The new head office building of real estate company Qualico in Winnipeg has received LEED Silver certification. The head office building has three stories and covers a total area of 65,000 sq. ft. Apart from this the building also has 6,300 sq. ft. of rooftop patio and outdoor garden. More than 150 employees of the company are located in the head office.
Features of the building that were recognised for the certification include reduction of water usage by 45%, energy savings of 59% as compared to a regular building, installation of green roofs, energy-efficient windows, an efficient building management system, and a geothermal mechanical system.
About 80% of construction waste was diverted from landfills and 13.5% of materials used had recycled content; 14.8% of the materials used for the construction were sourced and extracted regionally; at least 75% of the furniture used in the building has Green guard or another equivalent certification.
Qualico has its operations in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Regina, Vancouver and Calgary.
According to the VP of the company John Daniels, the certification establishes the company’s commitment to a green environment. He also added that it has taken great efforts to reduce the operating costs of the building and create a better environment for its employees.
Qualico Project Manager, Brian Cornelsen informed that a major challenge in the project was to make sure that the building operated as desired and complete commissioning of all building systems is part of the LEED program.
Source: http://www.qualico.com