Toronto not taking the LEED?

I worked at 720 King for a while. It didn't seem to be any different from a regular office building. Is it just the one office that has LEED?

It would be the whole building. I took a look around and didn't notice much either, but there could be some interesting details that just aren't very obvious. Weird how they don't have any info about it inside on the main floor..

You didn't notice any difference in the bathrooms/lighting/ etc?

What about Mountain Equipment Co-op? It's a very
environmentally responsible building. I wonder why
it's not considered a green building.

@David Toronto

My guess: Either MEC doesn't qualify because it doesn't meet the required critera, or they haven't applied for LEED certification.

@David sounds about right. MEC building has some nice features inside but they probably took the building over just renovated, doubt it was built with LEED in mind.

Really interesting post, Greg. Any idea how those 8 buildings end up ranking? (i.e., Gold, Silver, or Bronze?)

@Greg Davis
I believe that MEC was a purpose-built building. What was there before was completely demolished and MEC started from scratch.
Does that mean MEC falls outside the criteria?

Does LEED certification require the building owner to give the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design group a bunch of money to process the application?

There in might be your answer why there are not more buildings certified.

@Ryan L.

Perhaps the cost is a deterrent. It would be great to have see cost benefit reports from these 8 buildings that have the certification.

There's actually a fourth level of LEED certification, Platinum. You do have to register with the Canadian Green Building Council and there is a fee, which is calculated based on the size of the building. A new LEED section, LEED for Homes is supposed to be introduced in Canada soon.

Andrea that info is available on the CaGBC website I just didn't include that detail..

re Greg: I don't know. It just seemed like a normal building.

The ward 20 newletter from a few months ago had a long list of buildings that were seeking zoning approval and so forth. One was a LEED platinum certified building to be constructed on the empty parking lot on Queen West, just West of University. See page 8:
http://www.adamvaughan.ca/AV-newsletter/newsletters/Vaughan-E_Newsletter%20-%202007%2002%2001.pdf

We'll soon have another in Toronto - Artscape's Green Arts Barns will be the first heritage building redevelopment project in Canada with LEED Canada Certification.
LEED features at the Barns include: geo-thermal heating; ventilation and air conditioning system; a storm water harvesting and reuse system for all non-potable water use (i.e. greenhouse, landscaping, toilets); and energy efficient lighting and appliances and water conserving plumbing fixtures. Through careful waste management, 75% of all construction waste is being diverted from landfill ? almost unheard of in the construction industry. In addition, 30% percent of the building materials used are extracted and manufactured locally. On the sustainability front, the Barns will feature a year-round temperate greenhouse, sheltered garden, outdoor bake oven and compost demonstration site run by The Stop Community Food Centre. The Stop will also host weekly farmer?s markets on the site and education programs for children around food and sustainability.
www.torontoartscape.on.ca/barns

Coming soon... Artscape's Green Arts Barns will be the first heritage building redevelopment project in Canada with LEED Canada Certification. Artscape is transforming the Wychwood TTC Streetcar Repair Barns into a 60,000 square foot community hub and environmental centre located in Toronto?s St. Clair and Bathurst neighbourhood
LEED features at the Barns include: geo-thermal heating; ventilation and air conditioning system; a storm water harvesting and reuse system for all non-potable water use (i.e. greenhouse, landscaping, toilets); and energy efficient lighting and appliances and water conserving plumbing fixtures.
Through careful waste management, 75% of all construction waste is being diverted from landfill ? almost unheard of in the construction indiustry. In addition, 30% percent of the building materials used are extracted and manufactured locally.
On the sustainability front, the Barns will feature a year-round temperate greenhouse, sheltered garden, outdoor bake oven and compost demonstration site run by The Stop Community Food Centre. The Stop will also host weekly farmer?s markets on the site and education programs for children around food and sustainability.

www.torontoartscape.on.ca/barns

We?ll have another one soon ? Artscape?s Green Arts Barns. The Barns will be the first heritage building redevelopment project in Canada with a LEED Canada Certification LEED features at the Barns include: geo-thermal heating; ventilation and air conditioning system; a storm water harvesting and reuse system for all non-potable water use (i.e. greenhouse, landscaping, toilets); and energy efficient lighting and appliances and water conserving plumbing fixtures.
Through careful waste management, 75% of all construction waste is being diverted from landfill ? almost unheard of in the construction indiustry. In addition, 30% percent of the building materials used are extracted and manufactured locally.
On the sustainability front, the Barns will feature a year-round temperate greenhouse, sheltered garden, outdoor bake oven and compost demonstration site run by The Stop Community Food Centre. The Stop will also host weekly farmer?s markets on the site and education programs for children around food and sustainability.
www.torontoartscape.on.ca/barns

why do good things always cost so much?

