Building Toward a Greener Province
Dockside Green is taking the lead with a sewage-treatment plant,heat recovery systems and low-flow toilets
The Globe & Mail – November 20th, 2007
Joe Van Belleghem, a reformed developer, really couldn’t be more enthusiastic about the proposed greening of B.C.’s building code.
As rain-sodden construction crews worked around him, rushing to complete the first
phase of Dockside Green, Mr. Van Belleghem tramped through the muddy site and across unfinished rooftops, ticking off the reasons why green buildings sell. “This is probably the most innovative project in North America,” he said. “But if you look at our margins, we are as competitive as anyone else. …
The market has responded incredibly.”
From the onsite sewage treatment plant and heat-recovery systems right down to renewable flooring materials and low-flow toilets, the Dockside Green project goes far beyond the standards that B.C. builders will have to adopt next spring. The proposed new building code rules, which are available for public comment until Dec. 21, will require better insulation as well as water-saving fixtures in virtually all new residential construction.
The new requirements for houses will apply to new homes, additions to existing houses, and residential buildings up to four storeys, starting in April. High-rises and commercial construction will be required to meet international standards for energy efficiency in buildings. “When I see the green building code, of course I’m excited. We can’t keep doing things the way we have,” Mr. Van Belleghem said.
Mr. Van Belleghem’s zeal for environmental standards started relatively late in his career. Nine years ago, he was a mainstream developer, churning out big-box stores and the like, and battling community and environmental activists. “I woke up one morning and quit. I was making money, but the projects were doing nothing for my community and nothing for me.”
Today he embraces the green building concept with fervour. Standing on the balcony of a near-completed suite in the first phase of the Dockside project, he points to a lower rooftop. “When you look down on this building, you won’t see gravel. You’ll see oyster shells, logs, sand. … Our kids are losing their connection
to nature. We have got to bring it back.”
The $600-million, 1,000-unit project on a former industrial site overlooking Victoria’s inner harbour has won international awards for its ecological design. The first phase, dubbed “Synergy,” is sold out and the second phase is selling briskly. All with minimal marketing, he notes.
“You see this pile of dirt?” he asks, pointing to a mud pit that snakes through the centre of the site. “That’s going to be a flowing creek system. It also acts as the storm system: The water from the green roofs will run off into that. You’re celebrating the water in our design.”
Singing the praises of “beauty and ecology in an urban setting,” Mr. Van Belleghem hardly sounds like the chartered accountant he once was. But he also points out that, amid rising construction costs across the province, this project is on budget. “It just makes good economic sense,” he said. Consumers may pay a higher price up front for a green home, but they’ll save in energy costs.
Each suite comes equipped with high-efficiency appliances and a six-month supply of green cleaning products. A monitoring system allows residents to track their carbon footprint on a daily basis, and even turn down their heat over the Internet if they like.
The B.C. building code amendments fall short of the Dockside Green model, but are only the first stage of changes planned by the government. They stem from the province’s commitment to cut one third of British Columbia’s carbon emissions by 2020, which means reducing more than 40 million tonnes of emissions.
The proposed building code changes are expected to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 109,000 tonnes a year in 2020. In announcing the building code changes, the provincial government said the increase to building costs will range from 0.33 per cent to 1.3 per cent. For a single-family, detached home, extra construction costs will vary between $1,300 and $3,900, according to government documents, and would take four to nine years to recoup through energy savings.