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Adventure Traveler Garry Sowerby in his own words:
Monday, September 27
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Environmental Initiative #51
Mountain Equipment
Co-op Store, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Richard Kula the architect is on vacation. But he's not clinging
to a rock face in the Rocky Mountains or lying on some beach sipping
pina coladas.
He's traipsing through the Mountain Equipment Co-op Store at 303
Portage Avenue in Winnipeg with the Mission Green team and Store
Manager Peter Atchison.
Both of them seem perfectly content, even excited,
to be taking time out of their day to show us around. Peter tells
us that he was the manager at a big-box department store and
that, before he came here, he had never realized that there could
be so much more to a job. He had never had that feeling of 'doing
the right thing', not just selling to customers but servicing
them and really believing in your company and its products.
But what did all this have to do with Mission Green? And why was
a vacationing architect walking around a Mountain Equipment Co-op
Store with us?
We were here to salute the fact that in building this new store
in Winnipeg, an astounding 97% of the materials used in the construction
were re-used and recycled. Where did all of these materials come
from? The actual spot we are standing on!
Prairie Architects, the firm that Richard Kula works with, was
part of the team involved in the project.
The newest MEC store was built using the former 1904-era heritage
buildings on the site. They had been scheduled for demolition when
MEC stepped in and proposed using the demolition budget of $180,000
to hire unskilled labourers to de-construct the buildings.
MEC also arranged with Habitat for Humanity to take the old bricks
from the site and buy them back at 10 cents a brick after the old
mortar had been cleaned off.
A total of 300,000 bricks were removed from the site, over 80,000
were bought back for the project from Habitat, which gave them
a healthy profit for their efforts. Habitat sold off the remaining
brick in their ReStore for further revenue.
The building cost $92.00 per square foot to build compared to
the conventional construction cost of $150-$200 per square foot.
We asked Richard if the building turned out to be what he had
expected and designed. With most buildings, you have a plan, he
explains, you build to the plan with not many surprises. But with
this project, a more fluid design process had to be established.
The integrated building design team had to remain open to new possibilities
to make room in the materials inventory for the newly discovered
items during the de-construction process.
It was a learning process for everyone involved, even the city
of Winnipeg, which hadn't conceived of recycling a historic building.
The MEC store started the chain reaction of revitalizing the downtown
core and bringing the area back to its former glory.
At Mountain Equipment Co-op, it's not just about the standard-setting
green buildings in which the stores are housed. The company strives
to produce their merchandise in a way that respects the environment
and the health, safety and dignity of the workers who make the
products. MEC follows a stringent series of steps to ensure this.
As we headed across town to our next initiative, I checked out
the great-looking Mountain Equipment Co-op Store in my rearview
mirror. The sleek exterior was only the tip of the iceberg of its
environmental marvels and technologies and I understood why Richard
Kula was willing to interrupt his vacation to show us around.
http://www.mec.ca/Main/content_text.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=618989&bmUID=1096326287563
http://www.prairiearchitects.ca/portfolio.php
You are now leaving the mission green website to an external website
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Environmental Initiative #52
Red River College,
Princess Street Campus, Winnipeg, Manitoba
A common species is emerging to the Mission Green team as we cross
the country. This species has manifested itself in many instances
at a variety of the environmental initiatives we've visited.
It's the Dasher. The Dasher species is characterized
by quick movements. A Dasher rarely walks anywhere. that would
be a waste of time.
Here in Winnipeg we've just met another Dasher - Richard
Gamble, Operations Manager of the Princess Street Campus of the
Red River College.
Richard tells us he has nothing to do with
the academics going on here at the College, "This building is
my baby. I'm the one that makes it tick!"
And tick it does. Richard is so into the mechanics of his building,
the air exchange, the water system. Mr. System, as the Mission
Green team affectionately dubbed him, is proud of every last mechanism
in the place.
The Princess Street Campus is a three-phase
restoration project of three historical buildings. The major
street-front façade
was preserved and restored while most of the remaining areas were
built new.
Budget constraints limited the significant environmentally-friendly
concepts that were part of the original plan for the project but
the builders were able to introduce solar panels to provide the
electricity. Other ecologically-sound systems used in the buildings
include advanced mechanical air exchange, computerized efficient
lighting and controls, carbon monoxide monitoring as well as wall
sensors to monitor room temperature.
The complex has the largest photovoltaic (PV) array of solar panels
in the world. This technology is installed between the panes of
glass in the thermal windows. The only maintenance required is
to clean them.
The system generates 12 kW of power, which would power 6 homes
for one year. Surplus electricity is sold back to the main power
grid.
We liked the efficient carbon monoxide monitoring system that
senses when there are many students in a classroom, learning and
breathing. A higher than normal level of CO in the air prompts
the system to circulate more fresh air. When the students leave
for the lunch, the sensor lowers the fresh air circulation.
Richard dashed ahead of us to the roof to show
us the rooftop garden but also to show off the massive air handlers
that control the air pressure in the buildings, keeping it raised
slightly higher inside than outside. Doing this 'defends' the
inside air from the cold air in the winter and hot air in the
summer.
So, yes, your mother was right - you are 'heating
the outdoors!' but only for a split second which is actually
more efficient than allowing the cold or contaminated air in.
Very cool!
I couldn't help but be envious of the 2,000 students who get to
attend classes here in this futuristic yet historic place.
As we said our goodbyes to Richard Gamble and
the Princess Street Campus of the Red River College, he echoed
a sentiment we have felt all too often on our environmental tour: "It's
too bad we didn't have a few more hours."
Yes, Richard, it would have been nice to spend a few more hours
in your Environmental Mega-Gadget.
Keep on ticking!
http://www.rrc-pscampus.com/tour/concept/greening.html
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