Canada — The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) is investing $136 million into its Commercial Building Retrofits Initiative (CBRI) to launch its latest net-zero retrofit project. The project will see 19 buildings, 18 in Ontario and one in Saskatoon, receive retrofits.
CIB will be partnering with Dream, a real estate company and the first in Canada to receive funding through the CBRI, to complete the retrofits. Dream’s goal is to reduce the selected buildings’ carbon emissions by over 40 per cent in the next 36 months and to net zero by 2035.
“It’s important to note that real estate accounts for nearly 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s really incumbent on all of us in the industry to make positive impacts with the real estate that we own and manage,” said Gordon Wadley, chief operating officer for Dream Office REIT.
Starting in Spring 2022, Dream will begin decarbonizing and modernizing the buildings by upgrading each buildings existing systems, including boilers, heat pumps and cooling systems, to energy-efficient systems and low-carbon heating sources. Dream will also implement energy efficiency measures that include new windows and roofs, electric vehicle chargers and rooftop solar.
The project will also see approximately 1,500 new jobs created, resulting in healthier workplaces for over 15,000 people.
The following 19 buildings selected were all built between 1875 to 1992 and range from boutique historical buildings to downtown high-rises:
- 80 Richmond St.
- 67 Temperance St. W.
- 56 Temperance St. W.
- 350 Bay St.
- 366 Bay St.
- 74 Victoria St.
- 20 Toronto St.
- 36 Toronto St.
- 6 Adelaide St.
- 425 Bloor St. E.
- 438 University St.
- 655 Bay St.
- 2206 Eglinton Ave. E.
- 90 Sussex Centre (90 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W.)
- 50 Sussex Centre (50 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W.)
- 10 Lower Spadina Ave.
- 349 Carlaw Ave.
- The Residences at Artscape Weston Common
- Princeton Tower (in Saskatoon, 123 2nd Ave. S)
“One area we know that will have a great impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is in real estate,” said deputy mayor and city councillor Ana Bailão.
The Commercial Building Retrofits Initiative is funded by CIB and provides financing for decarbonization retrofits in privately owned commercial, industrial and multi-unit residential buildings in Canada.