Arthur Erickson Place on West Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver has achieved the Zero Carbon Building – Performance (ZCB) Standard certification from the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC).

Achieving ZCB Performance certification for Arthur Erickson Place demonstrates the building’s energy efficiency and the investment made to minimize carbon emissions from its operations. The three-year decarbonization process, which began in 2022, involved an innovative retrofitting of the 363,000 square-foot 26-storey commercial building. The process is expected to be complete in 2025, at which point Arthur Erickson Place will have reduced its carbon emissions by 97 per cent.

Arthur Erickson Place’s new sustainable mechanical upgrades and features include optimized HVAC controls as well as new electric boilers, heat pumps, air handling units, a rooftop beehive installation to promote biodiversity and a spacious outdoor plaza.

The decarbonization of Arthur Erickson Place will result in:

• The reduction of carbon emissions from the building by 97 per cent by 2025.
• A 40 per cent reduction in the building’s energy consumption.
• The equivalent of removing approximately 140 gas-powered cars from the road each year.
• Ensuring the building exceeds its individual requirement to meet the Global Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5C.
• Further validation of the business case for fuel switching and electrification in Canada.

“This achievement for Arthur Erickson Place is an important milestone in KingSett’s decarbonization program. It strengthens a key asset in our portfolio and advances our value enhancement strategy. In collaboration with our partners, we continue to demonstrate that complex, deep carbon retrofits of iconic buildings like Arthur Erickson Place and the Royal York Hotel can be done in a way that is economically viable and environmentally impactful,” said Rob Kumer, CEO, KingSett Capital.

In 2019, a partnership comprised of Reliance Properties, KingSett Capital, and Crestpoint Real Estate Investments acquired the property.