Passive House Pulse – 2023 Past Events

Join us at our PULSE Vancouver event October 18th and hear from the developer, designers, and City about applying the passive house standard to the much anticipated – and beautiful – CURV.

We’ve partnered with the team from CURV to organize a thought-provoking and informative event.

CURV is “a luxury passive house that will stand as a tribute to the city, and a new benchmark for design excellence and environmental achievement worldwide.” Aiming to be the tallest Passive House in the world, CURV marks a new era of innovation in design and construction.

Attend and hear how passive house methodologies will minimize the building’s carbon footprint, and how residents will enjoy living in a climate resilient building that helps to keep them safe and healthy in extreme weather.

The Panel, providing their perspectives and insights, are:

Rick Gregory | P.Eng., Project Director, Brivia Group

Rick is a senior executive with over 30 years of experience in the planning and execution of large complex construction projects. Both private and public sector, his portfolio spans major civil, institutional, resort, hotel, office, retail and residential projects.

Rick has worked managing the design and construction for many projects such as, Minto and 2 of their flagship mixed-use projects in Ottawa and Toronto; a project that has become Dubai’s iconic landmark, the Burj al Arab; Intrawest’s pedestrian-centric village development projects globally; and leading Henson’s team on its landmark 60-storey Passive House tower in Downtown Vancouver and its 9-acre residential development project in West Vancouver. Following the acquisition of these 2 properties by Montreal’s Brivia Group, he has joined their new Vancouver operation as Project Director for CURV and West Vancouver Project.

 

Sean Pander | P. Eng., Manager of Green & Resilient Buildings, City of Vancouver

Sean is the Manager of Green and Resilient Buildings for the City of Vancouver and is also a member of the BC Energy Step Code Council and the Buildings to Electric B2E Leadership Council, past chair of the Zero Emissions Building Exchange ZEBx, and is a recipient of Canada’s Clean50 award.

Under Sean’s leadership, Vancouver has rapidly transitioned its Building By-Law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new buildings by over 70% to date and approved changes that will reduce emissions by 90% by 2025. In addition, his team recently had Council approve annual carbon pollution limits for existing commercial buildings that will drive electrification as well requirements to reduce embodied carbon for new commercial and multi-family residential buildings.

 

Brian Hubbs | Managing Principal, RDH Building Science

Brian has over 30 years of experience as a consultant practising exclusively in the field of building science. He has completed hundreds of building enclosure investigations and rehabilitation projects and provided design consulting and construction review of building enclosures for new buildings.

Brian’s experience includes work on both high and low-rise commercial, institutional and residential building projects in many cities and in virtually all climatic regions across Canada and the United States. His extensive experience with a variety of building enclosure systems, components, and materials includes steep and low-slope roofing systems, wall cladding of all types (masonry, EIFS, concrete, metal panel, stucco, wood, vinyl siding, etc.), windows, glazing, glass/metal curtain walls and skylights, as well as below-grade and plaza waterproofing systems.

 

Gwyn Vose | Principal, Arcadis IBI Group

Gwyn is a first-hand witness and participant in Vancouver’s evolution into a globally significant urban center. With Arcadis since 2005, he has been project manager and lead designer on a number of significant projects in Canada (Vancouver), Hong Kong, and the Middle East. His work spans a wide range of typologies but focuses primarily on multi-family residential and mixed-use projects, which range in scale from duplex houses to over 500 ft. tall towers. Notable examples of his local projects include: Cooper’s Lookout in False Creek (Concord Pacific), Corus and Coast at UBC (Bastion), Harbour Green Three in Coal Harbour (ASPAC), The Avedon (Polygon), and 5955 Balsam (Grosvenor). Internationally he has worked on a two tower schemes in Macau and a large 12 building neighbourhood in Abu Dhabi.

His diverse experience has gained him expertise in residential design, negotiations with local authorities and navigating the development permit process. His specialty is high rise residential architecture.

 

Learning Objectives:

• Applying Passive House principles to high-rise developments.
• The importance of Passive House in achieving the City of Vancouver’s carbon emission targets.
• Taking architecture beyond the sculptural effect and exploring the high quality and detailed engineering of the Passive House building envelope.

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This Pulse focused on two Rapid Housing Initiative projects that deliver high performance housing quickly and to a Passive House quality. The projects are 257 King William Street, Hamilton which is close to completion and 1620 Main St E, Hamilton, which is breaking ground. A panel of experts from each design team p an overvierovided an overview of each project leading into a panel discussion and audience Q & A.

