10 minute read
A TOWERING ACHIEVEMENT
from CPM Nov 2018
by MediaEdge
Ken Soble building in Hamilton becomes world’s largest residential Passive House Retrofit
By Erin Ruddy Once an aging seniors’ residence with an uncertain future, the Ken Soble Tower in Hamilton, Ontario, has officially become the world’s largest residential structure retrofitted to the Passive House EnerPHit standard. The 18-storey, 146-unit affordable housing development underwent extensive upgrades that have since led to a remarkable 94 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 91 per cent reduction in heating energy demand. At its peak, the total energy required to heat and cool one unit in the building would be equivalent to the energy needed to power three incandescent light bulbs.
A TOWERING ACHIEVEMENT
“We could not be more thrilled that the Ken Soble Tower project has achieved Passive House EnerPHit certification,” said Chris Ballard, CEO, Passive House Canada. “With over 10,000 towers across Canada in need of deep energy retrofits, the team at ERA Architects, PCL and CityHousing Hamilton have shown great leadership and we congratulate them on this tremendous achievement.”
Built in 1967, Ken Soble Tower is the oldest high-rise, multi-residential building in CityHousing Hamilton’s portfolio, and a fixture of the Hamilton skyline. It was fully occupied until 2014 when a mix of aging infrastructure and increasing capital costs led to it falling into disrepair.
The decision to pursue Passive House certification came about in 2016 after numerous studies and consultations with residents and community members led to a majority vote in favour of taking the ambitious path. While upgrading the building (vs. demolishing it) made good financial sense, it also ensured the evolving neighbourhood would continue to benefit from the much-needed affordable housing supply. Striving for Passive House certification elevated the project to historic new heights.
EnerPHit certification
To meet the rigorous new standards, a team specializing in apartment retrofits was brought on to fulfill the requirements of the EnerPHit certification program; this included visionaries from ERA Architects, a Toronto-based architecture firm with experience in low-carbon retrofits, and experts from PCL, Canada’s largest general contractor with expertise in building revitalization and in-house envelope engineering.
The result has been transformative, with data that speaks for itself. Supporting both resident health and climate resilience, Ken Soble Tower is now a model for other aging dinosaurs on the brink of extinction. The project gives hope—and a detailed case study—for what can be achieved through deep energy retrofits. In addition to these upgrades, the project included a reconfiguration of all indoor and outdoor spaces to accommodate aging-in-place. Over 20 per cent of the 146 apartment suites now meet barrier-free standards, with expanded community facilities that support seniors’ programming. During construction, embodied carbon in the structure was saved through the re-use and revitalization of building materials.
“Congratulations to CityHousing Hamilton on their innovative vision for the Ken Soble Tower project,” said Marc Pascoli, Vice President and District Manager of PCL’s Toronto District Office. “Achieving EnerPHit certification reflects the expert rigor, best practices and collaborative efforts between our client, consultants, trades, and PCL. The outcomes we’ve achieved demonstrate that high-performance
building envelopes are possible on large-scale retrofit projects, paving the way for ultra-efficient retrofits to support a low carbon future.”
Built to last
Using 2050 temperature projections as a guiding foundation for the overall design, Ken Soble Tower is now climate resilient, supporting indoor health and comfort during both extreme heat and cold climate events anticipated in future years. Building performance was achieved in part through an ultra high-performance building envelope, with exterior and interior insulation to meet the stringent airtightness requirements. Other key upgrades included triple-glazed windows, heat recovery in all building penetrations, and the modernizing of all obsolete and unhygienic HVAC systems to provide fresh air to each suite.
To achieve EnerPHit certification, the team had to prove that the final building was capable of performing to Passive House standards. As such, a comprehensive air tightness testing and quality management program, developed by PCL’s in-house envelope engineer and construction team, was employed. After the final whole-building airtightness tests demonstrated that targets were surpassed by more than 50 per cent—at 0.235 air changes per hour (ACH) at 50 pascals pressure (Pa)—it was declared “mission accomplished.”
“We are very proud to have worked alongside CityHousing Hamilton to realize the renewal of the Ken Soble Tower as affordable and resilient housing, and one of the largest EnerPHit projects in the world,” said Graeme Stewart, Principal, ERA Architects. “Showcasing that low carbon retrofits are the path for a resilient future, offering health, safety and comfort to residents, the Ken Soble Tower is a true model for addressing the growing climate and housing crises of our time.”
