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Interview with Mike Manning and Catherine Marshall

The husband-and-wife team at Greenbilt Homes (greenbilthomes.ca) have turned their attention to FlexPlex® – their multiplex building that easily flexes from duplex, triplex, fourplex to single-family. This is a new venture for this 15-year-old Passive House company. Traditionally, Greenbilt has been a custom home builder working with both modular and conventional technology.

1. How did you get the idea for FlexPlex

We started ruminating about multiplexes when our kids were teenagers as a way that they could generate the rental income to afford to own a place. But we wanted them to have the option to enlarge their personal area by removing space from the rental area. Eventually, we came up with a “FlexPlex” prototype. We decided to build a duplex version for ourselves as both our retirement home, and as a retirement income generator. Our FlexPlex could also turn into a single-family multigenerational home if the “kids” have kids and want to live with “Mom and Dad”.  We’re waiting!

2. How did you develop a flexible design and how does it work?

We designed a four 2-bedroom apartment building. Then we stress-tested the building infrastructure by seeing how it would work in a duplex, and a single-family home. We also focused on the aspects of each configuration that make it work and adjusted the design accordingly. There are so many ways the building can flex from one configuration to another, so we’ll give you one example.

If we wanted to turn the upper duplex into two 2-bedroom apartments:

Floor 1: use hidden infrastructure to add an extra bathroom, and in-suite laundry; frame two interior walls and open up a hidden doorway in an existing wall; and move one door.

Floor 2: use hidden infrastructure to add a kitchen; move one door.

3. How can owners benefit from FlexPlex features?

Many buildings become functionally obsolete because they were designed with a single purpose. For example, office buildings with large floorplates likely can’t be adapted to another use. Because of the floorplate and the infrastructure, renovation to change the FlexPlex are quick and easy.

As the FlexPlex can have up to eight bed/bath combinations and four kitchen/food prep areas, there’s a lot of optionality in the design. This building could have multiple configurations as a residence. In addition, it could be a small institutional or hospitality building. 

4. It seems unusual to copyright a construction process.

Why did you do that?

We wanted to protect our IP. But regardless of the legalities, now that we have given SABMag the drawings of the four-unit design, our secrets are out. Perhaps a better question is “why are you sharing this proprietary information?” We are getting toward the end of our careers, and we decided to try to inspire others in sustainable design to keep pushing forward with new ideas. We feel that it’s socially imperative for more innovation to occur to densify sustainably and affordably. We won’t maintain social cohesion if new housing sells at $1,600 per square foot. 
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CAGBC launches Zero Carbon Building Micro-Credential

New micro-credential helps build proficiency in low-carbon concepts and applying the Zero Carbon Building Standards.

The Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) recently launched its Zero Carbon Building Essentials Micro-Credential, a new leaning path designed to help green building professionals develop the knowledge neede d to advance carbon reductions.

“The growing demand for low-carbon building solutions requires building professionals to acquire and integrate new skills and knowledge now,” says Thomas Mueller, CAGBC President and CEO. “Drawing on 20 years’ experience delivering high-quality green building training and the expertise we gained from our Zero Carbon Building program, CAGBC’s new micro-credential will provide the key concepts and insights that Canada’s building professionals need to advance decarbonization today.”

The ZCB Micro-Credential was developed to support Canada’s building sector and meet growing demand for low-carbon buildings and retrofits. With only five years left to meet 2030 carbon reduction targets and another 25 years to achieve decarbonization, Canada’s building sector needs to act now to be prepared for the low-carbon future.

The ZCB-Essentials Micro-Credential builds on insights gained from creating and implementing the Zero Carbon Building Standards, Canada’s first and only building standards focused solely on carbon reductions. Now with over a hundred certified buildings and hundreds more registered, CAGBC has created a micro-credential for building industry professionals seeking to better understand zero-carbon concepts.

“Zero-carbon buildings and retrofits require specific skills and knowledge,” said Mark Hutchinson, CAGBC’s vice president of Green Building Programs and Innovation. “Project teams need to be more integrated and collaborative, using common terminology and approaches that everyone involved can understand, from design through to construction and building operations.”

