Only 12 buildings in the world are Living Building Challenge (LBC)-certified, a sustainable design and construction protocol launched in 2006 by the non-profit International Living Future Institute. Seven performance criteria said to be more difficult than the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership's Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program can be applied to both new construction and renovation.
Using the program to replace an administration building made sense to the Regional Municipality of York – Environmental Services in Newmarket, Ontario. The regional municipality (U.S. readers: think of it as a county) oversees air quality strategies; waste management initiatives; monitors wastewater; and works with landowners, farmers, and businesses to protect drinking water sources for more than a million people in nine communities.
In 2001, the agency partnered with the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust to preserve forests and wetlands while accommodating growth. More than 1,100 of the county's 176,200 hectares have been protected since a regional greening strategy was adopted, including 318 hectares that are now part of a regional forest.
The agency wanted a structure that celebrates one of the world's most successful forest regeneration projects. The result, the most sustainable building in one of the most sustainable forests, earned the department an American Public Works Association 2017 Project of the Year Award in the Structures (less than $5 million) category.
Located in the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, the Hollidge tract of the regional forest is one of 18 tracts and the first fully accessible. In 2001, it became the first public forest in Canada to receive Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, the international gold standard for sustainable management. The forestry building is at the tract's trailhead and needed substantial upgrades.
Having a multidisciplinary team of engineers, architects, interior designers, forest education experts, arborists, and ecologists allowed the team to focus on a holistic solution. The department retained DIALOG to provide architectural, interior design, landscape architecture, and engineering services. Once the design was completed, Struct-Con Construction Ltd. was retained as general contractor. Specialty contractors include MTE Consultants Inc. (air testing), WSP MMM Group (building envelope commissioning), and Ted Kesik (envelope consultant). Key subcontractors were A1 Service Group, Acuity Brands Inc., Honeywell Building Solutions, and Independent Mechanical Supply Inc.
Planned as a teaching tool and living laboratory, the $3 million Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Center strives to eliminate the boundaries between man and nature forest. The 4,000-square-foot, one-story building runs primarily on electricity generated by solar panels and returns rain to the watershed. In addition to FSC-certified wood, the building uses cross-laminated timber (CLT), a heavy-duty, fully renewable material that reduces its carbon footprint.
