Recently, East Vancouver Fire Hall 17 was in the spotlight at the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC)’s Building Lasting Change conference held in downtown Vancouver.
Fire Hall 17 was discussed in the session called Zero Carbon City that focused on curbing carbon emissions from buildings owned by the city.
The history of Vancouver’s Fire Hall 17 can be dated back to 1955, the year it was built. At present, the hall is seismically unsound, too small, and operationally and energy inefficient.
According to sources, though the new fire hall will still house red fire engines, it will be the first passive house among fire halls in the city.
Fire Hall Design
Considering that buildings are responsible for roughly one-third of global carbon emissions, modern architects nowadays erect buildings that produce no emissions while in use.
Even the designers take an environmentally friendly approach to interior design. And in the time where climate change is an impending issue, zero-emission has to be the new normal. This is precisely what Vancouver aspires with its building plan.
Gregor Robertson, the mayor of Vancouver, cited that the new Fire Hall is going to be high tech while sticking fast to zero-carbon building standards. It will fit in with Vancouver’s Greenest City 2020 action plan.
The Fire Hall will be an emergency communications hub for the city dwellers, which is essential in times of natural disasters like a major earthquake, Robertson quipped. Thus, it will need 25% more energy than the usual fire hall.
As per Zina Berrada, HMCA Architecture and Design sustainability coordinator, the new building will be four storeys. It will feature four equipment bays and will be divided into two Passive House certified areas.
The building will be constructed in such a way that a firefighter in the building can get to a fire truck in 60 seconds.
The Challenges
HMCA Architecture and Design sustainability coordinator, Berrada mentioned that the biggest challenge faced in their zero-emission plan is airtightness.
The challenges also include the need to utilize the operational area as an IT and communications hub, which leads to heat gains. Another issue cited by Scott Ghomeshi, Integral Group project manager and mechanical engineer is noise mitigation as a result of the proximity of the Fire Hall to Knight Street.
The Budget
The construction cost of the new Fire Hall is estimated at $19.9 million. Reportedly, $5 million will come in the form of grants and loans from the federal government and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).
As per the FCM, the structure that is intended to meet Passive House energy-saving criteria will curb CO2 emissions by 33 tonnes yearly.
Gregor Robertson, Vancouver Mayor, cited that attaining those goals is worth the extra expense.
He mentioned that the cost of building the base would be approximately $16 million. The cost of being passive is 19.9 million dollars, and it will save more than that over the course of the life of the building.
Vancouver Keen on Becoming the World’s Greenest City
In 2011, Vancouver emerged as the first international winner of the One Planet City Challenge (OPCC). And in 2019, the city became Canada’s national OPCC winner. It now aims to become the Greenest City in the World by 2020.
The city aims to curb carbon emissions completely for new buildings over the next ten years. By 2030, all new buildings should reach net-zero emissions. The ZEB (Zero Emissions Building Plan) was initiated in 2016. It focuses on constructing highly energy-efficient houses that make use of solely renewable energy.
Vancouver intends to construct only new Zero Emissions Buildings while retrofitting older ones to fit the new energy-efficiency standard. The city has its own building code known as the Vancouver Building Bylaw. Vancouver will revise its code between now and 2030.
Under the new ZEB policy, till today, the city has 75 projects, over 3 million square feet, and over 2,000 units. Fire Hall 17 is among the new buildings designed to meet the standard.
Following Net Zero Energy and Passive House standards, the building will need little or no energy for heating or cooling. Besides, they will install solar panels on the roof to provide the local grid with renewable electricity in the warmer months, while retrieving it in the colder months.
Other Highlights
Other highlights include the plan exceeding Vancouver’s standard for green demolition, leading to the diversion of at least 85% of material from the landfill.
The project aims to reduce the consumption of water by 40% from a pre-established baseline by taking up measures like low-flow fixtures and fittings and landscaping with plant materials that are drought resistant and won’t need irrigation during the arid months.
To the people residing in Vancouver, the ZEB code is both seen as a climate issue and a contributing factor to a comfy and fit indoor environment and reducing costs.
