The Grey Bruce Health Unit Board is committed to establishing a benchmark for health living, and, by extension, they were determined to create a healthy building for their operations.

With this in mind, the integrated design team established the sustainability goal for the project of LEED Gold certification, and a reclaimed “brownfield” site on the Owen Sound harbour was selected for the development.

Sustainability & Resilience

As the site of a former manufacturing facility, the soils were contaminated, requiring us to work closely with the GBHU and the City of Owen Sound to help complete their site remediation program. Once the final site preparation was complete, structural issues required our structural design team to redesign the piles with a significant $1 million premium. In response, our team met with the owner and contractor and negotiated $800k in savings, bringing the project back on budget.

The result is a three-storey high building with a mix of copper, stone, and cedar cladding. Our innovative design includes rainwater collection for use in water closets, and the use of natural ventilation in the office spaces.

This three-storey, 5,575 m2 building was designed and constructed to meet many important green building objectives:

• leaving a minimal footprint on the natural environment
• making efficient use of energy, water, and material resources
• providing a healthy work environment
• creating an inviting, functional, and educational building for visitors

39% Energy Cost Savings Annually

This building is designed to achieve a 39% reduction in energy cost compared with a similar building constructed to conventional standards. Energy conservation measures include the following:

• a well-insulated building envelope
• high performance windows
• occupancy sensors
• daylighting sensors
• energy recovery ventilators
• energy-efficient condensing boilers
• variable speed drives on mechanical equipment

The Grey Bruce Health Unit has embarked on a comprehensive program of building commissioning and a long-term energy monitoring program.

Water Wise: Rainwater Harvesting and Low-Flow Fixtures

The Grey Bruce Public Health Unit will achieve a commendable 60% reduction in the use of potable water. The savings result from a combination of using rainwater (stored in a cistern) for toilet flushing and the use of low-flow plumbing fixtures. The choice in plumbing fixtures includes dual-flush toilets. Together these measures will save over 1.8 million liters of high-quality treated water each year.

Recognition

In 2009, the project was awarded the Canadian Urban Institute Brownie Award for best overall project in Canada, recognizing excellence in brownfield redevelopment.

The project also resulted in our firm being awarded the 2009 North American Copper in Architecture Award. This project was completed in association with Lett Architects.