Policy + Planning RESILIENCE FOR THE FUTURE
Insert TOC Here Contents Introducing Integral Group
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Expertise and Insight
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Experience 8
Left: An image of something that we think is relevant Left: to the information on this page. © City Name of Toronto, of Photographer Canada
Global Leadership
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The Integral Way
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Introducing Integral Group
The world’s leading deep green engineering and consulting firm
An international network of engineers + consultants collaborating under a single “deep green” umbrella. We enable every client to protect the health of our planet, by taking a regenerative approach to the design, performance and function of buildings, communities, districts and cities. We provide a full range of building and district systems engineering, analysis and sustainability consulting services, delivered by staff widely regarded as innovative leaders in their fields. Our work spans the globe, delivered from offices in Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States.
Kevin Hydes
Our projects are located in over 30 countries - more than 100 are net zero energy buildings.
Integral Group was launched in 2008 by Kevin Hydes, founder and director of Canada Green Building Council, and former Chair of the USGBC and World GBC. Kevin served as Chief Executive Officer for the first 12 years of Integral Group and in 2020 he became the firm’s first Chairman.
Integral Group are proud to be founding signatories of the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment.
Expertise and Insight We shape effective sustainability policy, regulations, codes, standards, and development strategy to accelerate the achievement of sustainability goals for organizations, at all levels of government, and for infrastructure, district, and masterplan developments. Our global network of expertise brings together planners, researchers, modelers, sustainability, and engagement specialists. We cover all aspects of sustainability planning, from energy and carbon reductions to transportation solutions, waste and materials recovery programs, urban ecology, and water conservation and reuse.
Policy + Planning
Climate Action + Resilience
Integral’s Policy + Planning team creates strategic plans and policies to achieve climate positive, sustainable, and resilient outcomes.
Climate change is already affecting our environment, contributing to extremes of temperature, poor air quality, prolonged drought, increased rainfall intensity, rising sea levels and shifts in habitat, landscape and agricultural viability. Our buildings, parks, streets, infrastructure and behaviors will need to adapt.
We design visionary, achievable policies, plans and strategies that are both supported by key stakeholders and the public, and implementable by staff. We count amongst our clients some of the most ambitious cities and organizations in the world.
We advise cities, developers and owners on how to safeguard existing buildings, blocks and neighborhoods. We show how to implement strategies for future development that can thrive under any number of future climate scenarios.
Decarbonization Community Roadmaps + District To avoid catastrophic climate Sustainability
change, we need to take Working with our clients, we action now to decarbonize lead the development of a our buildings, cities and the systems on which they depend. compelling, ambitious, viable and unique sustainability Leveraging Integral Group’s vision that commands support expertise in Net Zero design, of investors, stakeholders, and we help clients to identify the local authorities. most effective pathways Our sustainability strategies to achieve net zero carbon are integrated – addressing emissions - through policy, programs, masterplans, across energy, water, waste, portfolios and building design. materials, climate adaptation, resilience, wellbeing, land use and biodiversity, food production, mobility, culture, economy, and governance.
Environmental + Social Equity A sustainable future is a just, equitable, diverse and inclusive future. We work with our clients to determine whose voices are missing in decision making, and how climate and sustainability policies can ensure historically marginalized or highly impacted communities are included in both process and outcome. We also apply the same practices to our business, and hold ourselves to account through initiatives such as our annual Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSER) reporting.
Experience
Clean Energy DC
City of Toronto Zero Emissions Building Framework
CaGBC Zer
Cambridge Net Zero Framework
LETI
ro Carbon Building Standard
Oakland Equitable Climate Action Plan
CaGBC’s Zero Carbon Building Standard The CaGBC Zero Carbon Building Standard provides a pathway for both new and existing buildings to reach zero carbon.
A multi-phase project, Integral Group firstly developed a Net Zero Buildings Strategy for the Canada Green Building Council. The scope of work included assessing existing terminology associated with Net-Zero Buildings and reaching consensus among various experts and stakeholders as to an appropriate definition of terms for the Canadian context. The outcomes of this exercise were then used to explore the principal building types in Canada and help identify key strategies and performance characteristics of Net Zero Buildings for each one. Following the development of the renowned framework, Integral Group
Right: CaGBC Zero Carbon Building Standard © CaGBC
continued to work with CaGBC to release a full Zero Carbon Building standard for Canada. The process of developing the standard involved additional research and industry consultation, as well as technical analysis. Integral also helped to launch the program in May 2017, and will be working with several pilot projects to apply the standard in 2018. The Zero Carbon Building Standard assesses the carbon performance of commercial, institutional and multi-family buildings in Canada. The CaGBC Zero Carbon Building Standard provides a pathway for both new and existing buildings to reach zero carbon.
Location: Canada Client: Canada Green Building Council Completion: 2017 Services Provided: Policy + Planning
The London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) LETI is driving the change for new buildings to operate at net zero carbon by 2030, helping London play its part in avoiding the most devastating effects of climate change.
