Lemay has laid out a rigorous Net Positive framework that focuses on areas regarding health, environmental protection, and carbon emissions to create more sustainable living environments.
Addressing the urgency of climate change, Lemay’s Net Positive approach proposes sustainable strategies and metrics at every stage of the firm’s projects.
Going beyond traditional environmental certifications, it aims to transform urban environments to the benefit of their users and the community.
With the equivalent of some 260 football fields of projects certified or undergoing certification, Lemay’s longstanding commitment to the environment is now formalized with this new program that was recently recognized with a Novae Award.
Lemay Net Positive highlights three critical areas:
Promotion of user health
- Using eco-friendly materials, maximizing indoor air quality and natural light, integrating biophilic and active design.
Environmental protection
- Managing stormwater responsibly, reducing heat islands, protecting green spaces and developing biodiversity (etc.)
Carbon emissions reduction
- Performing carbon quantification and life-cycle assessments, reducing carbon footprint, increasing resiliency, adapting design to climate change
“Protecting the environment doesn’t have to cost more,” said Louis T. Lemay, president and excellence facilitator. “Our projects are proof that they can be sustainably developed for the same capital costs as comparable projects. The Net Positive approach also gives projects greater social acceptability, which generates more ROI and boosts market value.”
The embodiment of Lemay’s brand, the Phenix at 3500 Saint-Jacques St. in Montréal, is a testing ground for new best practices in sustainable architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, interior design and urban planning.
Already Fitwel-certified and aiming for LEED-Platinum and Zero Carbon certification, it hosts some 300 employees as a living lab incorporating wellness strategies including biophilic design, active transport, flexible workspaces and healthy nutrition.
According to Lemay, the transformation of an abandoned warehouse, located at the heart of a neighbourhood with strong working-class roots, has avoided approximately 12,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions that would have been generated by the construction of a new building.
Lemay’s Net Positive’s rigorous approach was developed over the course of numerous sustainable projects that include Montréal’s Bibliothèque du Boisé, Toronto’s Woodbine Districts; Soprema’s factory in Woodstock, ON; ; TELUS Park in Calgary and Bellechasse Transport Centre as well as its own office, the Phenix, in Montréal.