The Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) unveiled the 2024 winners of the CAGBC Awards during the Building Lasting Change conference closing gala. The annual awards celebrate the innovative projects, teams, and individuals making positive contributions to Canada’s green building sector.
“The CAGBC Awards are a showcase of the market’s commitment to, green building,” said Thomas Mueller, CAGBC’s president and CEO. “This year’s winners represent the best of Canada’s sustainability leaders and the most innovative green and low-carbon projects in the country. Together they prove that green buildings are better buildings with reduced carbon emissions, enhanced resiliency and long-term business value.”
The CAGBC Awards consist of two categories: Green Building, highlighting Canada’s most efficient, effective, and impactful buildings, and Green Building Leadership honouring the outstanding individuals and teams who contribute to the success of Canada’s green building sector. In addition to the CAGBC Awards, CAGBC also presented its annual Lifetime Achievement honour to 2024 recipient, Josée Lupien, president and Founder of Vertima. (See full list of winners below)
“LEED Fellow Josée Lupien is a visionary and pioneer who, over her 20-plus year career, has advanced green building in Québec and Canada,” Mueller said. “She has been a driving force for CAGBC in Québec, a stalwart supporter of LEED and our Zero Carbon Building Standards. Beyond her numerous professional achievements, the industry has benefited from Josée’s tireless commitment to education. We’re privileged to have her as an active CAGBC member and as part of our faculty of subject-matter experts.”
The opening keynote address and panel, discussing Canada’s green building sector, opened Day Two of the conference with Guy Grainger, head of Sustainability Services and ESG, JLL saying that “We are at a green tipping point for the built environment.”
The panel featured Jody Becker, CEO & EVP, Infrastructure, EllisDon, Michael Brooks, CEO, REALPAC, and Sarah Zaleski, chief products officer, U.S. Green Building Council
Grainger also highlighted that Toronto has the greatest share of green certified buildings among 20 North American cities studied by JLL.
The CAGBC conference also saw numerous green building announcements.
The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) and Efficiency Capital announced they gave recently formalized their financial partnership to help small and medium-sized building owners across Canada decarbonize their facilities.
Businesses and building owners have already been onboarded to work with Efficiency Capital on new energy retrofit solutions, with three projects in Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick. Together, these retrofits will reduce 10,000 tonnes of CO2e over their life.
Examples of such upgrades can include lighting, roof insulation, heating-ventilation-air conditioning, heat pumps, automation systems, EV charging and renewable energy sources such as solar PV and geothermal. Some projects are expected to achieve a reduction in GHG emission by up to 50 per cent.
Efficiency Capital is an ‘aggregator’ under the CIB’s Building Retrofits Initiative (BRI), which provides long-term investments for building retrofits to modernize and improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings. The CIB created the aggregator program so that building owners both large and small can access its capital for low-carbon investments.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in buildings across the country will contribute significantly to the reduction of Canada’s carbon footprint. With the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s $50 million investment, Efficiency Capital will provide turnkey retrofits to decarbonize commercial, industrial and multi-residential buildings. The Canada Infrastructure Bank’s Building Retrofits Initiative will help Canada reach its goal of net-zero by 2050,” said Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and MP for Toronto-Danforth.
The Climate Smart Buildings Alliance (CSBA), a joint project between EllisDon, RBC, and Mattamy Homes, also announced the launch the Responsible Buildings Pact, a cross-industry agreement, with over 20 companies committing, aimed at increasing the use of low carbon materials in the built environment.
“Recognizing the business realities everyone faces, the Pact is designed to ensure we are all doing our best to reduce the climate impacts of our industry, and to create more transparency and shared accountability across the value chain,” said David Messer, director of Climate Smart Buildings Alliance.
2024 CAGBC Award winners
Green Building Awards
Zero Carbon Design
Sponsored by East Port Properties
Winner: Neil Campbell Rowing Centre
Location: St. Catherines, ON
The Neil Campbell Rowing Centre demonstrates how simple, elemental, and respectful design can support a broad spectrum of uses and enhance the identity of a venerable place, while also achieving Net-Zero Energy benchmark and certification under the Zero Carbon Building – Design Standard. A key venue for the 2022 Canada Summer Games, the building will host the 2024 World Rowing Championships and provide year-round fitness and rowing training for Canadian athletes, continuing the site’s rich history of competition that began in 1903.
Deep Carbon Retrofit
Winner: 25 St. Clair Avenue East Rehabilitation
Location: Toronto, ON
The 25 St. Clair Avenue East project is a major renovation of an existing a ten-storey federal office building in Toronto, Ontario. As part of the Government of Canada’s Greening Government Strategy, this project demonstrates the federal government’s commitment to achieving a net-zero emissions and climate resilient building portfolio by 2050. Certified under CAGBC’s Zero Carbon Building – Design Standard, the project reuses the existing concrete and steel structure, saving an estimated 7,700 tonnes of embodied carbon and diverting over 81 percent of construction waste from landfill.
