Passive Highrises Planned for Vancouver's West End
Written by Cheryl Chan on October 2, 2017 for the Vancouver Sun.
Vancouver has been called the City of Glass for the tall, thin, glass condos that dominate the downtown landscape. But a new proposed project at 1400 Alberni Street may put Vancouver on the map as home of the world’s tallest passive-house towers.
“We wanted to develop something that’s unique and different for the city,” said Kevin Cheung, CEO of Landa Global Properties, which has just submitted a rezoning application for the proposed development at Alberni and Nicola streets to be built with Asia Standard Americas.
“These types of buildings are the future, and we want to be at the cutting edge of that shift.”
The two-tower project — one 43 stories and another 48 — will be built to the rigorous standards required by the Germany-based
Passive House Institute
, which requires buildings to meet maximum energy-demand limits and airtightness standards.
The goal is an airtight home, achieved by a tight envelope, the efficient use of sun and shade, and lots of insulation. Passive Houses conserve up to 90 per cent of the energy used to heat and cool typical buildings and have very little carbon pollution.
Eesmyal Santos-Brault, CEO of Recollective and the sustainability consultant for the project, believes passive-house standards will eclipse the LEED green-building rating system that is currently used as the standard in North America.