Our Panel

Our panel presented varying perspectives from an owner, an architect, a modular solution supplier, and a Passive House consultant.

An in-person tour of  51 Sammon Ave, Toronto, Ontario, M4J 1Y7 (near Pape subway station).

Sammon is the first EnerPHit-certified detached family home in Ontario. The event will include a tour as well as a presentation on the process of delivering the project. We will have the privilege of having the owners of the house present for the event, who will discuss why they decided to build a house to the Passive House standard as they share their experience of living in one for the past two years.

Germán Vaisman | Director of Architectural Sustainability, Hariri Pontarini Architects

Germán believes in a world with low carbon emission and focused his architectural career on Passive House after he heard about it in a conference 10 years ago. He has worked for firms in Argentina, Israel, and Canada where he specialized in high performance building enclosures and sustainability. He is also a trainer for Passive House Canada and a strong advocate of the Passive House concept. He joined the Steering Committee of Toronto’s Carbon Leadership Forum and currently works as the Director of Architectural Sustainability at Hariri Pontarini Architects.

Learning objectives:

• Review key components of Passive House in single detached houses
• Understand the client goals regarding performance and indoor air quality
• Review the successes and setbacks of the design and construction process of the project

Designer: Coolearth Architecture

Passive House Certification: Peel Passive House

Please note: This event will be recorded, and may be shared  over Passive House Canada’s channels. Questions or concerns may be sent to: [email protected].

Passive House Canada is grateful for the support of our event sponsor, Vetta Windows.

Summerside Business Commons, known by some as Eco-Park, is the newest and most advanced business location for companies seeking a balance between sustainability and efficiency. This 14-acre infrastructure will soon have its first building which will be a 16,000 square foot light manufacturing facility, the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada. Designed by Charlottetown’s Open Practice Inc. – Collaborative Architecture, with Peel Passive House as the Passive House Consultant, the building will feature several innovations intended to significantly reduce its carbon footprint.

Join us for our first Pulse PEI to learn about this project’s focus on enhanced high performance, design and sustainability for industrial buildings and the application of Passive House for industrial projects.

Aaron Stavert | Founding Principal, Open Practice Inc.

As the founding principal of Open Practice Inc., Aaron brings twenty-five years of professional practice experience from a diverse range of projects exploring such areas as: embodied energy in building materials, methods of prefabrication in the off-shore oil industry, information technologies and their impacts on rural communities, adaptive re-use and revitalization of historic buildings, the ability of architecture to impact business and employee performance, sustainable materials and construction methods in residential architecture, and the “craft” of detail in furniture design.

Aaron obtained a Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies from the Technical University of Nova Scotia in 1995. He later earned a Master of Architecture degree from the Dalhousie School of Architecture in 1997, where he graduated with distinction.

Aaron is a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and is a registered architect in the province of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Learning objectives:

• Identify the need for enhanced building performance to align with owner requirements
• The application of Passive House in industrial projects
• Impacts of design and sustainability for industrial buildings
• Designing for industrial use with Passive House

In this session, we will take you on a BOSS Site Tour.

BOSS (Building Offsite Sustainable Systems) is a complete system for building homes that are affordable and carbon neutral.  It is an approach that is collaborative, open- source, and benefits the entire building industry.  Explore this recently erected prefabricated Passive House still under construction.

Personal Protective Equipment required –  Steel toe footwear, safety vest,  and hard hat recommended.

Chris Hill, CPA, CMA | President of BCollective Homes Inc

Chris Hill brings 15+ years of practical building experience and is an active member of the high-performance building community in BC. His professional accomplishments include: Master Residential Builder – CHBA; Bachelor of Arts, Economics – UVIC; Certified Professional Accountant, Passive House Canada Board Member; Safer Homes BC Board Member; and Developer of BOSS.

Learning objectives:

• What is BOSS?
• The process behind prefabrication
• The application of Passive House in offsite construction
• Identifying the gaps of prefab pre-construction projects
• Impacts of design and sustainability

Will and Mark present their insights and experience with a 27-unit, multi-residential development that brings the values of New Urbanism to Pictou, Nova Scotia. They will demonstrate how this project fosters community and resiliency to climate change through careful, intentional design.

Mark Bernhardt | President of Bernhardt Contracting LTD

Mark is the President of Bernhardt Contracting Ltd. and CEO of Energy Code Solutions. For the last decade he and his team have spent their time developing, building, retrofitting, and consulting on some of Canada’s highest performance homes. Mark is also a Registered Energy Advisor and Passive House Consultant, and over the past few years has spent much of his time helping other builders gear up for Step Code and higher performance buildings. He serves on several provincial code committees and chairs the CHBA BC technical committee.