New Construction
Sponsored by Morguard Investments
Winner: The Centennial College A-Building Expansion
Location: Scarborough, ON
Centennial College A-Building embraces design principles that reduce environmental impact and enhance occupant well-being. The new five-storey low-carbon, highly energy efficient, mass timber student services building is part of a project that includes the partial renovation of an existing 1994 building, and the exterior work surrounding the two buildings. Designed by Smoke Architecture, it draws from the Indigenous concept of “Two-eyed Seeing,” meaning it reflects both Indigenous and Western cultures.
Inspiring home
Sponsored by Enbridge
Winner: SFU Affordable Housing
Location: Burnaby, BC
SFU Affordable Housing is a high-performance, community-oriented housing project in the UniverCity neighborhood at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus. The project provides 90 below-market student rental apartments that prioritize underserved communities with accessible, adaptable, and family-oriented housing. Consisting of two wood-frame buildings of four and six storeys atop a single storey parkade, the project’s residences are supported by a blend of amenities including a courtyard playground, multipurpose pavilion, shared laundry and study rooms, and a bicycle workshop to support active transportation.
Green Building Leadership Awards
Winner: Sarah Petrevan, Cement Association of Canada
Sarah Petrevan is a leader in the embodied carbon conversation. Prior to joining the Cement Association of Canada (CAC), she founded the Buy Clean Industry Alliance, a coalition of industry associations, construction companies, labour groups and environmental organizations to advance low carbon building materials in the built environment through procurement. Now at the CAC, Sarah is an active member of the Alliance and works with them to advance the policy landscape to enable low-carbon concrete. Sarah participates in numerous advisory panels, including CAGBC’s Advisory Panel on Carbon Capture and Utilization in Cementitious Building Materials.
Green Building Visionary
Winner: The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning
The team at Humber College is at the forefront of Canadian educational institutions in its pursuit to build and operate its portfolio with the mindset of global sustainability leadership. The institution has led several key initiatives, including releasing its 2023 Green Building Standards with stringent sustainability requirements for all development. The backbone of the standards are mandatory Zero Carbon Building Standards and LEED Platinum certification, stringent EUIs, high-performance envelopes, resiliency, wellness, and much more.
Government Leadership
Sponsored by Stantec
Winner: Region of Peel – Office of Climate Change and Energy Management
The team at the Office of Climate Change and Energy Management (OCCEM) at the Region of Peel has developed and implemented a corporate net zero energy building policy and standard for new construction, enabling zero carbon growth and setting a precedent for other municipalities. The Region developed a corporate Net Zero Emission (NZE) Policy and Standard for new construction, thus ensuring all new corporate buildings do not add to the already strained current GHG inventory. This enables the Region to meet its corporate emissions reduction target of 45 percent by 2030 as well as the longer-term ambition of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. (Pictured – Hemant Grover, Manager , Office of Climate Change and energy Management, Region of Peel)
Emerging Green Leader
Sponsored by DIALOG
Winner: Shefali Panse
Shefali Panse began her sustainability journey while pursuing her M.S. in Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley in 2016. She educated herself on climate change and decided to pursue a career in the construction industry for a company with a strong commitment to the planet and people. Since 2023, she has been co-leading CertainTeed Canada’s sustainable solutions program with a focus on its Montreal plant’s equipment electrification project, a $130M investment to create North America’s first zero-carbon manufacturing drywall plant. Shefali is considered a leader among her peers on sustainability topics because of her expertise on the subject, willingness to learn, versatility in communicating with various stakeholders and creativity.
Ed Lim Technical Expertise Volunteer Award
Winner: Lyle Scott
Lyle Scott has been a long-time and dedicated volunteer to CAGBC. Almost continuously since 2007, Lyle has served on multiple committees and taskforces, including LEED for Homes development, durable building design, core and shell design, and as a chair for the LEED Canada NC 2009 submittals group. His years of experience made Lyle a valuable member of CAGBC technical advisory groups, including as vice-chair on one of the first incarnations of CAGBC’s LEED oversight committee. After serving as a long-time member and chair of the LEED Canada Steering Committee, Lyle recently worked with staff to re-shape the technical committees to support CAGBC’s goals for the future, serving as the first chair of the new LEED Advisory Committee.
Featured image: Keynote panel discussion at CAGBC’s 2024 Conference featuring (L to R), Sarah Zaleski, US Green Building Council; Michael Brooks, REALPAC; Jody Becker, EllisDon; and Guy Grainger, JLL. (John Tenpenny)
