Catherine Labelle
News Reporter
Lakeshore’s new L building will deliver on sustainability, said facilities management director, Carol Anderson.
Construction will begin within the next few weeks once the existing building on the site has been demolished, she said.
“We are trying to employ as many sustainable and efficient technologies in the building as we can.”
The L building will be surrounded by heritage buildings.
Included are occupancy sensors that turn off lights, as well as minimize heating, ventilation and air conditioning when people have left an area, said Anderson.
“There is a surprising amount of energy savings,” said manager of maintenance and operations at Lakeshore, Spencer Wood, referring to the sensors.
A heat recovery system will also be in place, where heat from the air being vented from electrical rooms and bathrooms is reclaimed and added back into the building’s air, he said.
As part of the project, upgrades will be undertaken to the central plant, a separate structure that will supply the heating and cooling for the new building, to make it more efficient, said Wood.
This change, he said, will have far reaching effects as the same plant also supplies many of the other buildings on campus.
Part of the roof will be a green modular design, said Wood.
This means trays of plants will be positioned beside one another and can be easily removed and replaced if repairs are necessary.
Such an addition can assist with cooling and improve overall energy efficiency, said president of non-profit group Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, Steven Peck.
Maintenance, however is a big challenge for these roofs, he said.
“It is important to budget, plan and design for maintenance.”
Parking surrounding the building will also be returned to green space, said Anderson.
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, a prominent green building rating system, is not being sought as such recognition comes at a premium price tag, she said.
As much as the LEED technology as we can afford will be incorporated, Anderson said. “We are building a building that isn’t contributing more than it has to contribute to green house gas emissions.”