ZCB-Essentials will focus on low carbon fundamentals and help establish an industry-wide lexicon. The micro-credential starts with the live and interactive “Introduction to the Zero Carbon Building Standards” webinar. Five on-demand courses explore key topics including making the business case for zero carbon, Thermal Energy Demand Intensity, the Zero Carbon Balance, Embodied Carbon and transition planning. To complete the micro-credential, a new interactive workshop will provide a practical look at the latest ZCB Standards. 

Participants that complete the micro-credential will receive a ZCB-Essentials badge through Credly, a global Open Badge management platform. With Credly, participants can secure and share their ZCB-Essentials badge, demonstrating their knowledge of zero-carbon principles to clients and employers.

“Launching a micro-credential for the Zero Carbon Building program is one of the many ways CAGBC continues to advance decarbonization in the Canadian real estate market,” said Mueller. “Along with projects to support transition planning, our Learning program is helping prepare the building sector workforce for Canada’s low-carbon future.”

To learn more about the micro-credential, visit cagbc.org/learn.

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Kipling Transit Hub


Advanced steel framing cuts tonnage costs  

By Scott Norris

Completed in 2022, the Kipling Transit Hub is a 4,890m2 revitalization of an existing transit station. The LEED Gold station serves as a key transit interchange in Toronto’s west end, connecting GO Transit, TTC subway and MiWay buses under one roof.

The focal point of the project was a new 300m2 bus terminal with a long curving cantilevered roof structure projecting out over the bus parking and circulation area. The $73 million design/build project was led by Ellis Don.

The elliptical shaped roof structure supports a 4,460m2 green roof which contributed to the LEED accreditation. Along with the station building there were many other components including a pedestrian bridge, tunnels, platforms and parking, which will not be covered in this article.

Over the course of the project it was determined that the scope of the structural steel work was expanding beyond the initial budget.  At this point, Steelcon was brought on in a design assist role to determine whether its proprietary SIN beam member could be utilized to reduce cost, overall steel tonnage and improve delivery times.

The SIN beam is a custom built-up beam with a corrugated web section that allows the web thickness to be optimized for the design loads.  The sinusoidal (SIN) profile of the corrugations improves the strength-to-weight ratio of the web by virtue of its geometry. This web optimization along with substantial variability in the flange members resulted in significant reduction in the overall tonnage of steel required for the project.

Value Engineering Approach

The initial design for the elliptical roof structure consisted of typical frames spaced at approximately 8.0m on centre through the middle of the structure and transitioning to radially oriented girders at the west end and cantilever trusses to the east. The typical frames consisted of a central truss spanning between columns spaced at 10.5m, with the trusses then projecting 12.75m beyond the supporting columns and tapered down from 2.0m deep at the centre to 300mm at the roof perimeter.  Between the main frames, secondary open web steel joists support a metal deck on which the roof was applied.

During the design assist review, the trusses at the typical interior frames were revised to long span cantilevered SIN girders. In this application the SIN girders were tapered to follow the initial truss profile. The radially oriented girders at the west end of the roof were also replaced with SIN girders. However, the east end remained as trusses due to the efficiency in this configuration.

The final change involved the replacement of all the secondary framing, open web steel joists being replaced with SIN beams. The framing of the associated ancillary buildings and pedestrian bridge was less suitable for SIN beam replacement and was thus not considered. In all a total of 177 open web steel joists and 11 roof truss members were replaced.

Sustainability Approach

Since this project was designed and built before embodied carbon thresholds and other sustainability targets for structural steel projects became common practice, we decided to review the Kipling project to determine the associated benefits of SIN Beam substitution; notably reductions in global warming potential (GWP). The conclusions from this analysis enable us to extrapolate  to future projects which are subject to carbon thresholds.

Scott Norris B.Esc., P.Eng.is Director, Engineering Solutions at  Steelcan. Photos of completed building: Simon Liao, courtesy Strasman Architects.

