6 New Pan Am Games Facilities that are LEED Certified

The Pan Am Games are officially in full swing in Toronto. In the months leading up to the Games, the media attention focused primarily on the potential traffic congestion in the city, lower than expected ticket sales, and lack of excitement by Toronto’s residents. However, few have celebrated the achievements of the Games, specifically the development of environmentally sustainable venues and infrastructure, the reduction of the city’s environmental footprint, and the foundations of a green legacy for the City of Toronto.

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) recently announced that six of the official facilities constructed for the Pan Am Games have earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification. These environmentally sustainable buildings are part of the Pan Am vision to transform communities and “leave a Games legacy of sustainable excellence.”

Cisco Milton Pan Am/Parapan Am Velodrome - via Toronto2015.org

LEED is an international rating system that recognizes the best sustainable building strategies and practices. LEED assesses the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of green buildings, homes, and neighbourhoods. Buildings achieve different levels of LEED certification - Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Certified - depending on the number of points awarded.

Six of the Pan Am facilities were awarded LEED Gold and Silver certifications due to their incorporation of state-of-the art sustainability measures including green roofs, diversion of site waste from landfills and incineration, the use of geothermal energy, and irrigation systems that rely on stored rainwater.

The Gold Certified projects include:

• CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and Field House
• The Atos Markham Pan Am/Parapan Am Centre
• CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletes’ Village

Silver Certification was awarded to:

• CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletics Stadium
• Cisco Milton Pan Am/Parapan Am Velodrome
• CIBC Hamilton Pan Am Soccer Stadium

CIBC Hamilton Pan Am Soccer Stadium - via Toronto2015.org

This is an especially commendable feat since many of the large athletics facilities pose unique challenges for LEED certification due to their significant environmental footprints. The largest venue on the list is the $205 million CIBC Pan Am/Parapan AM Aquatics Centre and Field House, which was certified LEED Gold on April 7th. This was not only the largest new building constructed for the Pan Am Games but also the largest investment in Canadian amateur sports history. The facility is a state-of-the art venue for swimming, diving, fencing, and roller sports, as well as a community and campus resource. The Aquatics Centre and Field House posed a number of challenges for architects, as it requires the heating and cooling of large bodies of water - an issue many office buildings don’t need to contend with to achieve LEED Certification.

“Because swimming pools of this nature generally have significant utility consumption rates, we were particularly interested in targeting optimized energy performance,” says Jim Derenzis, Director of Facilities Management for the University of Toronto Scarborough. To offset the environmental cost of heating these bodies of water, architects incorporated a geothermal system and 1,854 solar panels that will help supplement up to 55% of the building’s energy consumption. The building is also equipped with a green roof, rainwater collection system, and LED lights.

CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletes’ Village

After the games, these facilities will be scaled down to support community needs in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The Aquatics Centre will remove temporary walls and reduce seating to leave more room for outdoor space. The Velodrome, which just received the Silver LEED Certification in May, will also convert some of the tracks into basketball courts and fitness facilities for the general public. These initiatives will promote recreation in the GTA and ensure that these LEED buildings not only give back to the environment, but the communities as well.

“I congratulate the Organizing Committee for minimizing the environmental impact from these facilities and showing the world Canada’s leadership in green building and sustainability,” says Thomas Mueller, President and CEO of the CaGBC. Thanks to the efforts of all those involved in creating the Pan Am and Parapan Am venues, Toronto and the GTA have not only created state-of-the-art facilities, but a precedent for environmentally sustainable construction in Canada.

For more information on LEED certification in Canada, click here.

Feature image: CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and Field House - via toronto2015.org