Building operations is the largest component of UBC’s environmental footprint—and we’ve been transforming our buildings to become visible and enduring elements of our commitment to sustainability. UBC is unique amongst universities in North America in that it demonstrates leading practices in both institutional and residential green building on campus.

UBC Infrastructure Development is responsible for delivering cost effective, durable and sustainable buildings to support learning and research at the University. While UBC has been integrating sustainable building practices directly into its Technical Guidelines for years, the University continues evolving its approach to green building. For example, UBC is developing its own procedures to ensure that the campus’s environmental priorities are optimally addressed, while meeting the Province of BC’s requirement for Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED®) Gold certification.

The University is creating a ‘living laboratory’ on its campuses, showcasing innovative approaches to conserving energy, water and materials, while striving to make positive impacts on the environment. This living laboratory provides the UBC community with a diverse range of opportunities for research and innovations in practice across campus, spanning everything from new construction to major renovations, and existing building operations.

KEY PROGRAMS 

New Construction

UBC made early contributions to the green building industry with the C.K. Choi Building in 1996, and the Liu Institute for Global Issues in 2000. Since then, UBC has built many more buildings with high-performance features and has earned LEED Gold certification with the Life Sciences Centre (2004), the largest LEED Gold certified building in North America, and the Aquatic Ecosystems Research Lab (2006).

Feature Project: Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability

The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) on the UBC Vancouver campus was approved for construction in 2009. This visionary, low-impact building will embody green building design best practices and foster research and collaboration on sustainability solutions.

CIRS will be the most innovative and high-performance building in North America, demonstrating leading-edge research and sustainable design, products, systems and decision-making. A state-of-the-art living green building, it will include environmentally progressive storm water management, wastewater treatment, and ground-source heating.

The CIRS building will be a true living lab—a home to inter-disciplinary researchers working in collaboration with industry and community partners to accelerate sustainability solutions. Construction has begun and building occupancy is expected in spring 2011.

EXISTING BUILDINGS

Post Occupancy Evaluation Program

Designing and constructing green buildings are just the first steps of a sustainable development process. To verify that buildings are operating as intended, UBC is creating a Post Occupancy Evaluation protocol, customized for campus buildings, to systematically evaluate user’s satisfaction with UBC’s facilities, and to verify energy and water use performance.

Major Renovations: UBC Renew

UBC Renew is a project that renovates, rather than demolishes, aging infrastructure at UBC’s Vancouver campus. The University has completed seven out of the 10 buildings targeted for Phase One (2004-2010) on schedule, on budget, and to the satisfaction of all project stakeholders.

By completion of Phase One, UBC Renew will have:

• avoided $89 million in new construction costs
• saved 97 million megajoules of primary energy, 27 million litres of water, 3.2 million kilowatt hours of electricity, and 492 tonnes of coal
• prevented the emission of 6,150 tonnes of greenhouse gases
• diverted 1,458 tonnes of construction waste from landfill
• eliminated $77.4 million from UBC’s accumulated deferred maintenance debt, which currently stands at $548.2 million

Two showpiece buildings, the Friedman Building and the UBC Chemistry Centre, were completed and occupied in 2008. The Friedman Building is a state-of-the-art facility that houses the Department of Physical Therapy and the School of Audiology and Speech Sciences. 

The UBC Chemistry Centre is the most significant building to be revitalized under UBC Renew. The 1923 heritage building is the centrepiece of the chemistry complex. Prior to the revitalization, the building’s distinctive architectural details were intact, but it was in desperate need of life safety upgrades, and could no longer support today’s chemistry research. UBC Renew’s economic, ecological and social analysis determined that the building qualified for renewal. Read more about the Chemistry Centre Case Study.

Current Phase One UBC Renew projects include the Buchanan B Building and the Old Auditorium. The Biological Sciences Building, part of Phase Two, is also under construction. It offers an installation opportunity for a relatively new UBC invention: the solar canopy. This technology provides daylight to the core of multi-floor buildings, to reduce the need for electrical lighting, and is currently being trialed at a British Columbia Institute of Technology installation.

Call to Action: Take an in-person tour of a green building, or a virtual campus tour.