The newly conveyed 2024 ENERGY STAR awards for existing commercial and institutional buildings reinforce sustained winning streaks in the office category, with two honourees earning the accolade for the fourth consecutive year. In total, 11 buildings have been recognized for outstanding performance among those certified and benchmarked through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, along with 20 other award winners for energy-efficient products, stewardship and advocacy.

QuadReal Property Group’s 6985 Financial Drive, a five-storey, 180,000-square-foot office building in Mississauga, Ontario, and the Sun Life Waterloo complex, which serves as the company’s Canadian head office, each received a fourth consecutive award in the office category. BentallGreenOak manages the Sun Life campus and is also the owner/manager of the third winner in the office category, Commerce South Office Park, Building B, a three-storey, 91,000-square-foot building located on 51st Avenue in Edmonton, which garnered an ENERGY STAR award in 2021 and 2022.

First-time winners this year include 271 Platts Lane, a 169-unit multifamily rental building in London, Ontario, and 1121 Thornton Road South, a 410,000-square-foot warehouse in Oshawa, Ontario. BlueStone Properties owns and manages the multifamily building, which was built in 2017, and is cited for the environmental policy and resident communications strategy that were instituted last year to guide the company’s sustainability actions. CAP Ontario Inc. manages the warehouse on behalf of the owner, Panatonni Development, which built it in 2021.

Other award winners for existing buildings include:

• Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, NB, in the hospital category;
• Etobicoke Wellness Centre, Toronto, ON, in the medical office category;
• Sunrise Windsor, Windsor, ON, in the seniors’ residential category;
• Erin Mills Twin Arena, Mississauga, ON, in the ice and curling rink category;
• Bliss Carman Middle School, Fredericton, NB, in the kindergarten-to-secondary school category; and
• 155 Ashtonbee Road, Toronto, ON, in the mailing centre and postal station category.

Three builders based in southwestern Ontario took the ENERGY STAR awards for new home construction. Terra View Custom Homes Ltd., based in Guelph, won in the small builder category; Doug Tarry Homes of St. Thomas was named mid-sized builder of the year; and Waterloo-based Activa captured the large building category.

Additionally, Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) was named the energy efficiency program administrator of the year for its slate of commercial, residential and institutional initiatives through the Save on Energy program, while Efficiency Manitoba was honoured as utility program administrator of the year.

takeCharge, a joint initiative of Newfoundland Power and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, received a duo of awards for sustained excellence and the promotional campaign of the year. The two utilities deliver rebates and awareness programs for commercial and residential customers.

“I offer my congratulations and thanks to this year’s ENERGY STAR Canada award recipients,” says Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson. “It’s through innovative leadership of organizations like these that we can continue to reduce energy costs and emissions and move toward achieving Canada’s climate goals and economic ambitions.”