Canada boasts itself of being a "green" country, but there is so much more that our governemnt(s) could do than just talk!

If good things didn't cost so much then someone wouldn't be able to buy themselves a 4th bigscreen TV

It's not that good things cost so much, it's that we've become accustomed to building things on the cheap (which often costs us more in the long run).

It is not entirely fair to compare the number of LEED certified projects in Vancouver to Toronto, since LEED came into development in on the west coast before becoming a national program. In fact, if you look at the number of projects that are registered with the CaGBC, the number in Toronto exceeds that in Vancouver or Calgary (89 compared to 79 or 51). Toronto is well on its way to catching up and even exceeding Vancouver in terms of numbers of LEED certified buildings. Many projects under construction are already aiming for LEED certification. Consider the three large office towers currently under construction downtown. Telus Tower is aiming for LEED Silver, RBC Centre is aiming for LEED Gold, and Bay Adelaice Centre recently increased their aim from Silver to Gold.

@David: the MEC building was designed and built before LEED ever came out here. It is entirely possible that it could qualify for LEED certification, however, the process of LEED certification involves quite a bit of paperwork (materials tracking, waste diversion, recyced content, etc.)

@Jerrold
There is actually an excellent example of the additional cost of making a building LEED. Vaughan Fire Station No. 7-9 & York Region EMS Paramedic Response Station was built based on the same design as another station in Vaughan, except this time they made modifications to the design to make it LEED Gold. The building has 35% energy savings and 52% water savings compared to its non-green counterpart, and an incremental cost of between 3 and 5%.

Great comment Alex.

Toronto is the biggest city in the country so it has to deal with the biggest expectations. Its "Green Development Standard" is still pretty flawed/useless IMO.

I've looked into LEED here in the States, and it's a mixed bag. On the one hand, it has serious, serious flaws. Think of it as being similar to Canada's points scheme for immigration: You get points for having lots of money, but the same points for speaking French. Are those traits really equivalent in terms of predicting immigration success? Same thing with LEED - is spending millions on solar panels really equivalent to buying a $200 bike rack? Or informing tenants of their energy use? You get the same points for each. And registering for LEED means spending tens of thousands of dollars on filing fees, extra paperwork, hiring staff to track whether that plywood traveled more than 500 miles, etc. For these reasons of costs and distortion there are some well-intentioned institutions like Princeton University that are building buildings that are very green but will not be LEED. You could, if you were extremely generous, make an argument on this basis for Toronto's lack of LEED. "We're green, we just didn't bother to register."

However, LEED is the only brand name out there, so we're kind of stuck with it as a measuring stick. Private developers need to make money by definition to pay back their bank loans and generally do not build LEED unless there is something in it for them - payback on energy savings, or a corporate tenant who insists on it for PR, or city incentives.

Toronto has weak incentives and is filled with cash-poor companies, so there is no great momentum for LEED, or at least there won't be until the banks decide to do it (but if they were that concerned about image over dollars, why are they moving offices to the burbs?)

Public institutions have led the way in the US, but good luck finding a rich university or museum in Toronto (As one example, MoMA's last expansion cost $850m).

Toronto's construction market is driven by condos, so unless someone introduces a requirement for condos (which will essentially be a tax and therefore very risky), don't expect to see too many LEED buildings anytime soon.

basically, toronto sucks. its architecture is developer derivative. the bottom line rules in this city.

but at least we have our kitschy ROM and our fantastic museum station. WHOOO plastic column covers! who the fuck needs LEED when you can architecturally-rape a subway station?