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Building Better with Steel

Guidelines for lowering GHG emissions in conventional steel structures

By Scott Norris

Finding ways to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings is on every professional’s mind. While certification programs like LEED, Toronto Green Building Standards, and CAGBC Net Zero Carbon Building Standard have helped guide the industry in terms of reducing the environmental impact of buildings, including Global Warming Potential (GWP), it is an ever evolving mission.

The steel industry has begun to take a life cycle approach, reducing the emissions associated with the production of the material, the construction process, as well as the energy efficiency over its lifespan. Regardless of the building type, occupancy, or design material, it is critical that consultants reaffirm their design approaches to ensure they align with this more holistic goal.

In buildings where, large clear spans are required by the program, a steel structure with conventional cast in place concrete foundations is often preferred for reasons of economy.  Steelwork that is efficiently fabricated off-site offers quality-assured, fully tested, and traceable products. On-site construction is fast and has minimal adverse local environmental impacts. These characteristics lend themselves well to warehouses, community centres, transit buildings, data centres and low-rise offices, among others.

For those involved with these building types for which steel is better suited, the overall embodied carbon in the structure can be reduced in several ways:

1. Design efficiently and purposefully. For example:

a. The consultants must work together to determine accurate design loading; excess loading compounds exponentially in the member design phase.

b. Work with the consultants and contractors to understand serviceability requirements of floors, finishes and curtain walls.

c. During preliminary building layout, opt for bays with a 3:4 rectangular aspect ratio for girders to beams. Also, aim for bay sizes of 7.5m x 10m to 10m x 13m to maximize deck spans and optimize framing weight and depth.

d. Utilize efficient framing systems, such as: SIN Beams, composite beams, gerber girder framing, open web steel joists (OWSJs), trusses, arches and tension only members wherever possible.

e. Avoid inefficient systems such as moment frames, transfers of gravity structure, Vierendeel trusses, etc., wherever possible.

f. Understand the transportation impacts created by the materials that you are choosing. Truck transportation produces 17 kg CO2 / tonne / 100 km, while train is 33% of that and marine shipping is 5%.

g. Prioritize members that are produced using an electric arc furnace (EAF). North American manufacturers typically use EAFs to manufacture steel for hot rolled shapes like wide-flange members, angles and channels.

h. Understand the benefits and limitations of hollow structural sections (HSS). These members are more efficient from a material standpoint, however if they are purchased in Canada, they currently come from basic oxygen furnace (BOF) coil which increases embodied carbon and reduces recycled content. If the HSS is purchased from US mills it is more likely that the coil will be coming from EAF.

This will change in coming years when the EAF mills at Algoma Steel and Dofasco come online in 2026.

i. Understand that plate, and cold form steel is often produced in using BOF. This impacts items such as roof deck for example which has high GWP values.

j. Investigate the use of high yield strength for tension members, simply supported columns, beam columns, and simply supported laterally restrained beams

k. Do not forget about the concrete works. Design foundations, slab on grade, floor deck and other elements efficiently and utilize reinforcement only as required Alternately, use fibre reinforcement instead of steel.

l. Work with the concrete suppliers to utilize low carbon mixes.

Scott Norris is Director of Engineering Solutions at Steelcon.

Find out more about carbon neutral steel designs at  www.steelcongoc.com, follow Scott Norris on LinkedIn or contact him directly, snorris@steelcongoc.com.

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Interview with Michael Sugar

Starting on the path to zero

The Canada Green Building Council recently hired a new Director of Zero Carbon Buildings. Michael Sugar comes to the Council from the energy sector, with a background in clean energy and energy efficiency. Michael is heading up the Zero Carbon program at CAGBC, which includes the standards, as well as initiatives to help accelerate Canada’s shift toward zero carbon buildings and retrofits.

You recently joined CAGBC as Director of Zero Carbon buildings. What’s your mandate in this role?

As an industry-driven organization, we’re focused on helping provide solutions that enable market transformation through carbon reductions. It’s a big task, which requires Canada’s building sector aligning to global targets that include 40 percent embodied carbon reduction and complete elimination of operational carbon in new construction by 2030 – not to mention aggressively decarbonizing existing buildings.

