Menu
Well, it’s a new year, when news and online feeds are buzzing with pieces promoting a healthy you and a healthy world. Not that this is a bad thing! While I am not the ‘New Year’s Resolution’ type myself, I do love the fresh determination that charges the air around me at this time of year. I originally picked up the winter edition of SABMag (Sustainable Architecture and Building Magazine) as it featured the Vale Living with Lakes Centre on the cover (one of our projects with Laurentian University). I confess I don’t usually read the magazines that come across my desk cover to cover, this one I did. I am finding the new push in the Greening of buildings that is expanding more and more to residential with initiatives that target neighbourhoods (such as the Mount Dennis Area EcoNeighbourhood Project) and even cities (such as C40 Cities) fascinating. It is also interesting to learn more about the new trend pushing thinking beyond just Green building ‘performance’, but also further considering the health and wellness of the building occupants. The Canada Green Building Council has established LEED as a respected measurement of a Green building, and now the WELL Building Standard is following quickly on the track.
As statistics say that we now spend about 90% of our time indoors, all of this is good news for us. While I am at my desk writing this (not a stand up desk yet) I am seeing on my other screen news feed updates as others like myself are catching up on their post-holidays online presences, with articles on “What the Paris Climate Agreement means to me”, or about Urban Farming, award winning sustainable projects, and this article from the Guardian on the Green movement 2016 I recommend reading. Having now worked in Engineering and Construction for almost 20 years, it’s remarkable to see how far we have come in a relatively short time (I know for me anyway it feels like those 20 years have flown by!). I vividly recall when LEED was first introduced hearing the words “Yeah, that’ll never fly.” And then once it took hold in the commercial market, hearing in the residential market “No one is going to care about that here.” But here we are, 2016, proving actively otherwise.
While it’s not always easy to see the big picture the start of the new year is always a good time to step back and take a look and plan for next steps with renewed hope. Working for a company that is helping make a difference in the big picture is inspiring. Our project list working on LEED buildings grows daily. And even if certification itself isn’t being pursued, the bar has been set as it’s now rare to see any proposal request come across our desk that doesn’t contain some reference to ‘sustainable’ or ‘Green’ or LEED itself, even if only shadowing. The Vale Living with Lakes Centre makes for an read worthy example of where the future was heading, and as it was the article on Vale that got me on the path to writing this blog, you can check out that article here on “Regenerative Design in Practice” as featured in SABMag.
And as always, don’t hesitate to contact us, to learn more about what we do as part of the Green building movement and how we can help you on your projects!