The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has announced that five of the official facilities constructed for the upcoming Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games have earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification, prior to the start of the 2015 Games on July 15, 2015.
These LEED-certified facilities feature state-of-the-art sustainability measures like green roofs, diversion of site waste from landfills and incineration, the use of geothermal energy, and property irrigation using rainwater stored in underground cisterns.
The certified projects are:
*CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and Field House—certified LEED Gold on April 7, 2015
*CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletics Stadium—certified LEED Silver on May 27, 2015
*Cisco Milton Pan Am/Parapan Am Velodrome—certified LEED Silver on May 28, 2015
*CIBC Hamilton Pan Am Soccer Stadium—certified LEED Silver on May 28, 2015
*The Atos Markham Pan Am/Parapan Am Centre—certified LEED Gold on June 12, 2015
In addition to these five certified projects, two additional facilities—the CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletes’ Village and the Welland Pan Am Flatwater Centre—are also registered with the intention of earning LEED certification in the near future.
“The Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games Organizing Committee is pleased the Canada Green Building Council has recognized these five new builds with LEED certification,” says Saäd Rafi, chief executive officer, TO2015. “These facilities—as well as the many others built and upgraded for the Games with our funding partners—will improve Canada’s performance in international athletics, serve their communities and act as a sustainable legacy for future generations.”
These certifications are also noteworthy given that large athletic facilities can pose a unique challenge in green building due to their often large footprints.
“With the global exposure of the Pan Am Games, it was critical to ensure that buildings of this type and scale are built to leading sustainability standards,” says Thomas Mueller, President and CEO of the Canada Green Building Council. “I congratulate the Organizing Committee for minimizing the environmental impact from these facilities and showing the world Canada’s leadership in green building and sustainability.”
Aside from using sustainability to encourage greater indoor air quality and performance, Pan Am projects were guided by LEED to reduce utility costs and maintenance burden by maximizing energy and water efficiency. This included implementing tactics like advanced building automation, which allows owners to actively monitor building performance and respond dynamically to changing operational needs.
For the University of Toronto-Scarborough and the City of Toronto, who co-own the LEED Gold CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aqhe LEED Gold CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and Field House that will host many of the Pan Am swimming events, LEED helped them think outside the box.
“Because swimming pools of this nature generally have significant utility consumption rates, we were particularly interested in targeting optimized energy performance,” says Jim Derenzis, Director of Facilities Management for the University of Toronto Scarborough. “We achieved this by harnessing geothermal energy from the field located under the north parking lot of the facility; using building envelope materials that combat high humidity and contribute to overall building envelope and energy performance; and using unique air handling units that prevent condensation and reduce the energy demand required to heat the pools.”
For more information on LEED certification or green building in Canada, please visit www.cagbc.org/LEED. For more information on these facilities or the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Games, please visit www.toronto2015.org.