Here's how people are making buildings more climate resilient

It's time to build for the future, according to Penny Martyn. 

"[It's] really important that our buildings become more climate-friendly," said Martyn, a green building manager for University of British Columbia Campus and Community Planning.

"Our buildings need to be able to adapt to climate change, so we need to design them differently."

UBC is just one of the many organizations across Canada that are looking for ways to better adapt to the changing climate, as forest fires, heat, and extreme weather become more prevalent, whether that's while designing new buildings, or retrofitting old ones. 

According to a report released by Natural Resources Canada in January, buildings make up 13 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.  

And some of the solutions may seem boring, but it's the boring changes that can have a long-term positive impact. 

More than just going solar

Martyn says UBC is committed to making sure all its new buildings meet LEED gold standard, which is an internationally recognized certification that looks at carbon emissions, the conservation of resources, and operating costs. 

And more developers are looking at ways to start off on the right foot. 

In Calgary, the planning and construction of the new Central Library cost $245 million. In addition to more than 30 free meeting rooms, a 330-seat performance hall, and of course, books, it boasts a long list of climate-friendly features.

Kate Thompson, CEO of the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, which served as the development manager for the project, said it started with location. The library is right along Calgary's light rail transit, making it easy for people to get there. Plus, there are plenty of places to lock up a bike. 

A large cistern on the outside of the library captures rainwater, and inside there is low-flow plumbing.

The building has lots of natural light, but is also equipped with solar shades and windows with ceramic dots that prevent the building from overheating on a sunny day. And those are just some of the features added to the building to make it sustainable over the long term. 

"You have to say collectively, what are we aspiring to do here?" said Thompson. "Sustainability was foundational."

Community first

Serena Mendizabal, managing director at Sacred Earth, says the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario decided to make clean energy a full community effort. 

"I think that's what makes it so unique and so different because we did things outside of the box and we did things very Haudenosaunee," said Mendizabal, using a term that means people of the longhouse.

In November 2022, the community started a sustainable restoration of its Sour Springs Longhouse, which included energy-efficient retrofits and a solar panel project. 

Mendizabal says a year before even starting the design process, they were able to engage with the community about how solar energy works, its impacts, and the benefits it creates. The design allows the longhouse to use the power it generates, without having to send it to the grid. 

Then, community members were trained in solar design, installation, operations and maintenance. Mendizabal says this community focus was important because so often developers come from outside with ideas. Here the power was generated from within. 

"This was a project that from inception came from the needs of the longhouse and the needs of our people, and we implemented [it] ourselves because we knew what we needed and we knew we wanted," said Mendizabal.

"That's something to really be proud of."

Mendizabal says other communities among the Haudenosaunee Confederacy are looking at replicating it. 

Using what you have

Matt Henderson says sustainable changes to public buildings aren't always flashy. He's the superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division, where he's had to tackle boring but necessary changes at Gordon Bell High School. 

It's an older building in the heart of Winnipeg that has undergone a handful of additions. 

"The original feasibility study indicated that, through infrared, that there was so much leakage of air, not only going out, but coming in, that it was equivalent to having sort of a 40-square-foot hole in the building," said Henderson. 

The province, the federal government, and the school division came together to completely retrofit the building by increasing natural light and improving the flow of air through the building through improvements to the walls and roof.

The nearly $24-million project is in its second year of construction and is expected to be done by September.

He hopes it's not the last school they're able to fix up, as the Manitoba provincial government looks at the impact of the Gordon Bell High School project.  

"We talk about putting solar panels on top of schools and getting electric busses … to prepare us for the climate emergency that we're in right now," said Henderson. 

"But I think an easy step is to create really highly efficient buildings that are sealed tight."

Fighting fire with design

In Lytton, B.C., it's not just about reducing emissions. There's a focus on making sure the community is ready for the next natural disaster.

A wildfire that ripped through the village in 2021 destroyed much of its municipal infrastructure. In the years since, the village has received federal funding to make its buildings more fire resilient.

"We've definitely experienced firsthand a lot of the climate-related issues," said Lytton Mayor Denise O'Connor.

"The old construction style, we've discovered, it doesn't work in a disaster. You know, we need to be thinking this way and doing what we can to support people that want to build this way."

One of the ways it's doing that is by designing the new community centre to be a more resilient space. The goal is to also make the building net zero, and able to be used as an emergency shelter. 

And the outdoor swimming pool will double as a water reservoir, for when the next wildfire rolls through. 

"Not only will we have a sustainable building, but we're also going to be setting an example, I think, for others that are considering building," said O'Connor.

Covering the cost

For those looking for more sustainable buildings, Martyn says the best advice she has is to keep pushing.

"Keep talking about your desire for sustainable community and green buildings and advocate kind of on all levels where you can," said Martyn. 

"If it's a strong and co-ordinated voice, it usually gets heard."

Still, Martyn says, price tags can be an issue in these conversations.

"In the long run, it will cost you less if you have a resilient building that can withstand certain climate hazards, but the initial cost is kind of a difficulty, I think, for lots of projects," said Martyn.

She says there are ways around that. Businesses can take climate-friendly measures when they're upgrading anyway. For example, if it's time for new windows, install the climate-friendly kind, she says.

There are also government grants that can help pay for some of the extra expenses. 

Henderson suggests people look at what they were able to do by retrofitting Gordon Bell High School instead of building something completely new. 

"I think sometimes there's a desire to kind of build the new and fanciest buildings," said Henderson.

"When you're talking about impact and about being climate resilient and about really, kind of, not digging up more resources out of the earth to build new buildings, there's a real opportunity here to use the existing bones."