CREDIT: Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun Architect Peter Busby says developers increasingly want their projects to leave a smaller footprint on the earth.

Going “green” is becoming mainstream in B.C., said well-known Vancouver architect Peter Busby who is one of Canada‘s leaders in sustainable design.

Busby, who designed his first sustainable project more than a decade ago, said more and more developers understand homeowners care about living in spaces that are environmentally responsible. This wasn’t always the case.

“Two years ago no one was interested in this [sustainability]. Now it’s catching on very quickly,” said Busby. “We are seeing more developers coming to us who understand in the Vancouver marketplace they need to achieve LEEDS silver or gold.”

LEEDS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a rating system devised by the U.S. Green Buildings Council in Washington, D.C. which evaluates the environmental impact on buildings. It provides a standard on just what is a sustainable building.

Criteria such as energy-efficient design, construction waste management, use of recycled materials and environmental impact are taken into account when assigning a rating.

Busby explained the higher the rating the more energy and water efficient a building is, with platinum being the highest rating. The lowest level is simply certified, followed by silver, gold then platinum.

Busby is currently designing a Calgary residential project that will be the first North American home to achieve a platinum LEEDS rating. That project will be completed in eight months.

“If we can sell LEEDS platinum to Calgary there’s no reason it can’t happen in Vancouver. Vancouver is greener than Calgary,” said Busby. “People who move to the west coast are here for a host of reasons, but one is the environment. People here have that in their set of values.”

Busby said the city of Calgary like the City of Vancouver are leading the way, by insisting all their new buildings must achieve a LEEDS gold rating.

Busby is also optimistic Victoria may soon follow suit, pointing out a request for proposals for a large inner city dockside development has requested it achieve a LEEDS rating.

He is currently designing Vancouver‘s Mount Pleasant new community centre, which will include a library, daycare and affordable housing. It will be completed in the next two years and have a LEEDS gold rating.

“Most of the new projects [in Vancouver] are at least silver or gold. There’s competition in the marketplace,” said Busby.

The additional costs to create a sustainable silver project is two per cent higher than a conventionally constructed building, four per cent higher for gold and 10 to 15 per cent higher for platinum, said Busby.

“I think they [developers of large housing projects] will pay for silver or gold LEEDS but not platinum yet in this marketplace,” he said.

He pointed out developers are increasingly marketing their LEEDs rating because consumers understandably appreciate living in healthier and environmentally-friendly environments.

Busby said the Calgary home, soon to become the first platinum residential building in North America, is very energy efficient. The toilets are flushed with rain water. Solar panels collect 20 per cent of the home’s heating needs, while the remainder is conventional gas heating; all the materials used are sustainable and the “grey water” from the sinks and shower are treated with a biofilter on site while the toilet water goes to the regular sewage line. The water consumption in the home will be about 40 per cent of a conventional building.

He added the environmental impact has been reduced by half by using materials grown by nature, such as wood in the structure and floor and wheatboard for the cabinets.

“An ideal situation is a building that has no negative impact [on the environment]. We’re not there yet, even a platinum LEEDS building has a footprint impact.”

But Busby added the “bar has been set” and it’s up to the builders of tomorrow to raise it even higher.

SOME OTHER NOTABLE ‘GREEN’ PROJECTS BY BUSBY

-Busby’s first sustainable project was in 1989 for Coupe Roger Curtis, a Bowen Island development that has yet to go ahead.

-Busby’s first completed “green” building was North Vancouver District city hall, completed in 1992.

-Some other “green” buildings by Busby include the head office for Burnaby city engineers in 1996, the Architectural Institute of B.C. building, in Vancouver, completed in 1997, and the Revenue Canada office in Surrey in 1998.

-He also completed Canada‘s first LEEDS gold project in 2003 — The City of White Rock’s Operations Building. That project achieved a reduction in site water usage by 90 per cent or two million litres a year; a reduction in building water usage by more than 20 per cent and a reduced energy consumption of about 55 per cent.

-Busby’s Brentwood Skytrain station on the Millennium Line won the 2004 Governor-General’s medal for architecture.

Ran with fact box “Some Other Notable ‘Green’ Projects by Busby”, which has been appended to the end of the story.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004