b'ZERO EMISSION BUILDINGSSo, which buildings are emulating thisANOTHER EXCITING STEP TOWARDS THE DECARBONIZATION evolution right now?OF B.C. BUILDINGS OCCURRED ON APRIL 29, WHEN COUNCIL Evolve, a six-storey, wood-frame, multi-family residential rental project designed by ZGFAPPROVED THE CITYS CLIMATE EMERGENCY RESPONSE Architects for UBC Properties Trust will beRECOMMENDATIONS, RECOMMENDING NEW AND REPLACEMENT home to 111 rental units dedicated to UBCs faculty and staff, and located in WesbrookHEATING AND HOT WATER SYSTEMS TO USE ONLY RENEWABLE Place neighbourhood on the UBC Point Grey campus. Once complete, this projectENERGY BY 2025 AND ALL NEW BUILDING PROJECTS TO REDUCE will be Passive House certified and the firstTHEIR EMBODIED CARBON EMISSIONS BY 40 PER CENT BY 2030. of its kind for UBC Point Grey. The project recently received a $3.5 million grant from Natural Resources Canada. Evolve boasts a super insulated building envelope with R40 exterior walls and an R43 roof. An optimizedenergy performance targets. This envelope-firstprojects across the province can now be spotted mechanical system design and strategic place- approach as a means to reduce building energywith the Passive House stamp of approval, such ment of exterior operable solar shading to theconsumption challenges conventional high-riseas Vancouver Fire Hall 17 and rooftop daycare, windows will enhance the thermal comfortMURB development, standing as a superbthe City of Surreys Clayton Community Centre, and occupant satisfaction of the building. Asleadership example for alternative high-perfor- or the standardization of Passive House across a way to leverage the knowledge gained frommance design solutions.many BC Housing new construction projects. designing and building this project, the design team will conduct a Post-Occupancy Evalua- With the municipal and provincial energyEfforts to achieve zero emission buildings tion to document energy performance duringtargets of 2025 and 2032 fast approaching,from both industry and government are the first 18 months of operation. Intended asincentive programs across the provincestrong. We are seeing leadership and prog-an open source case study for future Passivecontinue to foster innovation and encourageress everywhere. So how to do we continue House projects, the report will compare itsmore development through financial support.to move forward with innovation? results against a similar-sized MURB built toNearZero, a City of Vancouver program, isOne of ZEBxs core values is to foster collabora-base code requirements.designed to gather information from hometion; by connecting with leaders and sharing Esquimalts Corvette Landing, designed bybuilders pursuing Passive House or Net Zerotheir knowledge, more companies are able to Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Cultureprojects to identify challenges, design solutionslearn and evolve quicker and more efficiently. and developed by Standing Stone Develop- and construction innovations; gather data onZEBx has an exciting suite of events in fall 2019 ments, is a 12-storey, 83-unit prefabricatedconstruction costs and operational perfor- that does just that. Two Zero Emissions Wood mass timber residential building, and anothermance; and catalyze the increased adoptionBuildings Workshops, an electrification event fine example of high-performance leadership.of near-zero energy buildings and knowledgefocused on multiple case studies ranging from Once complete, the building will be Passiveacross industry. More than 20 projects havecode to Passive House and a high performance House certified, and with a combination ofalready enrolled in the program. ventilation workshop are just a few of the many panellized and prefabricated mass timber it willAt a provincial level, industry has access to thelow-barrier knowledge exchanges available be the second-highest wood building in theNet-Zero Energy-Ready (NZER) Challenge: anfor industry. Another tool are ZEBxs recently province. The selected materials and designincentive and juried competition designed topublished case studies, which examine the will significantly reduce the buildings carbonsupport the design and construction of net-zerocosts, products, design details and lessons footprint, and by some estimates, achieve anenergy-ready buildings by providing buildingslearned from building a single-family house, a overall carbon positive outcome for the entireand developers of multi-family, commerciallaneway house and an MURB to Passive House construction and operation of the project.and institutional buildings with incentives instandards. The intent is to provide industry 825 Pacific, designed by IBI Group and devel- exchange for project data. In fact, the Corvettewith relevant and up-to-date data that can then oped by Grosvenor Group, marries a 39-storeyLanding and 825 Pacific projects were bothbe transferred directly to the design and plan-luxury residential high-rise with a multi- winners of the NZER Challenge, along withning of their upcoming projects. These case purpose arts and culture hub. The arts andnine others. studies live on the Resources page of zebx.org culture centre will be designed to meet PassiveWith leaders already building to the highestfor industry consumption. House standards. As one of the few but growingperformance levels, and various incentiveZero emission buildings are here and quickly number of non-residential Passive Houseprograms further supporting companies begin- taking over mainstream practices. By not projects, the arts and culture centre is a greatning to design to these standards, there is anparticipating, companies risk falling behind example of infill commercial development.obvious and rapid shift taking place in B.C.sand losing their competitive edge. Whether Through intentional passive design strategies,building scene. This wealth of knowledge,youre an expert in Passive House or net-zero it achieves Passive House performance, despitelargely gained in both the single- and multi- energy-ready buildings, or taking the first steps its narrow floorplate due to a constrained site.family residential sectors, has directly trans- in learning the ropes, I encourage everyone to Also of great interest is the design approachferred into more complex projects. Govern- reach out to ZEBx to share their information, for the residential tower, which will use triplements are leading by example, many of whichask questions and collectively move towards glazed curtain walls in combination withare pursuing the highest standards of energythe inevitable (and near) future of zero emis-thermally broken concrete slabs to achieve itsefficiency for municipal projects. Governmentsion buildings. 20 BCBEC ELEMENTSA BCBEC PUBLICATION'