October 15, 2008

The Saskatchewan Forestry Centre, in Prince Albert, was Saskatchewan’s first LEED registered building. Sustainable design concepts are reaching out into rural Canada.

Sustainable design moves beyond Canada’s urban centres

Architect’s Corner

Charles Olfert, MRAIC

Initially, the move to sustainable design in architecture was championed and pioneered in the nation’s urban areas. Reasons for this range from public demand to the fact that, by volume, more architectural projects emerge in our cities.

The move brought about a new era of building construction, where architects and design professionals, along with forward-thinking clients and many municipal governments, have embraced sustainable philosophies.

Today, in many urban centres, designing a building using sustainable techniques is virtually a given, with projects using the Canada Green Building Council’s LEED guidelines to qualify and quantify success.

But what about the rest of the country? Roughly half of Canada’s population currently lives in rural locations and cities of less than 500,000 people. Are these residents benefiting from sustainable design philosophies?

To answer this question, I look no farther than my home province of Saskatchewan for a sampling of sustainable design in rural Canada. Saskatchewan has been in the news lately as the leader of economic growth in the country. With approximately half the population living outside the urban areas surrounding Regina and Saskatoon, it likely reflects rural realities across Canada.

Sustainability here is largely pioneered in urban areas by architects employed by, and working with, the University of Saskatchewan and the Innovation Place research park on the University’s campus. Innovation Place has subscribed to sustainable philosophies through design since its inception in the early 80s, and was the client on the province’s first LEED Gold Certified facility in Prince Albert. The University’s Facility Management Division ensures that, wherever possible, new construction pursues the LEED certification process, and is working toward implementation of LEED for Existing Buildings rating system for operations and maintenance.

However, even more encouraging is new provincial government policy supporting LEED design initiatives in smaller cities and towns. The government is experimenting with a policy that all new school projects meet LEED Silver Certification level and perform at a standard at least 30 per cent better than the Model National Energy Code. The brilliance of this is the broad impact it will have as school projects are located everywhere from inner-city urban neighborhoods to towns of less than 1,000 residents. The Ministry of Education is also encouraging school divisions to participate in a LEED pilot project for existing schools. In addition, the government is exploring a broader approach to sustainability for publicly funded infrastructure.

Not only does policy like this ensure a building will be built to a certain standard, but as schools are the focal point for many communities, everyone from five to 85 years old will experience and learn the benefits of a facility and the sustainable design philosophies used in the project.

Sustainable design philosophies are also expanding beyond the realm of the public sector, as private developers are seeing and hearing of the benefits of green design as both a marketing opportunity and as design inspiration. This kind of broad-based acceptance is an important step in rural and suburban Canada, as it is one thing to adhere to government policy, but another to see private investment. In our experience, rural clients are excited to be involved in the LEED process and believe that added investment benefits their interests, the community, and the planet.

As more buildings are constructed and people are exposed to benefits of sustainable design, more will request this standard. This has occurred in rural Canada faster than people may have predicted. If this trend moves throughout the entire country over the next few years, then all Canadian residents will experience these benefits. As architects, it is important that the profession ensures that rural projects in Canada receive the same attention and exposure as urban ones.

Charles Olfert, MRAIC, is Regional Director Saskatchewan/Manitoba, of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada

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