My job is to help provide support for the sector. That’s why our Zero Carbon Building Standards were designed to provide a pathway that’s flexible, simple and works for most building types and all geographies yet can still result in achieving zero.

You’ve seen a sharp increase in registrations for ZCB certification – what’s driving that?

This year we saw a significant increase in adoption of the Zero Carbon Building Standards. In fact, we doubled the annual number of ZCB-Design certifications and tripled the annual number of ZCB-Performance certifications.

A few things are driving this shift. First, the adoption of ESG targets as a means of tracking and measuring the success of sustainability investments. Second, the rising risk posed by climate change and rising carbon costs which requires the real estate sector to future-proof investments by ensuring they are clean-energy and low-carbon ready. Access to sustainable financing products is also helping.

What role will architects play in the transition to zero carbon buildings?

Architects are integral to the shift to zero carbon buildings. Decisions made at the design stage significantly impact a project’s ability to cut operational and especially embodied carbon. Finding innovative, creative and marketable solutions will help shift zero carbon buildings and retrofits from niche to norm.

How do CAGBC’s ZCB-Design and ZCB-Performance define Transition Planning guidance? Why is it important?

To reach our climate targets, we need to start decarbonizing buildings today. But decarbonization is a process, and transition planning is something that can be done today, for every building. A Transition Plan is a costed, strategic plan that outlines how a building will adapt over time to remove combustion from building operations.

CAGBC is working with our technical committees to build out the tools and supports the building sector needs to advance transition plans and start on the journey towards zero carbon. Our goal is to remove barriers and encourage building owners to take this first step with us.

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Interview with Graeme Stewart of ERA Architects

Graeme Stewart is a principal of ERA Architects which was the lead architect of the Ken Soble Tower transformation, one of the largest EnerPHit-certified projects in the world. www.eraarch.ca

1. How did ERA Architects become involved in the Ken Soble Tower project?

ERA Architects had been working for over a decade on the Tower Renewal Project, a strategy for the revitalization of Canada’s aging postwar apartment neighbourhoods, through which we gained experience on tower retrofits. As part of the Hamilton City Housing portfolio of buildings, the Ken Soble Tower was in a distressed, abandoned condition. Based on our experience, we were brought in to do an assessment of what to do: tear it down or retrofit.

2. Deciding to do an EnerPHit transformation was a bold decision. How did you arrive there?

I am pleased to say that the decision was largely made for us by Hamilton City Housing CEO Tom Hunter. He came from the health care sector and said that we build world-class hospitals and need to do the same for our public housing. He understood the long-term benefits of doing an EnerPHit transformation, and the project moved ahead from there.

3. Once the project was a go, how did the process work of coordinating the various disciplines in the team?

When Hamilton City Housing decided on pursuing EnerPHit the intent from the start was to achieve certification. This kept everyone ‘honest’. It was crucial to have a fully co-ordinated team which we assembled based on our experience. The team included: Entuitive, JVM Consulting, Transsolar, Reinbold Engineers and the certifier from PHI in Germany among others. At every step – during design development, review of assemblies, costing reviews – the team always asked if we were meeting PHPP targets. We then worked with PCL on construction mock-ups that would meet the criteria of EnerPHit and serve as the standard should alternate details or products be suggested by the trades. Through this process we arrived at a tight ‘specs package’ such that the project met performance and was ultimately certified.

4. What did you learn from this first project about what worked and what could be improved?

As far as we know, this is the largest residential EnerPHit project in the world. The precedents for this type of work come from Europe but we realized that we need solutions that meet North American practices, products and trade familiarity. Our design made this its focus. The construction manager PCL was critical in the strength of their quality control regime, but some trades wondered early on if the PassiveHouse was overkill.  Yet as testing procedures became easier the consensus was these were key practices for use in future projects, Passive House or overwise.

There are two other observations. We would love to have trades more familiar with high-performance retrofits, and a supply chain that can provide more of the types of products for this type of work. But the evolution will happen. Since we went to tender three years ago, many more suitable products have become available.

