September 20, 2004—The City of Vancouver has officially announced the adoption of green building standards LEED for British Columbia (LEED-BC) for all new civic buildings greater than 500 square meters. New public buildings must achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification. The City also mandated specific energy points in the LEED Rating System to ensure a 30% energy reduction in all new civic buildings.
LEED-BC, licensed to Canada by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is a performance based tool that rates different elements of building design and construction to ensure better environmental performance. LEED-BC has been tailored to meet the needs of the British Columbia market and will be administered by the Canada Green Building Council (CGBC).
LEED Gold is an ambitious standard which only two buildings in Canada have qualified for to date. Both of these buildings are in British Columbia. The expectation of the City, with the adoption of the LEED Gold standard, is to save the taxpayers of Vancouver millions of dollars in long-term operating costs and encourage other municipalities to take similar action in support of the environment.
The announcement also serves as a catalyst to promote greening of the 2010 Winter Olympics, which will be held in the City of Vancouver. “This firmly establishes Vancouvers reputation as a North American leader in green building not to mention the positive statement this sends to the world from a municipality that will be hosting the 2010 Winter Games,” said Joe Van Belleghem, Vice Chair, CGBC and Board Member, USGBC.
For more information, contact the USGBC.
