June 22, 2010

JORDAN PRESS

The Kingston Memorial Centre will receive energy-system upgrades this year.

Kingston, Ontario investing heavily in green building

JORDAN PRESS

correspondent

KINGSTON

About two years ago, the City of Kingston adopted a green building policy that mandated meeting LEED standards for all new buildings and renovation projects. When the policy was adopted, it was one of the first of its kind in Canada.

“We’ve not just stopped at the policy — we’ve implemented it,” said Paul MacLatchy, the city’s environmental director. “Our commitment is more than just policy, it’s millions and millions of dollars in implementation.”

In total, the spending commitments top $200 million over the past five years.

No longer is green building or LEED certification a secondary consideration for local owners and contractors when approaching a project — it is a central focus.

“With the city adopting that policy ... that’s really motivated the industry to consider it,” said Murray Aitken of Napanee-based Morven Construction.

“I don’t believe it’s a fad. It’s here to stay,” said Aitken, who is also chairman of the Canadian Construction Association’s environment committee.

Creating a national policy for green building may be difficult to develop, he said, because the policy would have to adapt to changing technologies and different conditions in the country. A policy that works well in eastern Ontario, for instance, may not work as well in British Columbia or the Yukon.

“A local approach is probably the best,” Aitken said. “With the City of Kingston [green building policy] it’s obviously encouraging green building.”

There are a number of commercial and residential sector developers that have put up new complexes that have green aspects such as energy upgrades, solar panels and protected green spaces, Aitken said.

The buildings may not be LEED certified, but they are green buildings nonetheless, he said.

The driving force for green building practices in Kingston and much of the eastern Ontario region has been the institutional sector, Aitken said.

Over the past five years, Kingston has committed more than $200 million on new construction projects, including a new $46.5 million downtown arena, a $33.6 million four-pad ice hockey facility in the west end and a $115 million sewage treatment plant.

Each meets LEED standards, a rating system that measures how green a construction project is based on a variety of building criteria, including water efficiency, materials used and energy usage.

This year the city will spend $4.3 million on an energy retrofit program at 38 municipal facilities. Improvements will include upgrades to heating and air-conditioning systems, lighting, insulation and water systems.

The hockey arenas, sewage plant and a new police headquarters were all designed to meet LEED silver and gold standards.

The hope is that the facilities — all of which are now open and operational — will save the city on energy costs over the long-term. The savings, the city hopes, will be enough to off-set the added costs associated with designing and building a LEED facility.

So far, though, those savings haven’t been fully realized.

MacLatchy said city officials and the private operator of the downtown arena are still learning the operating systems in each of the new LEED facilities.

“A building is a system. It’s not just an individual thing like a light bulb. You have to make sure all aspects of the system are working together,” MacLatchy said.

MacLatchy admitted it’s tough for the city to quantify the exact savings from a LEED facility, but it has modeled how much savings are possible year-over-year. He said the city expects to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in utilities costs annually per LEED facility.

While the city looks to export its policy to the private sector and encourage more contractors to become green builders, the local construction association is already moving forward with plans to help train firms to build green.

Aitken said the Kingston Construction Association will be offering the course that the CCA developed in partnership with the Canadian Green Building Council so LEED projects run smoothly.

“One of the key things with putting LEED in the market place is that companies are willing to accept it, but staff [need to] know the paperwork they have to do, understand the recording mechanisms that are in place and understand the [LEED process],” Aitken said.

Green building is still in its youth in eastern Ontario, Aitken said, but it has grown in popularity nationally to the point that some regions have projects that are experiencing delays in receiving LEED certification.

“There’s more work, but that’s what the CCA is all about.

“As these issues pop up we embrace them and see what we can do for the industry nationally to embrace. Locally, the [Kingston Construction Association] has embraced green building and the City of Kingston has been an early adopter of green building policies in eastern Ontario,” Aitken said.

“It’s a good thing for the industry and a good thing for the taxpayer.”

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