5. Is the Ken Soble Tower transformation a practical template for the many similar towers in our building stock?

A resounding yes. The project gave us a lot of elbow room to try things because it was empty. We can apply the lessons learned to an occupied building. It was cheaper by half to renovate the Ken Soble Tower rather than tear it down and replace. The economics will improve further as the supply chain and trade skills improve. The incentive is an improved quality of life in revitalised buildings that are quiet, more comfortable, and more economic to operate in the long term. 
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825 Pacific Street Artists Hub

New residential space provides public amenity and top performance

By Padraig McMorrow

With more than 2,000m² of affordable production spaces, independent studios, exhibition space and offices, 825 Pacific provides a vital injection of dedicated artist space into the City of Vancouver. The tallest Passive House building in Vancouver, 825 Pacific represents the Community Amenity Contribution made by the developer to the City of Vancouver, in exchange to permit the construction of rezoning an adjacent property for a high-rise residential tower. Because the City would take over the project, it was required to be constructed to the Passive House standard.

The seven-storey building stands next to the historic Leslie House, one of the oldest remaining single-family homes in Downtown Vancouver. To acknowledge the small scale and cultural importance of its neighbour, the ground floor of 825 Pacific, which will be a publicly accessible gallery, is set back to create a small entrance courtyard between the two buildings.

This is a core and shell project, with only the washroom and storage areas on each floor enclosed; the remainder awaiting subdivision by the tenants.The structure of the seven storey plus basement building comprises conventionally reinforced concrete walls, columns, floor slabs and roof slab. The stair cores located at the rear of the building provide the necessary lateral resistance.

Envelope

The slab on grade and basement walls are insulated with 125mm expanded polystyrene (XPS) which provides an effective thermal resistance of R-27. The roof, with 230mm of XPS laid on the slab, provides an effective thermal resistance of R-43 for the green roof. The ground floor concrete walls are insulated with 203mm mineral wool, which provides an effective thermal resistance of R-32.

The walls of the upper floors are steel stud with 152mm mineral wool batt insulation between the studs; with an additional 203mm of continuous semi rigid mineral wool insulation, supported by the thermally broken stainless steel brackets used to secure the metal cladding.

This wall assembly provides an effective thermal resistance of R-44. To mitigate thermal bridging, heavy gauge studs were used to reduce the number of brackets required; together with non-metallic through wall flashings.

Project Credits

  • Developer   Grosvenor Group
  • Owner  City of Vancouver
  • General Contractor  Ledcor Group
  • Architects  ACDF Architecture and Arcadis IBI Group
  • Building Envelope Consultant and Energy Modeller  Morrison Hershfield
  • Structural Engineer  Dialog
  • Mechanical and Electrical Engineer  Integral Group

Three shades of metal panels create a dynamic exterior pattern, and staggered windows from one floor to another contribute to the rhythm of the facade. The overall effect is that of a pixelated beacon to attract the public. EJOT® CROSSFIX® stainless steel thermal clip brackets attach the facade to the building structure to maintain thermal performance.

Padraig McMorrow Architect (Ireland) MRIAI, CPHC, Associate – Manager, Architecture Arcadis IBI Group Vancouver Office.

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PH-1 Lonsdale Avenue

Restaurant/office realized with design collaboration and prefabrication

By John Hemsworth

PH-1 is a small restaurant and office infill project in the Lower Lonsdale district of North Vancouver that employed virtual design and construction (VDC) and off-site prefabrication to meet challenges of access and constructability. VDC also made possible the installation of a prefabricated Passive House-compliant building envelope, including a zero-lot line wall adjacent to an existing building.

Originally an area of waterfront warehouses and marine service facilities, the neighbourhood has been transformed over time to a high density, mixed-use community centred on the Lonsdale Quay Market and Seabus Terminal. The consolidation of land required by the introduction of higher density zoning had left lots like this exceptionally difficult to develop.

As a family that had owned the property for three generations, the client was waiting for the right opportunity to do something special on the site. The idea of combining Passive House performance with modern mass timber construction was enthusiastically received, despite the many challenges and uncertainties it presented.

