Six teams have been selected to develop retrofit designs for low- to mid-rise social housing buildings in Kamloops, Coquitlam, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Vancouver and Victoria.
The Reframed Lab initiative is a partnership between the province, BC Housing, the City of Vancouver, the Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation (MVHC), the BC Non-Profit Housing Association and the Pembina Institute.
The design teams will exchange ideas on cutting carbon pollution (including technological solutions such as heat pumps, heat-recovery systems and low-carbon materials), driving down energy demand and improving climate-change resiliency, and will explore innovations in seismic upgrades and on-site solar generation.
The retrofit projects aim to reduce annual energy demand by more than 50 per cent and carbon emissions by approximately 80 per cent. Work is scheduled to begin in fall 2022.
The design teams, selected through a request for proposals process undertaken in 2021, will create solutions for their assigned buildings with support from dozens of other construction-sector partners.
Design teams, assigned buildings and locations are:
- Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd.: Crossroads Inn, Kamloops, operated by ASK Wellness Society.
- Evoke Buildings Engineering: Le Chateau, Coquitlam, operated by MVHC.
- Williams Engineering Canada: Crown Manor, New Westminster, operated by MVHC.
- Morrison Hershfield: Manor House, North Vancouver, operated by MVHC.
- Entuitive: Dany Guincher Place, Vancouver, operated by Tikva Housing Society.
- Low Hammond Rowe Architects: Medewiwin, Victoria, operated by Pacifica Housing.
The province is supporting the design and capital costs of this project through funding from the Capital Renewal Fund, a 10-year $1.1-billion investment committed to preserving and improving B.C.’s 51,000 units of social housing.
The City of Vancouver will be providing technical and regulatory guidance to support the work, which aligns with the city’s climate and housing affordability goals. The cities of Kamloops, Coquitlam, New Westminster, North Vancouver and Victoria are also providing regulatory support for the projects in their communities.