The London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) is a network of over 1000 built environment professionals that are working together to put London on the path to a zero carbon future. The voluntary group is made up of developers, engineers, housing associations, architects, planners, academics, sustainability professionals, contractors and facilities managers. Elementa Consulting (a member of Integral Group) initiated and coordinated LETI in order to address that London’s energy policies at the time weren’t driving design solutions that encouraged long term carbon emissions reduction. In 2019 LETI established consensus on the targets required for operational net zero carbon it is the result of a very successful industry consultation with
more than 330 responses and has been developed in collaboration with the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) and the Better Building Partnership (BBP). It has also been developed with the support of the Good Homes Alliance (GHA), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE). Elementa and Currie and Brown, have been deeply involved in LETI over the last three years. This experience means that the team have a deep understanding of current and emerging policy and best practice design required to meet our climate change targets in the UK.
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Top: Net Zero Operational Balance at the Building Scale. © LETI Bottom Left: The LETI Embodied Carbon Primer and the LETI Climate Emergency Design Guide. © LETI Bottom Right: Opportunities to Reduce Energy Consumption in a New Residential Building. © LETI
Operationa
Location: London, UK Client: Canada Green Building Council Initiated: 2017 Services Provided: Policy + Planning
al energy
On-site Investment in offrenewables site renewables
Net zero operational balance
Carbon Free DC Integral Group is proud to continue playing a role in the District of Columbia’s substantive history around progressive planning related to energy, climate and sustainability.
Clean Energy DC Comprehensive Energy Plan
Washington DC Carbon Neutrality Framework
Integral Group was retained to develop a Comprehensive Energy Plan for the District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE); branded as Clean Energy DC (CEDC), it provides a path to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2032. Integral accounted for all energy use within the city as well as the District’s energy supply, including buildings, transportation, renewable energy, and grid modernization. Working with DC staff, Integral developed a methodology to forecast energy and emissions use over time using Integral’s Community Energy and Emissions Planning (CEEP) Tool, which city staff have continued to use beyond the project.
Integral’s role was expanded to develop a framework for equity-based climate planning to identify benefits and risks of plan actions, to develop a net-zero energy compliance path for the DC energy code, and develop an interactive online dashboard for the plan. The Carbon Neutrality Framework emphasizes the gradual transition away from fossil fuels in buildings toward all-electric systems that can leverage cleaner grid electricity.
Integral’s team led the development of engagement materials and structured workshops to effectively communicate the objectives and strategies of Clean Energy DC, and get meaningful feedback from peer reviewers, key stakeholders, and the general public to incorporate into the plan.
DC Electrification Strategy To support the vision of the Carbon Neutrality Framework, Integral was retained by DOEE to develop a strategy that builds on past energy planning work and provides a strategy for the District to implement widespread building electrification. Detailed modeling was conducted to determine the localized grid impact of the potential strategies, and analysis of their economic and social co-benefits was carried out with a focus on equity.
Top Left: Cover of Clean Energy DC. © District of Columbia Top Right: Carbon Free DC Website. © Elementa Engineering DPC Bottom: Electrification Map of Washington, DC. © Elementa Engineering DPC
Location: Disrict of Columbia, USA Client: The District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment Completion: Clean Energy DC, 2018 DC Carbon Neutrality Framework, 2020 DC Electrification Strategy, ongoing Services Provided: Policy + Planning Energy Analysis Design Analytics
City of Toronto’s Zero Emissions Building Framework The Framework is a full set of targets for the five most common building archetypes, to take the building industry to a near-zero emissisions level of performance by 2030.
In 2016, the City of Toronto commissioned Integral Group to develop a Climate Change Resilience Checklist for New Construction to align with the City’s Resilient City – Preparing for a Changing Climate report. The checklist was developed to ensure that new buildings constructed in the City of Toronto would be resilient to the impacts of a changing climate. Based on a review of climate models and anticipated changes for the region, flooding events, extreme heat events, and power outages were identified as those impacts that posed the greatest risk to the building sector. Stormwater management, minimizing
Right: Cover of The City of Toronto Zero Emissions Buildings Framework © City of Toronto
internal heat generation through energy efficient design, active cooling systems, and minimizing reliance on the power grid formed some of the key principals of the checklist. Building designers are required to report the building’s anticipated energy performance and identify any means used to improve thermal safety, provide for backup power generation, reduce flood risk, and prepare management and tenants for extreme weather events.
Location: Toronto, Canada Client: City of Toronto Completion: Phase 1 - 2015; Phase 2 2016 Services Provided: Policy + Planning
City of Cambridge’s Getting to Net Zero Framework The Getting to Net Zero Framework is a road map for the City of Cambridge to become a Zero Net Energy community.
