September 22, 2008

West Village Suites student residence achieves LEED Platinum certifcation

HAMILTON

Dundurn Capital Partners Inc. has announced that its West Village Suites student residence has been certified by the Canada Green Building Council as LEED Platinum — the highest achievable level of certification.

West Village Suites is a privately-owned 109 unit building housing 449 post-secondary students. It is located approximately one kilometre west of McMaster University. At 225,000 square feet, it is the largest LEED-Platinum certified project in Canada.

Features of West Village Suites include energy savings of 57 per cent due to its insulated concrete form construction and an evacuated heat pipe solar system that includes 60 panels used for domestic hot water. This array is the largest installation of its kind in the world. Additionally, each suite includes Energy Star appliances and low-flow water fixtures.

Also featured are a white roof, a rain water capture system for re-use as gray water in the toilet system, balconies and extra-large windows in each suite allowing 75 per cent of the living space to be used with natural light. Fresh air is provided directly to each suite by way of an in-suite heat recovery system tied directly to each suite’s fancoil unit. The unit tempers fresh air by capturing heat from suite exhaust before delivering it to the living space. This approach ensures fresh air gets to the residents, rather than stagnates in the corridor, as it often does in a “typical” building.

Tenants also have the ability to do their part to contribute to energy savings. An “all-off” switch at the main entrance to each suite allows lights and ventilation to be shut off when no one is in the space. Also, a real-time digital read-out or “watt-meter” in the common area of each suite lets residents know how much energy they are using at any given moment.

Besides energy saving measures in the design, the project team made considerable effort to reduce the amount of material waste generated in construction. Tenants are encouraged to minimize the garbage sent to landfill through an in-suite waste separation and a waste management/recycling room provided on each floor.

Interior design materials such as paints, coatings and adhesives all meet high standards for low off-gassing of volatile organic compounds, while the carpeting has CRI Green Label certification.

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