Canada's First Existing Government Building To Be Converted To LEED Platinum

PETERBOROUGH - Infrastructure Ontario (IO) is pleased to announce that the Ontario Government Building at 300 Water Street in Peterborough has been officially designated as LEED EBOM Platinum by the Green Building Council of Canada. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and EBOM refers to its designation in the category of Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance.  

Known locally as “Robinson Place”, the seven-storey provincial facility is located in the heart of Peterborough's downtown, and accommodates more than 1000 government employees, representing seven ministries.  It's the provincial headquarters for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. The facility has the distinction of being one of 12 existing buildings in Canada to achieve the LEED EBOM Platinum designation, and the first government building in the country to reach that status.  

The decision to pursue LEED Platinum was made several years ago by Infrastructure Ontario, which manages the facility on behalf of the government.  The building is fully metered, uses rainwater to its advantage and has sophisticated new energy efficient chillers to provide optimum performance during the cooling season.  The building automation system was upgraded to meet LEED standards for efficiency and client comfort.  Robinson Place also has numerous policies that offer a green approach to building management. It has been a team effort that included tremendous contributions from the ministries in terms of participation in strong recycling programs, an environmental approach to procurement of materials and development of a community garden above a parking structure on site.  

Quotes:

Bert Clark, President and CEO, Infrastructure Ontario
“The LEED Platinum designation is rare, even in new construction, so this conversion is something Peterborough can be very proud of.  IO began this process several years ago in cooperation with our ministry partners and service providers.  We're excited to see everyone's hard work recognized for an initiative that will have benefits for many years to come.” 

Jeff Leal, Peterborough MPP and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
“I'm proud of the role that local provincial government employees have played in sustainably growing fresh fruits and vegetables at Robinson Place to donate to local organizations.  It's tremendous that such a significant building in Peterborough is now the government's first LEED Platinum existing facility.”    

Thomas Mueller, President and CEO, Canada Green Building Council
“Buildings have a tremendous environmental impact.  This landmark facility is in an elite group of a dozen existing buildings to be converted to LEED Platinum in Canada.  CaGBC applauds the leadership of the Province of Ontario in being one of the first governments in Canada to increase the performance of an existing building under the LEED for Existing Buildings program.”  

Contact:

Jeff Giffen
Infrastructure Ontario
(705) 564-7205

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