Construction/Building — February 5, 2010

"Explosion of interest" surrounds on-line book about Vancouver's sustainable Olympic Village

VANCOUVER, Feb. 5 /CNW/ - A new publication about Millennium Water - Vancouver's Olympic Village has now reached readers in 106 countries around the world, with 49,500 web page hits to date.

"The attention we've received demonstrates that there's an explosion of interest in sustainable building world-wide - and that Vancouver, with its Olympic Village, is situated at the heart of it," says Roger Bayley, Design Manager for the Millennium Water Olympic Village development, and the publisher of the book, The Challenge Series.

Vancouver's Millennium Water Olympic Village development is the largest sustainable community in North America. It incorporates a district energy system that extracts 65% of its heat from sewage, uses rainwater for toilet flushing and gardening, has in-suite energy monitoring systems, and has been designed to maximize social involvement, community safety and health.

"We had an incredible experience here, pushing the edge of what can be done in sustainable community design," says Bayley. "I think we all could see that it was worth documenting the decisions and innovations that occurred along the way. From the attention we've been getting from around the world, it was a good call."

Companies large and small involved in building the Village helped sponsor The Challenge Series, along with the City of Vancouver. The series is available in seven installments covering topics such as energy, water, architecture, building landscape, policy, history, visioning, social sustainability and livability, including commentary from Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell. Readers can subscribe for free at www.thechallengeseries.ca, or inquire about purchasing printed copies at print@thechallengeseries.ca.

"The Challenge Series is a resource to educate and inspire communities, professionals, residents, builders and community leaders," says Bayley. "We wanted to share what was learned and offer a challenge to others to hasten the learning curve. We need everyone to start thinking about building this way, to seek meaningful opportunities out of our shared challenges of climate change and resource depletion."

For further information: Roger Bayley, Roger Bayley Inc., roger@rogerbayley.com, (604) 290-4749; Secondary Contact: Ashlee Jollymore, ashlee@thechallengeseries.ca, (604) 684-4131 ext 152

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