June 26, 2008

The Durham Consolidated Courthouse complex is being built on a remediated brownfield site. It will include a partial green roof with drought-tolerant plants and reflective material to reduce cooling needs.

Durham Consolidated Courthouse project team targets LEED Silver

PETER KENTER

correspondent

The Durham Consolidated Courthouse project, currently under construction in Oshawa, will be the government of Ontario’s first building to receive the Canada Green Building Council’s (CaGBC’s) LEED Silver certification for incorporating environmentally-sustainable construction practices and energy-efficient design.

“Housing 33 courtrooms, the project will be one of the largest green buildings in Ontario,” says Peter Wilson, vice-president of project delivery at Infrastructure Ontario.

Financed under ReNew Ontario, the province’s five-year infrastructure investment plan, the building will combine Superior Court and Ontario Court justice services currently offered at eight different locations across the Durham Region. The project is being built, financed and operated by Access Justice Durham, a consortium of companies including Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group, PCL Constructors Canada Inc., Johnson Controls LP, and WZMH Architects. The blended value of the 30-year contract, including construction, is $334 million.

The building’s green features include a partial green roof, planted with drought-tolerant plants to reduce storm water runoff and to decrease summer cooling bills. The roof also uses Energy Star-compliant reflective roofing material to reduce cooling needs. Storm water collected from the building’s courtyard and downspouts will be used for local landscaping. Washrooms will feature ultra low-flow plumbing fixtures, waterless urinals and dual flush toilets. The builder promises to divert 75 per cent of job site construction waste by salvaging or reusing materials.

When the courthouse opens, the building will be certified under the Building Owners and Manager’s Association (BOMA) Go Green Plus program.

Under that program, the environmental performance of the building will be assessed every three years.

In the absence of a current Canadian standard, the consortium will also seek Gold certification under the United States Green Building Council’s LEED for Existing Buildings, which applies to building operations. Under the U.S. standard, re-certification must occur every six years. The CaGBC plans to offer a home-grown adaptation of the U.S. Existing Building Standard in spring, 2009.

When the building opens, Access Justice Durham has committed to reduce energy consumption by 42 per cent, compared with similar buildings designed to the Model National Energy Code for Buildings. The consortium must pick up the tab for energy use that exceeds the target over the length of the 30-year operating contract.

“The greening process of the development was quite interesting,” says Wilson. “It was part of the planning from the project’s initiation. The City of Oshawa was chosen because it was a willing host for the project and it made use of a brownfield site which was remediated before construction. It also offered opportunities for urban intensification, utilization of existing infrastructure and opportunities for public transit.

“We indicated in our initial request for proposal that we wanted emphasis placed on mandatory LEED credits, and optimization of the facility’s energy performance. The requirement for Go Green Plus also strongly shaped the bidders’ behaviour. Because they were bidding on both construction and operation of the building, they had an incentive to offer a competitive overall bid that would result in lower operating costs.”

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