BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY INTO GREATER VANCOUVER DEVELOPMENTS

How some local developers are considering environmental goals

BY CLAIRE WILSON

From a zero-emissions office building, to an agrarian community in Tsawwassen, Greater Vancouver developers are finding innovative ways to reduce and mitigate the environmental impact of their projects.

Oxford Properties Group’s The Stack – a 37-storey office tower in downtown Vancouver – has become the first commercial office tower to be awarded the Canada Green Building Council’s (CGBC) Zero Carbon Building – Design standard certification.

According to the company, The Stack is also the largest project in Canada to achieve this certification to date.

“We’re really excited about this and it’s also significant for the City of Vancouver. It shows what can be done with some innovation and a great team, in addition to what can be done to deliver on sustainability and the zero-carbon objectives that many municipalities are targeting,” said Andrew O’Neil, vice-president of development at Oxford Properties.

Municipalities across B.C. are grappling with how to proactively address climate change and extreme weather events. When the province marked the one-year anniversary of devastating 2021 floods, local conversations shifted to adaptation.

CGBG launched its zero-carbon building