The Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre is a winner by international standards, achieving LEED Gold Certification. The new aquatics and sports facility located at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) has met strict standards in its design, construction, maintenance and operations to be recognized as among the best in the world for Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED).
The City of Toronto and University of Toronto jointly own the facility with a significant (56 per cent capital contribution) coming from the Federal and Provincial governments via TO2015. All parties had agreed that the facility should be a leader in sustainability, providing a showcase for cutting-edge environmental design as well as reducing ongoing operating costs, helping to ensure access for the community, high performance athletes, and UTSC students, staff, and faculty for the long-term.
As the Americas converge on the UTSC campus to participate in the 2015 Pan Am & Parapan American Games this summer, many of the building innovations will be showcased so that other nations can learn about sustainable design.
The LEED standard began in 1994, and was adopted by the Canadian Green Building Council in 2003. Buildings are graded on a point system by an independent agency on the basis of environmental impact and human benefit throughout the building’s life and operations. TPASC was designed by NORR Ltd. (and aquatic engineers Counsilman-Hunsaker) with high level LEED certification in mind. Among the highlights:
- 40 per cent of heating and 99 per cent of the cooling in the facililty is supported by a geothermal field provided by more than100 wellpoints, each extending 183 meters [600 feet] under the north parking lot, reducing the building’s energy consumption by 20 per cent.
- A green roof covers 30 per cent of the roof area, approximately 60,000 square feet
- 1,854 solar panels installed on the TPASC roofs can generate up to 593 kW of power per hour, reducing energy consumption of the building by up to 10 to 15 per cent
- LED lighting throughout the building consumes 80 per cent less energy than incandescent, and about 35 per cent less than fluorescent
- Three underground cisterns collect rainwater for landscape irrigation.
- General contractors PCL Constructors Canada ensured 95 per cent of the construction site waste from the 393,628 square feet [29,000 square meters] sports centre was targeted for diversion from landfills and incineration.
TPASC is the first LEED Gold building at UTSC, and U of T’s first new building to meet the standard. UTSC’s Environmental Science and Chemistry Building, scheduled for completion this year, has also been designed to LEED Gold Standard. TPASC is also the first facility for the Pan Am & Parapan American Games to achieve LEED Gold certification.
TPASC has netted other awards as well. PCL Construction was awarded the 2015 Ontario General Contractors Association award for Best Project Built in Ontario and earlier this year, PCL accepted the Best of the Best Large Project Achievement Award from the Toronto Construction Association.