What’s ahead for Ken Soble Tower
The Ken Soble Tower is slated to become a teaching tool, offering realtime lessons in retrofit design. CityHousing Hamilton, in partnership with the University of Toronto, ERA and PCL, will study and measure the impacts of the building on its residents and surrounding environment, including building performance, resident health and safety, and economic impacts, among others. At a larger scale, the Ken Soble Tower will showcase how multi-residential postwar structures may be rehabilitated to the Passive House standard, resulting in significant reductions in energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and energy intensity of the building.
PeopleGroup_CAM_Jan-Feb_2022_FINAL.pdf 1 2022-01-28 12:02 PM
Quick facts about the project:
• CityHousing Hamilton (CHH) is the Housing
Corporation owned and operated by the City of
Hamilton.
• All 146 units of the Ken Soble Tower will be rented at affordable rates, with 74 units being “deeply affordable” (set at 69.2% of the median market rent).
• The new building aims to achieve 75% energy savings and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 88% compared to the NECB 2015.
• Through the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund the federal government invested close to $3.7M in this project and has a financial commitment of $6.3M through National Housing Co-Investment Fund.
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Modernizing payments for Canada’s commercial property industry
Canadian property managers have a lot to gain from making payments faster, easier, and more transparent. In a post-pandemic economy, many Canadians are reducing their use of cash as a payment method and are relying instead on digital payments. In fact, a recent Interac survey revealed that two thirds of Canadians believe businesses that fail to adapt in order to allow digital payments will struggle.
The demand for digital payment options from businesses will only increase and property managers will need to accommodate this shift in consumer behaviour. With every dollar counting more than ever before given the challenges faced by businesses during the pandemic, effi cient ways of paying and managing fi nances in ways that improve cash fl ow is now paramount. Improvements to accounts payable, accounts receivable, and methods of payment cannot be overlooked in this recovery-focused environment.
Pre-pandemic, day-to-day fi nancial management often involved processes that were paper-based, cheque-driven, and manual. These are typically slower and less effi cient ways of working and require businesses to spend valuable resources processing and reconciling payments. The pandemic, alongside changing consumer preferences, has naturally reinforced the need for digitization and moved businesses to lessen their reliance on manual processes to boost overall operational effi ciency. Eighty-three per cent of fi nance professionals surveyed by Interac affi rm this notion, saying that applying digital transformation to their function is now a priority .
These needs are fuelling demand for innovative business payment solutions, such as Interac e-Transfer® for Business. As an enhancement of the existing Interac e-Transfer service, new features were built to meet the needs of Canadian businesses through higher transaction limits, fast money transfers with instant confi rmation and rich remittance data, allowing businesses to reconcile
transactions with less paperwork. In other words, it can help streamline accounting processes and accelerate a paperless offi ce strategy.
For a property manager or landlord, this could mean being able to accept or request payments directly from tenants with immediate access to funds, paying contractors and invoices for work specifi c to the property with greater ease and retaining payment confi rmations. Further, property managers and landlords could send a reminder for rent payment via request-to-pay capability and easily reimburse tenants for costs incurred on behalf of the property manager or for payment returns.
Receiving payments instantly in this way can also be a game changer if a manager is largely reliant on cheques, eliminating any uncertainty around when one will arrive in the mail or whether it will clear. With Interac e-Transfer for Business, property managers can receive payment instantly, reducing the number of cheques and cash they receive, eliminating the risk of late payments, and gain easy visibility into what the payments are for using structured data.
Eight in 10 (80 per cent) business decision makers surveyed agree that moving from traditional payment options to digital ones will be essential to post-pandemic growth . Assessing how a business can revamp its payment processes and fi nancial management to become more effi cient and effective with tools like Interac e-Transfer for Business can help to equip the commercial property industry as it embarks upon growth and recovery plans.
Those interested in using the solution are invited to learn more by visiting Interac.ca/business, In The Know and to discuss the offering with their fi nancial institution.
Interac and Interac e-Transfer are registered trademarks of Interac Corp..
(1)Interac commissioned Hill+Knowlton Strategies to conduct a national survey of adult Canadians. A total of 1,000 adult residents of Canada were surveyed online in April 2021. The sample was randomly drawn from a panel of potential survey respondents. An associated margin of error for a probability-based sample of this size would be ±2.5%, 19 times out of 20. (2)Interac commissioned Phase 5 Consulting to conduct an online survey of 152 fi nancial decision-makers in Canadian midsized businesses with 100-499 employees. Participants were recruited via an online research panel. Fieldwork was conducted in English and French in May 2021. (3)Interac participated in RFi Group’s online commercial banking and payments syndicated survey of decision makers at 363 commercial enterprises with revenues between $10M and $100M. Fieldwork was conducted in English and French in June 2021. Note: Finance transformation describes any strategic initiative meant to create new opportunities for the fi nance function to add value to the business and align with overall company strategy.