Will King | Principal, Waymark Architecture

Will is a licensed architect with over 15 years of experience in the field. He and his family live, work and play on the sunny shores of Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island. Aside from his work with Waymark Architecture, he also volunteers as a member of the Advisory Design Panel for the District of Oak Bay and City of Victoria.

Learning objectives:

1. Gain an in-depth understanding of the process of passive house design
2. Learn about the obstacles and solutions for innovative construction
3. Explore the possibilities for small communities and high-performance buildings
4. Understand how affordable housing and high-performance can fit together

Passive House focuses on thoughtful design, attention to detail, and early-stage energy modeling. But even the best-designed project is only as good as its execution, and certification is fully based on the building delivered. For this quarter’s Passive House Pulse event in Toronto, we will discuss project delivery and on-site execution, including the planning and construction processes required to complete medium and large-scale building projects to Passive House standards.

Please join our all-female panel who will present insights from real world projects applicable to builders, developers, and designers alike. We will discuss scaling up high-performance buildings, deeper quality control measures, upfront planning of quality processes, cost-optimized performance, alternative procedures and products, integrated project delivery and site evidence collection to achieve certification.

 

Josie Costantini | Project Manager at Schilthuis Construction Inc.

Josie is a project manager with Schilthuis Construction Inc. She is a certified Passive House consultant with a BA in Architectural Science and a Master’s in Building Science. Working with Schilthuis Construction for the past 7 years, Josie has been closely involved in the pre-construction and construction phases of multiple Passive House MURBs in Hamilton, Ontario.

 

Sheena Sharp | Principal at Coolearth Architecture Inc.

Sheena has over 35 years of experience as an architect. She spent 16 years in a large firm working predominantly on residential projects and led the team that designed the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, an early energy efficient building. Sheena left in 2003 to establish a new firm, re-branding under the name of Coolearth Architecture in 2008 to focus on sustainable architecture.

 

Lori O’Malley | Building Envelope Specialist at PCL Construction Inc.  

Lori is a P.Eng., M.A.Sc., with over 25 years of building envelope industry experience.  She was an Associate responsible for Façade Consulting Services department at a large structural and building envelope consulting engineering firm in Toronto for 11 years.  Currently at PCL, she provides technical building envelope expertise during all phases of projects, while protecting design integrity and vision, and technical assistance on high-performance building envelope projects throughout North America.

 

Learning objectives:

1. Identify the need for enhanced quality control/quality assurance to maintain performance throughout construction.
2. How to set up design package documents to help the construction phase to go smoothly.
3. What to be aware of as a General Contractor to have a successful project – the requirements, the tools and knowing what questions to ask.

Thank you Swegon for providing food and beverage for this Toronto Pulse event

In this session, we will take you on a EuroLine Windows factory tour that will include a window Installation demonstration, window smashing, and time for Q&A.

We will start the session with the EuroLine Windows production floor tour led by Wilbert Giesbrecht, VP of Operations at EuroLine Windows . During the factory tour, you will learn about different window and door production processes, detail, and machinery.

The tour will be followed by EuroLine Windows demonstrating standard and passive house windows installation detail. Afterward, you will learn about how improving the U-value of a window in an insulated wall will improve the wall’s performance more than just adding more insulation from Alfred Jury, EuroLine Windows Passive House Consultant.

To wrap up the evening, we will be breaking windows with a hammer to demonstrate the strength of regular vs. laminated glass.

Wilbert Giesbrecht | Vice President of Operations, EuroLine Windows

Wilbert Giesbrecht is the Vice President of Operations at EuroLine Windows. He has been with the company for over 25 years and has vast knowledge and expertise in window and door design, production, installation, and operation. Wilbert is a leader in driving the day-to-day production of high-performance products at EuroLine Windows and is known for his lifelong passion for innovative and efficient building design and construction.

Alfred Jury | Certified Passive House Consultant, EuroLine Windows

Alfred Jury is a Certified Passive House consultant at EuroLine Windows with over 30 years of experience in the construction industry. He specializes in providing fenestration solutions to achieve high energy efficiency targets, focusing on long-term value, performance, and design.

Learning Objectives:

1. Window installation detail
2. Window and door production process
3. Window logistics to the site
4. compare the effects of higher window U-value vs. better wall insulation