Building a sustainable community includes setting high standards for UBC’s residential developments. The Residential Environmental Assessment Program (REAP) is a comprehensive, UBC-specific green building rating system for mandatory application to all residential construction on campus. All new residential buildings at UBC must achieve REAP Gold certification.

About

UBC designed REAP to guide the development of all residential buildings planned for the UBC Vancouver campus. REAP is unique amongst green building rating systems, since it can be applied to both low and high-rise buildings.

Compared to standard residential buildings, REAP ensures lower consumption of water, energy and resources, and higher-quality indoor environments and construction practices. REAP building standards also reduce the environmental impact on both the building site and the larger community.

REAP awards points in seven performance categories:

• Sustainable Sites
• Water Efficiency
• Energy and Atmosphere
• Materials and Resources
• Construction
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Innovation and Design

All UBC residential developers must apply a minimum REAP Gold standard to their projects. After meeting all mandatory measures, developers select from a wide range of optional measures, in any performance category, to earn a REAP rating.

Homes built at UBC outperform similar construction in the Metro Vancouver region in all performance categories.

For more information, download the REAP Reference Guide and the REAP checklist.

REAP Buildings at UBC

REAP certified buildings are listed in the Green Building Directory.

History

When the planning process for our residential UTown@UBC community began, no green building rating systems existed that could be applied to wood frame residential building types planned for the University. UBC Properties Trust, UBC Architecture professor Dr. Ray Cole and his students, Campus & Community Planning, and Campus Sustainability worked collaboratively to develop REAP. The program is modeled after the US Green Building Council’s LEED® Green Building Rating System.

UBC released REAP Version 2.1, an update to Version 2.0, in July 2009. The updates responded to building code changes for the Province of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver. Changes were also necessary to ensure that new residential construction at UBC continues to outperform similar construction in the region.

Call to Action

View the UTown@UBC Virtual Tour and explore REAP projects.