In The News
New office building is going for gold; Development Environmentally friendly Somerset Square would be first in Atlantic Canada to achieve mark
Somerset Square, a new ultra-efficient, environmentally friendly office building in the city's north end was officially opened with a ribbon- cutting ceremony Wednesday.
John Irving, president of Commercial Properties Ltd., the building's developer, said every aspect of the 25,000-square-foot building was chosen to make the project "as sustainable as possible and have the lowest possible impact on the surrounding environment."
Those green factors included the building's site, on Wellesley Avenue at Somerset Street; the construction methods and materials used, the energy efficient lights, the fixtures and the water system.
Of the long list of efficiencies the building boasts, one of the most impressive is a rain-water collection system that provides 40 per cent of the building's water to be used in toilets and non-drinking-water sinks. It also has a hyper effective boiler room that will use the excess gas it produces to melt the snow by the doorways.
Commercial Properties is applying to the U.S. Green Building Council to have the building certified gold in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED, which would make it the first private commercial building to achieve the status in Atlantic Canada. To get the gold, a building requires 35 to 44 points on an environmental judging scale. The building should have 42 points, Irving said.
While it was important to use environmentally friendly materials to construct the building, the disposal of materials was also important.
"Part of being environmentally aware means reusing or recycling as many materials as possible and then diverting the waste and left over building materials from local landfills," Irving said. "We were able to divert 70 tonnes of waste that would have gone to the local landfill, which is over 77 per cent of the total waste of the project."
The interior was also targeted, especially the washrooms. Beyond flushing rain water, all the toilets are low flowing.
"It doesn't matter where the water comes from," Irving said. "We actually use 20 per cent less water."
Another green aspect of the rest rooms is the lack of paper towel.
"We have probably the slickest hand drier in the world. We were among the first in Canada to get them," Irving said. "Conventional hand driers blow hot air, which is again using an electric element." The hand driers in Somerset Square blows cool air and it's the friction that dries a person's hands.
The tenants of the building, Coast Tire and environmental engineering consulting firm Jacques Whitford Ltd., are very happy with their new home.
"This building is beyond what I expected," said Michael Whitford, founding partner of the engineering firm. "The workmanship is top class, the building is extremely efficient. From a tenant's point of view, we couldn't be more pleased. "
And Irving said his company learned a lot from the project.
"We'll certainly be using the LEED standard in everything we do going forward," he said. He hopes other developers do the same, but he doesn't think he's setting an example.
"I hope that we're heading in the same direction as everybody else, we're just there a little bit a head. I hope many people are going the same way."
To view the article as it appeared in the Telegraph Journal, click here