We are part of this tour with our Passive House

Half Day Tours

Friday, October 7
1-5 p.m.
$45 early/$65 late

HD01 Water & Gold: Toronto’s New Office Buildings and the Enwave Deep Lake Cooling System

This walking tour will take you to two of Toronto's newest office towers, the RBC Centre and 18 York Street, as well as a plant tour of the Enwave Deep Lake Cooling System. Tour participants will explore the range of innovative features in the next generation of Toronto’s office towers and will also examine the important role water plays in making these buildings, and the city, more sustainable.

HD02 Healthcare Facilities: Building the Future with a Community Connection

This tour highlights two healthcare facilities in contrasting settings and stages of development. Built in 2005, the Peel Regional Cancer and Ambulatory Care Centre at the Credit Valley Hospital in suburban Mississauga selected wood for its structural and economic properties to create a spectacular atrium structure which was constructed of glue laminated wooden members and embedded steel connections. Working directly with OBC staff and the Ontario Fire Marshal, specific technologies were incorporated to achieve compliance ratings and illustrate that wood is an acceptable design and performance equivalent to steel.

The historic Don Jail, an architectural icon for the City of Toronto will be preserved and incorporated into the design of Bridgepoint Hospital, which is currently under construction. The concept of AFP (P3) is not new, however, as used on this project, this Infrastructure Ontario delivery model allows for the construction of complex facilities that will bring Canadian communities into the NEXT generation. Participants will visit the active construction site for this LEED candidate and learn about the issues that can arise during different phases in the construction process. Although these healthcare facilities are at different stages in the evolution of green building, they share a common objective: to be a rallying point that fosters learning and understanding and reflects the needs and values of the community.

HD03 Living City Campus Tour

Living City Campus is Canada's largest education, demonstration and evaluation centre on green buildings and sustainable energy technologies. The Campus is home to the Restoration Services Building, the Earth Rangers Centre and the Kortright Centre. The Restoration Service Building is Ontario's first LEED Platinum facility; the Earth Rangers is a LEED Gold facility, which implemented North America’s first use of earth tubes and has over 90 kw of photovoltaic panels; and the Kortright Centre, which operates two LEED Platinum demonstration homes, a renewable energy demonstration site with photovoltaic and wind turbine test facilities through its Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program. 

All four buildings are fully monitored, which allows the campus to inform its visitors about lessons learned and best practices for both residential and commercial buildings. Every year over 200,000 students, educators, homeowners, builders, and researchers visit our facilities to see and learn about the best practices in green buildings and renewable energy technologies.

HD04 Keeping it Green – the Evolution of Office Buildings in Canada's Financial District

This walking tour showcases some of the largest office buildings in Canada and demonstrates their commitment and progress in improving environmental performance and occupant satisfaction. The market for Class A buildings has been highly competitive in the core. Environmental responsibility has rapidly become a key concern for their major tenants and businesses and the owners of these buildings, some close to 40 years old, have responded. 

This tour will highlight past, present and future initiatives developed to reduce negative environmental impacts and energy costs while simultaneously improving amenities, often in partnership with major tenants. These buildings are participating in the nation’s leading green rating and improvement programs, including LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, CaGBC’s Green Up program, BOMA BESt, Greening Greater Toronto’s Race to Reduce and Green to Great. Getting involved in these initiatives has helped position the buildings as green leaders in the leasing marketplace. 

This tour will provide attendees with a look at the state-of-the-art solutions and programs implemented at every level, from capital investments, such as the re-cladding of a 72-story office building, to technologies for operations and management, to tools for tenant engagement.

HD05 Builders and Educators: Partners in Innovation

The result of an innovative public/private partnership between Tridel and the Toronto District School Board, this project involves an integrated development of two residential condominium buildings and the replacement of an existing historic school building with a new 156,000 square foot school. The tour will also visit the Rêve Condominium development and its Eco-Suite, which has been completely finished with enviro-friendly materials, appliances and décor. 

