Arial photo of the South East False Creek development

Recollective is pleased to announce that all new residential buildings at Vancouver’s South East False Creek Olympic Village at Millennium Water have achieved LEED Gold certification, with the Net Zero Building and the Community Centre attaining LEED Platinum!

This is our largest project to date and the largest development project to be certified in Canada so far. The site is about seven hectares in size and consists of over 20 buildings, with approximately 1.5 million square feet of mixed use development. It includes shops, amenities and 1,100 residential units adjacent to a wonderful bike route and within walking distance of public transit. For heating and hot water, all buildings are connected to the city’s new Neighbourhood Energy Utility which uses sewer heat recovery as its primary heat source.

Jason Packer celebrates certification

“We’re excited to have reached this milestone. This has been in the works for years with many people playing important roles along the way,” said Jason Packer, LEED Project Manager. “Now we’ll all be watching to see how the buildings perform and how the residents and users experience their new neighbourhood.”

The project experienced challenges, some related to international economic events which put tremendous pressure on the city, the developer and the team, but the goal of LEED Gold and Platinum certification was always keep in mind. It was a challenge to certify with all the different players and the time pressures to meet Olympic deadlines. “In the end, we were able to get our documentation together and submit it before the Olympics and we got far enough through the certification process to feel confident we’d hit the targets. This announcement makes it official. The plaques from the Canada Green Building Council are on the way.”

Recollective provided sustainability and LEED-NC consulting for all buildings in the SEFC Olympic Village development.