.

The Ed Lim Technical Leadership Award (Formerly the Technical Volunteer Leadership Award)

• Guillaume Martel, Architect and Sustainability Specialist, Provencher­_Roy Architectes, who has worked on more than 70 sustainable projects in numerous certification systems including LEED, ENVISION, Parksmart, and SITES. Since 2010, Guillaume has worked with the CaGBC as a member of the Material and Resources Technical Advisory Group, which he now chairs.

CaGBC Volunteer Leadership – Chapter

• Natalie Irwin, Director of Stakeholder Engagement for Efficiency Canada, who played a significant role in the first Green Jobs 101 event in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a series of networking events that emphasize the importance of environmental jobs and gives recent grads a glimpse of different green career options.

CaGBC Green Building Champion Award

• Lisa Westerhoff, Integral Group, who been instrumental in the development of numerous green building policies including the BC Energy Step Code, the CaGBC Zero Carbon Building standard, Better Buildings BC incentive program, and The Toronto Zero Emissions Building Plan. In addition, Lisa consults with many Canadian cities on climate action policies, which will ultimately drive meaningful carbon emissions reductions.

CaGBC Green Building Pioneer Award

• Roland Charneux, Pageau Morel et associés. Since 1976, Charneux has helped design of millions of square feet of green and efficient buildings. Committed to the movement before green buildings were even part of the vernacular, he has spent 40 plus years of his career leading by example, advocating for green buildings, and investing in the next generation of green building leaders through his commitment to education.

Emerging Green Leader Award

• Afaf Azzouz, Buildings Performance Engineer, Stantec,  whose recent projects include Carbon Neutral Studies for commercial buildings, Evolv1, the first Zero Carbon Building Standard certification in Canada, and the UBC Brock Commons building, one of the tallest wooden structures in the world. She has developed a career path that follows her passions and gives back through CaGBC Chapter volunteer work, mentorship, and collaboration, as well as innovative and inspiring international development work that has a significant impact beyond her immediate community.

Students Leading Sustainability: Andy Kesteloo Memorial Project Award

• Bianca Dahlman, a fourth-year student at the University of Manitoba, is recognized for her heartfelt, compassionate design project of The Weave Cultural Centre – a space where the Anishanaabe community of Shoal Lake 40 can reconnect with and celebrate their history in a modern, multi-purpose space that embraces culture and green building design. Bianca’s visionary project enables knowledge sharing across generations, communities, and cultures in a viable and beautiful facility.

The winners of the 2019 CaGBC Green Building Excellence Awards are:

CaGBC Green Building Product of the Year Award

• SoyaOil Coatings Canada’s bio-sustainable and renewable architectural coatings technology. Formulated for zero-pollution, SoyaOil is helping the building industry move away from petrochemical and synthetic chemistry products, making buildings safer for the humans that inhabit them, and the environment.

Green Building Excellence – Tenant Improvement

• Prairie Architects’ new office demonstrates a creative commitment to sustainability and a consultative approach to design while celebrating and promoting employees’ healthy lifestyles. Giving new life to a neighbourhood heritage warehouse epitomized Prairie’s values and passion for sustainable design. Employee input contributed to the design which features open workstations, natural light, high-efficiency LED fixtures, and ultra-low flow faucets, as well as showers and bike storage—which acknowledges the teams’ dedication to active transportation.

Green Building Excellence – Inspiring Home

• The Parkdale Landing Affordable Housing Retrofit in Hamilton, Ont., will transform the lives of tenants who can only afford rents of approximately $500/month, including utilities. As a result, this retrofit could be a standard for dilapidated buildings in many Canadian communities in need of affordable housing solutions. Parkdale Landing was renovated for $205 a square foot, less than a 5% increase over a Code building in this location. On-time and on-budget, tenants will enjoy safe and stable housing with low utility bills – clearly a win-win for all. This project is an excellent example of how healthy, safe, and cost-efficient retrofit homes can transform lives and communities.

Green Building Excellence – Zero Carbon Award

• École Curé-Paquin is the first project in Quebec—and the first grade-school in Canada—to receive the Zero Carbon Building Design certification and set the bar for cutting greenhouse gases (GHG) in school buildings. As a new school, École Curé-Paquin will become part of an educative program showcasing Zero Carbon buildings in action. École Curé-Paquin demonstrates a true passion for green building and healthy lifestyles, by excelling in high-performance energy and water systems, as well as materials re-use and life cycle management.

Green Building Excellence – New Construction

• The Western University Engineering Building, also known as the Amit Chakma Engineering Building (ACEB), is the 13^th LEED certified project at Western, setting the bar for future campus developments and for the City of London as the first regional project to target Platinum certification. ACEB is a 9,400 square meter multi-use project, located at Western’s Main Campus in London, Ont. It brings the percentage of LEED registered or certified space to 16% of the total university square footage.

Green Building Excellence – Existing Building

• 4711 Yonge (Marisa Construction Ltd. and Menkes Property Management Services Ltd.), located in the desirable North York area of Toronto, 4711 Yonge is an award-winning Class A building. It demonstrates stand-out performance on several fronts including a dramatically improved ENERGY STAR score, significantly reduced water use, and a higher level of LEED certification. It has achieved LEED Silver, Fitwell, Wiredscore and Energy Star certifications, as well as BOMA BEST Platinum.