The Republic Towers and the adjacent LEED Gold school will show case innovation in energy conservation and sustainable community development. Both the condominiums (targeting LEED NC Silver) and school (targeting LEED NC Gold) use advanced strategies to increase energy efficiency, reduce water consumption, and promote long term sustainability. Heritage elements from the original school were salvaged and reused in the new courtyard and an extensive green roof over the school increases green space. Innovative green loan financing based on utility payback and life cycle were used to enable green measures.

HD06 Art Galleries of Distinction

This tour is designed to explore the notion of Art and Architecture. The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection both serve as a statement to the design of buildings while reflecting upon its unique ability to showcase Art collections. These buildings are a perfect example of what can be achieved through proactive design and the challenges of retrofitting existing buildings. 

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is home for much of the artwork created by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries, the natural surroundings of the Humber Valley are a fitting complement. The building is LEED Canada Existing Buildings:Operations & Maintenance Silver certified. The AGO is located in an urban setting in downtown Toronto. The carefully crafted spaces (Galleria Italia, South Tower, Walker Court and Spiralling Staircases) by Frank Gehry enhance the urban feel of this gallery while creating a sense of balance in an existing neighbourhood.

HD07 Lakefront Transformation: Port Credit Village Mixed Use Community

Port Credit Village is a brownfield redevelopment that enhances an established main street in the City of Mississauga. Port Credit Village is a sustainable, mixed-use,TOD community. This tour will visit the many phases of development including residential townhomes in a New Urbanism community design including a number of innovative live/work units; and a mixed-use development with commercial, office, mid-rise residential condominiums and a urban parkette. 

The third and final phase comprises of a 22-story LEED-registered residential condominium and a 6-story seniors retirement building. Port Credit Village sits on the shores of Lake Ontario and is near to a regional GO commuter train station. Port Credit Village has received numerous local and provincial urban design awards as well as being a finalist in ULI's The Americas awards. Port Credit Village is a featured Ontario's Paces to Grow Urban Form Case study and a CMHC' TOD Case Study.

HD08 Green Meeting Places: New Sustainability Meets Historic Significance

Exhibition Place is Canada's largest entertainment venue, attracting over 5.3 million visitors a year. The site was originally developed in the 19th century, with today’s site having a mix of protected heritage buildings alongside new development. Located on the 192-acre Exhibition Place site is the award-winning Direct Energy Centre, Canada's largest exhibition and convention facility, and the LEED-registered Allstream Centre, a conference centre opened in 2009. Since 2004 Exhibition Place has undertaken an environmental stewardship initiative, entitled GREENSmart. 

The tour begins in Direct Energy Centre with a presentation on the innovative technologies and green initiatives found at Exhibition Place and the modern Direct Energy Centre. This presentation is followed by a physical tour of various technologies across the grounds: the tri-generation plant, geothermal system, PV systems, back-pressure steam turbine and green roofs. The tour finishes at the Allstream Centre, originally known as the historic, 1920s Automotive Building. The Allstream Centre features reflective roofing, a rainwater cistern for toilet flushing, a system for monitoring air quality for CO2 and VOCs, and LED fluorescent lighting on a specialized control system.

HD09 Designing the 'Sustainable Office Space'

With different leadership, stakeholders, values, programs, and markets, creating a sustainable office space has many challenges. This tour examines organizational interpretations and adaptations of the core principles of sustainability within the tenant office work environment. We will showcase three downtown projects that utilized the LEED for Commercial Interiors (Platinum and Gold) certification framework as a baseline mechanism to assist in the pursuit of uniquely functional, collaborative, adaptive, low-impact and efficient work environments. No one size fits all; and tour will offer insight into the nuances, similarities and differences in their green strategies.

HD10 Building High Performance Infill Retrofit Homes

There are approximately 7 million existing homes in Canada, many of which do not meet today’s building code standards for energy efficiency. As utility rates rise, there is a greater focus on sustainable renovations and remodeling of our existing houses to significantly reduce the country’s GHG emissions. 

