The Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (TPASC) is a winner by international standards, achieving LEED Gold certification. The new aquatics and sports facility located at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) has met strict standards in its design, construction, maintenance and operations to be recognized as among the best in the world for Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED).
Procured as a Design-Build-Finance project under Infrastructure Ontario, the Sports Centre was designed by NORR and B+H Architects. The City of Toronto and University of Toronto jointly own the facility with a significant (56 percent capital contribution) coming from the federal and provincial governments via TO2015. All parties had agreed that the facility should be a leader in sustainability, providing a showcase for cutting-edge environmental design as well as reducing ongoing operating costs, helping to ensure access for the community, high-performance athletes, and UTSC students, staff and faculty for the long term.
As the Americas converge on the UTSC campus to participate in the 2015 Pan Am & Parapan American Games this summer, many of the building innovations will be showcased so that other nations can learn about sustainable design.
The LEED standard began in 1994, and was adopted by the Canadian Green Building Council in 2003. Buildings are graded on a point system by an independent agency on the basis of environmental impact and human benefit throughout the building’s life and operations. TPASC was designed by NORR Ltd. (and aquatic engineers Counsilman-Hunsaker) with high level LEED certification in mind. Among the highlights are:
*40 percent of heating and 99 percent of the cooling in the facility is supported by a geothermal field provided by more than 100 wellpoints, each extending 600 feet under the north parking lot, reducing the building’s energy consumption by 20 percent.
*a green roof covers 30 percent of the roof area, approximately 60,000 square feet
*1,854 solar panels installed on the TPASC roofs can generate up to 593 kW of power per hour, reducing energy consumption of the building by up to 10 to 15 percent
*LED lighting throughout the building consumes 80 percent less energy than incandescent, and about 35 percent less than fluorescent
*three underground cisterns collect rainwater for landscape irrigation
General contractors PCL Constructors Canada ensured 95 percent of the construction site waste from the 393,628-square-foot sports centre was targeted for diversion from landfills and incineration.
TPASC is the first LEED Gold building at UTSC, and U of T’s first new building to meet the standard. UTSC’s Environmental Science and Chemistry Building, scheduled for completion this year, has also been designed to LEED Gold Standard.
TPASC has netted other awards as well. PCL Construction was awarded the 2015 Ontario General Contractors Association award for Best Project Built in Ontario and earlier this year, PCL accepted the Best of the Best Large Project Achievement Award from the Toronto Construction Association.