In response to a citizen petition, the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts worked to develop a roadmap to becoming a Zero Net Energy community. The City retained Integral Group over the course of 2014 to advise City staff and a task force of key stakeholders and expert professionals to develop an action plan to meet the ZNE target. The Getting to Zero task force was charged with developing a road map to ZNE buildings citywide. Integral Group advised the task force while providing project management, facilitation, research, modeling and analysis and policy recommendations to the task force and Cambridge city staff. A key focus was policy tools and standards that could be applied to achieve significant energy and GHG savings from new construction and existing buildings. The project deliverable will be a high level action plan laying out a set of strategies – including regulation, education, and incentives – to move
Right: Cover of the Getting to Zero Framework. © City of Cambridge
Cambridge toward the ZNE objective. To support this objective, Integral Group compiled supporting data and research to aid in the development of a strategy, in a series of primers as backgrounders. Research included the development of three primers: 1. Best practices in ZNE and energy efficiency policy (municipal case studies) 2. The Cambridge building energy primer, a snapshot of Cambridge’s building stock including available data on energy use by building type and sector 3. A low carbon energy supply primer describing renewable and low carbon energy generation options that are feasible in Cambridge Ultimately, Integral Group developed a set of specific recommendations to place the City on a trajectory to becoming a Zero Net Energy community.
Location: Cambridge, USA Client: City of Cambridge Completion: 2015 Services Provided: Policy + Planning
City of Oakland’s Equitable Climate Action Plan The 2030 ECAP reduces emissions 60%, addresses climate adaptation and carbon removal, and provides a model for equitable climate action planning.
Integral Group led development of the City of Oakland’s 2030 Equitable Climate Action Plan (ECAP). This document was adopted in July 2020, establishing one of the most ambitious and comprehensive municipal climate agendas. The ECAP places Equity at the center of both planning and action, ensuring that frontline Oakland communities are the first to benefit from climate action policies. The ECAP is projected to reduce Oakland’s emissions 60% by 2030 and 84% by 2050. It is also one of the first climate action plans to address emissions reductions, climate adaptation, and carbon sequestration. The Plan considers actions across several sectors: Transportation & Land Use, Buildings, Material Consumption & Waste, Adaptation, Carbon Removal, City Leadership, and the Port of Oakland.
Right: Cover of the City of Oakland’s Equitable Climate Action Plan. © City of Oakland
Our team supported an Equity Facilitator to align community priorities with high-impact climate actions throughout the ECAP development process. We designed climate actions to create multiple community co-benefits. We also developed an extensive section on municipal climate finance that identifies specific funding sources tied to each recommended action. Key highlights of the ECAP: addressing refrigerants; decarbonizing all buildings by 2040; reducing embodied carbon in buildings; aligning equity and new mobility; supporting the repair economy; creating Resilience Hubs; exploring aquatic carbon removal; and exploring a public green bank.
Location: Oakland, USA Client: City of Oakland Completion: 2020 Services Provided: Policy + Planning
Global Leadership Our global team of policy and planning professionals can help you achieve healthier, resilient, and more sustainable spaces. In the face of a changing climate, it is more important than ever to reduce our emissions while improving the health and resilience our cities, buildings and people. Integral Group’s global Sustainability Policy and Planning team of experts help clients achieve their emissions reductions, energy savings, and overall sustainability goals. We work with our clients and stakeholders to help create specialized plans, programs and strategies for portfolios, communities, campuses, and governments. We use a combination of high-quality research, technical analysis, and stakeholder engagement and facilitation to identify barriers and craft effective low-carbon and resilient solutions. Our planners combine extensive policymaking experience with the support of a deep bench of engineers and renewable energy specialists to provide technically informed policy solutions that other firms can’t offer.
Lisa Westerhoff Principal, Vancouver
Lisa leads the Sustainability Policy and Planning team at Integral Group in Vancouver. She holds a PhD in urban sustainability from UBC and a Master’s degree in climate change resilience and adaptation. In 2019 she won the Canada Green Building Council’s Green Building Champion Award.
Janika McFeely
Clara Bagenal George
David Barker
Janika is an architect and senior sustainability consultant with over a dozen years of experience in the green building industry.
Clara Bagenal George works seamlessly between environmental analysis, mechanical engineering, and sustainability fields. She initiated the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) of collaborative cross-sector policy recommendations for a zero-emissions London. Clara won the Mayor of London’s Design Advocates for Good Growth, Engineer of the Year at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards, and UKGBC’s Rising Star 2017, and has published articles for the CIBSE Journal and Modern Building Services advocating for positive change across the industry.
David is a specialist in the areas of low-carbon design, building envelope performance, occupant satisfaction, health and wellbeing, and urban amenity. With a balance of technical expertise and engaging storytelling, David provides a holistic perspective to built environment design.
Principal, Oakland
Janika consults on all scales and types of projects from net zero community centers to regional decarbonization strategies, focusing on developing holistic sustainable design solutions while helping to translate technical strategies into digestible actions for clients.
Associate, London
Senior Principal, Sydney
He is widely recognised for an integrated approach to environmental engineering, thought leadership and the development of cuttingedge analysis tools including augmented- and virtual-reality technologies.
The Integral Way Mission: To be the top quality Deep Green engineering and consulting firm with global reach. Trust The basis of every successful relationship, team and collaboration
Nurture We never stop learning or growing
Inspire We share our passion and expertise widely
Imagine We bring creativity and curiosity to solve complex problems
Perform We bring creativity and curiosity to solve complex problems
Accelerate Time is short - we need to urgently scale up
Sustain We grow and thrive so that we can have more impact