This tour focuses on three designers and builders who have demonstrated their commitment to sustainability by renovating their own homes as a model for others. Visit two homes that use the Passive House concept and one targeting LEED for Homes Silver. See sustainable features such as grey water and rain water harvesting, a PAUL heat recovery system, and a green roof.

HD11 Towers of Power: Innovations in Housing for Seniors

This tour showcases two exciting examples of innovative housing solutions for seniors. Brampton’s Chapelview is officially the first affordable housing complex in the world to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The project is a 16-story housing development that provides 200 units featuring wood and doors produced from wheat-based products, spray foam insulation made from soya and recycled plastic bottles, 100 percent recycled drywall, high-efficiency toilets and ventilation systems, and a roof made from green materials. 

Villa Colombo Vaughan is a new long-term care facility that incorporates residential form and domestic scale set against a dramatic natural landscape within the historic Village of Kleinburg. The project’s sustainability features are what stand out most here and are worthy of distinction. The project boasts the first-of-its-kind in Ontario natural gas co-generation system which will allow the facility to run off-grid producing its own energy. The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Energy have proclaimed this a benchmark facility for its level of performance excellence.

HD12 Green Cuisine

This tour highlights three different food-related facilities all committed to sustainable business. Green Grind Café is a small independent community coffee shop built on an extremely tight budget that serves fair trade/organic coffee, runs on Bullfrong Green Power in a LEED-certified building, while donating 1 percent for the Planet.A top tier landlord at the Eaton Centre Food Court worked with tenants through its renovations to establish a zero waste environment and save more than 50 percent in water and electricity. Café Belong at Evergreen Brickworks is a restaurant with a celebrity chef using sustainable purchasing practices, custom nose-to-tail butchery, all scratch based cooking, on-site water filtration and bottling, composting, and biodegradable take-away packaging.

HD13 Green Roofs for Healthy Cities

The green roofs and walls on this tour provide excellent examples of integrated design that improve the quality of life for inhabitants of the building and for the surrounding community. One of the more important features of a green roof or wall is its ability to enhance other sustainable features. From providing food and biodiversity in an urban setting, to enhancing a building’s air quality and improving on-site sustainable energy production, green roofs and walls provide dynamic and aesthetically pleasing components to green buildings. These projects are all uniquely Canadian through their location (both interior and exterior) and a hardy plant selection, as well as their functions and required maintenance through the various seasons of Toronto.

HD14 Production Housing: Transforming the New Housing Market

Visit three production housing developments and see how Canadian home builders are integrating green and producing affordable, high performance homes that are healthier, more comfortable and energy efficient and better for the environment. See how third party performance rating systems, including LEED for Homes, ENERGYSTAR® for New Homes and GreenHouse™ Certified Construction, are being applied and marketed. 

The Heathwood Green Home is a demonstration model home that uses a state-of-the-art energy monitoring system to gauge every aspect of the home’s energy performance. In partnership with Ryerson University, a study of the Green Home’s energy efficiency and environmentally friendly features is being conducted, providing a true cost benefit analysis that will help educate both new home builders and buyers. The Minto Saunders Model Home was the first production built home to be LEED-certified in Canada achieving Silver certification. The McKenzie model home achieved Gold certification. Harvest Hills homes are being built as an ENERGYSTAR® community. The EcoLogic subdivision, named Canada's greenest residential community is the first development in Canada to be built entirely to LEED Platinum specifications. 

HD15 High-Rise Multi-Unit Residential Case Study Tour

Toronto has one of the greatest concentrations of high-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURB) in North America. These buildings house over one third of the city's population and are responsible for over 40 pecent of the city's greenhouse gas emissions. Providing high density housing, these buildings are an important resource that must be carefully managed with respect to energy consumption. This tour showcases four MURBs that have undergone energy saving retrofits.

HD16 Affordable Green Home: Greenbuild Legacy Home Project

A place in the program has been reserved to tour the Greenbuild Legacy Home Project built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and the Cement Association of Canada. Additional details will be available soon!