Energy Manager

News
68-storey Toronto Office Tower Receives Zero Carbon Building Certification

Achievement validates that zero carbon buildings – whether new builds or retrofits – are both technically and financially feasible for owners willing to innovate and invest in a low carbon future for Canada.

June 15, 2020  By Energy Manager Canada


The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has announced that the 40 King St. W. tower in downtown Toronto, part of the Scotia Plaza, has earned the Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) – Performance Version 2 certification, making it the first building to certify under CaGBC’s newly updated Zero Carbon Building Standard v2.

The new certification for the 68-storey, 1.5 million sq. ft. office tower located at the core of Canada’s financial district in the heart of downtown Toronto adds to an existing list of achievements including LEED Platinum, Fitwel and WireScored Certified: Gold.

The new designation was celebrated by the property owners KingSett Capital, Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) and James Richardson & Sons Limited (JSRL), along with the property management team of BentallGreenOak and lead tenant Scotiabank.

CaGBC president and CEO Thomas Mueller recognized the efforts of the partners in securing the certification, and congratulated the building’s ownership:

Advertisement

“We congratulate KingSett Capital on achieving Zero Carbon Building – Performance v2 certification, making Scotia Plaza’s 40 King St. W. both the largest ZCB-certified building yet and the very first under the newly updated standard. KingSett’s achievement validates that zero carbon buildings – whether new builds or retrofits – are both technically and financially feasible for owners willing to innovate and invest in a low carbon future for Canada.”

Scotia Plaza’s 40 King St. W. has a transition plan in place to remove all carbon-intensive mechanical systems over the next 18 months. The building is going beyond the ZCB – Performance v2 certification’s latest zero carbon balance requirements by also offsetting its emissions from waste-to-landfill generated onsite using Gold Standard certified carbon offsets.

With respect to the HVAC set up, according to a specification sheet for the building, each floor is provided with compartment units servicing only that floor. Conditioned air is supplied to each floor by a variable air volume (VAV) duct system to perimeter slot diffusers and interior zone troffers over light fixtures. Heating is provided by heat reclaimed from the cooling systems, and supplemented by electric boilers.

Cooling is provided by six York centrifugal chillers (model # YTK 1L 3E- CWAS) located in the P4 level mechanical room. They were converted to operate with R123 refrigerant and have a rated capacity of about 650 tons each.

CaGBC


Print this page

Advertisement

Stories continue below