July 10, 2006

PUBLIC WORKS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES CANADA

A new $50-million federal government building will preserve historical features while adding advanced environmental features. The agency is striving for gold LEED certification in the revitalization of the Jean Canfield Building.

“Using the building mass to moderate heating and cooling will reduce the system’s equipment and enhance energy efficiency” Fred Keirstead Public Works Project Manager

Federal government building vies for gold

History to blend with advanced environment plans

SAUL CHERNOS

correspondent

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I.

Proponents of a new $50-million federal government building say they plan to blend advanced environmental features with the historic character of this Maritime community.

Public Works and Government Services Canada, which oversees federal construction projects, is billing the four-storey, 17,000-square-metre Jean Canfield Building as its most environmentally friendly ever.

The agency is striving for gold certification under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a standard administered by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC).

Fred Keirstead, senior Public Works project manager, says the building — located at 191 University Ave. and named after the first woman ever elected to the P.E.I. legislature — will house more than 500 government employees and use 80 per cent less potable water, 80 per cent less artificial light and 57 per cent less energy than a building of comparable size and occupancy that lacks green features.

Keirstead says Public Works hopes to score LEED points with features such as a white reflective roof to reduce the heat-island effect, rooftop photovoltaic solar panels, solar window shades that generate electricity yet block heat from the sun, a proton exchange membrane hydrogen fuel cell to peak-shave electricity, and energy-efficient lighting with daylight sensors. The building will connect with the municipal heating system and also draw power from nearby wind turbines. Plans call for raised-access floors to optimize ventilation, and a building envelope that uses chilled slab to separate ventilation air from primary heating and cooling, allowing for mixed-mode ventilation.

“Using the building mass to moderate heating and cooling will reduce the system’s equipment and enhance energy efficiency,” Keir-stead says. “The ceilings will be exposed and will provide chilled water in the slab to radiate cool, while the pressurized access floor system is tempered or cool air. These will all work in concert with each other.”

Employees will be able to open awning-style windows, and an atrium will have what Keirstead calls “natural ventilation” during the milder seasons. “P.E.I. used to be advertised as naturally air conditioned,” he says, adding that the exterior will be glazed to reduce solar exposure.

The building will also collect rainwater on the rooftop, pipe it to a 10,000-litre fibreglass-reinforced tank buried next to the building, and filter it for toilets and outdoor gardening.

Public Works is also using local materials. Larry Jones of Bergmark, Guimond, Hammarlund, and Jones Architects in Charlottetown, which is participating through a joint venture with Urbana Architects of Toronto, says this meets an aesthetic desire that the new building fit into an old neighbourhood.

This was achieved by using Wallace sandstone, which is found in nearby historic buildings and quarried just outside of Charlottetown, and red brick, which is also prominent locally and manufactured by Shaw Brick near Halifax.

“Looking for building materials that try to match the criteria of either renewable or recyclable has been a challenge because a limited number of these products are made in P.E.I. and in the Maritimes,” Jones says.

Proponents also hope to earn LEED points for cleaning up a brownfield site. The soil contained pollutants such as hydrocarbons, lead, copper, zinc and arsenic — much of it left by gas stations, dry cleaners and residential fuel tanks.

Crews removed some compounds for treatment and disposal offsite, while less toxic materials were encapsulated in a protective membrane and buried on-site.

Most of the concrete portion has been finished and the building is slated for occupancy next summer.

“We’re currently installing the waterproof portion of the roof and the roof of the atrium,” Keirstead says.

While construction is expected to cost around $29.1 million, the full $50-million cost also includes remediation, land acquisition, consulting and other fees, Keirstead adds.

Bill Dooley, vice-president of Atlantic Canada with the Cement Association of Canada, says by getting the building mass to facilitate heating and cooling, the project team is replicating what Aboriginal peoples of the United States midwest have done with adobe housing — letting the sun warm the materials by day and radiating this heat at night.

“By running mechanical tubes through the slabs, the structural engineer’s structure has now become the mechanical engineer’s radiator,” Dooley says.

“It’s doing double duty, and it’s the mass of the concrete that’s allowing for that. It’s kind of neat.”

Print | Email | Comment