A waiver of the on-site parking requirement made it possible to design a three-storey building (with a ground floor restaurant and two storeys of offices above) that would achieve the full 2.53 FSR permitted by the zoning. The building made use of exemptions (applicable to the extra thick walls used in Passive House construction) to achieve a three-storey building, however, the 92% site coverage eliminated the possibility of an on-site staging area for materials and equipment, typically required for site construction.

Architecturally, the concept was to use the traditional warehouse vocabulary of an exposed heavy timber structure with brick cladding, but to interpret it in a contemporary way. This strategy has translated into an exposed glulam post and beam structure with cross laminated timber (CLT) floors, stair and elevator shafts.

The non-loadbearing brick cladding at the southeast corner of the building is ‘eroded’ away and replaced with large areas of glazing, providing restaurant patrons and office workers with an oblique view to the harbour.  The remainder of the south façade includes extensive glazing at ground level, with a staggered pattern of vertical windows, coordinated with glulam bracing elements, on the upper floors.

While the Code permitted the three exterior walls facing the streets and lane to be of combustible construction, it required the north wall abutting the adjacent property to be non-combustible. Such walls are typically built block by block in concrete masonry, a method incompatible with Passive House performance. A more sophisticated solution was clearly required, one in which the continuous exterior insulation and vapour barrier essential for Passive House performance could be installed without accessing the outer face of the wall in the field.

Using a VDC process involving the architect, structural engineer, building envelope consultant, contractor, and the mass wood fabricator and installer, a prefabricated and pre-insulated wall system was devised, then alternative detailing, assembly and installation strategies explored and optimized.

PROJECT CREDITS

  • Owner  Babco Equities Ltd.
  • Architect  Hemsworth Architecture
  • Structural Engineer  Equilibrium Consulting Inc.
  • Electrical/ Mechanical Engineer  MCW Consultants Ltd.
  • Civil Engineer  Vector Engineering Services Ltd.
  • Geotechnical  GVH Consulting Ltd.
  • Building Code Consultant  LMDG
  • Passive House consultant  Peel Passive House Consulting Ltd.
  • Landscape Architect  Prospect & Refuge
  • General Contractor  Naikoon Contracting Ltd.
  • Photos  Ema Peter

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Decarbonizing cement

By Jeff Ranson, Senior Associate, CaGBC

As we move towards 2050 targets for green building, embodied carbon is increasingly important to staying under the emissions budget and limiting global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. What is embodied carbon? It’s the product of the materials and construction methods we choose. This value is often stretched over the life of the building to reflect durability, the idea that a building built to last is likely better than one that will need constant repairs. However, the reality  is that those emissions are all fully released up front. Like net-present value in the financial world, a ton of carbon emissions today is worth more than a ton of carbon emissions tomorrow.

Of all the opportunities to reduce embodied carbon, the most significant is in concrete. Concrete is the most widely used building material, cutting across both buildings and infrastructure. And despite strong and promising market growth of alternative low-carbon materials including wood and biomaterials, concrete will continue to be a critical material for construction.

Potential as a climate solution

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from concrete is a national priority. Natural Resources Canada and the Cement Association of Canada have committed to develop a decarbonization roadmap for the industry. For the designing construction industry, there are a few significant ways to reduce emissions today, and some very promising opportunities emerging.

In the immediate term, there are two opportunities to reduce emissions from concrete. The first is simply to minimize the amount of concrete projects use. This involves looking at how much concrete is required for the project and optimizing its use. This requires designers be conscious of how design choices such as massing impact material requirements. In many cases, designers are evaluating alternative low-carbon materials like mass timber to replace concrete, but nothing is as effective as just using less material.

One area in relation to embodied carbon that has been overlooked is the impact of land use planning. Infrastructure like roads, sewers, and transit require concrete.  There is no realistic substitution. Low-density suburban development oriented around the automobile results in huge amounts of embodied carbon, seldom considered in any municipal carbon strategies. CaGBC has been in discussions with researchers at the University of Toronto to better understand the relative carbon impacts of different development patterns, but at present there isn’t a well-established practice for evaluation. With more research we hope to understand the impact of embodied carbon from infrastructure and the importance what we build and where we build it.

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