25 York Street, one of Toronto’s newest Class-A office towers, recently received its LEED Core & Shell (CS) Gold from the Canada Green Building Council, joining its largest tenant, Telus, whose office space received LEED Commercial Interiors (CI) Gold this year.
“In an advanced commercial real estate market like Toronto, tenants looking for premier office space are demanding LEED certification from the base building and often pursue LEED certification for the fit-up of their space as well,” says Jon Douglas, project manager for Enermodal Engineering, LEED consultant, commissioning agent, and building performance monitoring specialist for 25 York Street. “25 York Street is a great example of how a building owner and tenant can work together to create a building that is not only architecturally appealing and includes all the conveniences of a modern office, but also proves its sustainability through third-party certification.”
The $250 million 25 York Street was designed by Adamson Associates and is operated by Menkes Property Management Services Ltd. Enermodal Engineering oversaw the post-construction services of commissioning and building performance monitoring to ensure the building performed up to the LEED energy predictions. As a result, the building achieved a metered 46% energy cost savings compared with a conventional office. In terms of actual energy use, the building uses 211 ekWh/m2 compared with the Canadian commercial building average of about 400 ekWh/m2.
The building includes the following green features:
- combination green roof and white reflective roof components
- rainwater cistern for irrigation and toilet flushing
- over three-quarters of wood is Forest Stewardship Council certified
- occupant-controlled ventilation diffusers
- occupancy and daylighting sensors
- energy-efficient lighting design with individual fixture controls and dimmable ballasts
- low-emitting sealants, adhesives, paints, coatings, laminates, composites, and carpet
- green tenant guidelines
Menkes Property Management Services Ltd. is currently working with Enermodal of pursuing LEED Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (EB:O&M) certification for 25 York Street.