Downtown Montreal looks like so many Tonka trucks in a sandbox at the moment that it’s hard to tell who’s shoveling which dirt into what sandcastles. But, at least one of those construction crews is building something to cheer about, and that’s the Maison du développement durable on the South-West corner of Clark and Sainte-Catherine
The idea of a constructing a “green” office space has been floating around Equiterre’s offices at least since I interned with their ecological transportation department in 2006. They teamed up with a number of other environmental and social justice non-profits to pool resources, attract donors, and build a shared office space that would be a role model for sustainable building in Quebec. Hydro Quebec, whose headquarters are on the same lot, donated the land for the project (and some of the funds).
The 5-story building will incorporate reatures like a green roof, local and recycled building materials, rain-water toilets, geothermic heating and cooling, natural lighting, and an indoor plant wall.
“By building the first LEED Platinum certified commercial building in Québec, our goal is to inspire our neighbours to imitate us,” the group announced.
The commercial component of the building will open the doors to a fair-trade café and space for social economy. Sounds kind of like what the SDA had planned for the Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent across the street. Except that this project is led by organizations who actually have expertise in the area, and whose approach to social and ecological justice goes beyond a marketing strategy. The Maison du développement durable will also have environmental education and research functions, and house a daycare.
Perhaps best of all, one of the features announced is an indoor public square, to function as a discussion forum for sustainable development.
Top: before breaking ground, the construction crew moves the trees. Above: the Maison du développement durable is meant to look like this by September 2011. Hopefully the street will also be smooth and shiny by then…
8 comments
We need to adapt. Take a look at this article The Great Transition: http://www.scribd.com/doc/21656220/The-Great-Transition-Navigating-Social-Economic-Ecological-Change-in-Turbulent-Times
I’m not sure what there is to cheer about. This project was paid in full by the provincial and municipal governments. Your tax dollars at work. Government should not be constructing office space. Leave that to the private sector. If there is a demand for green office space, private interests will pay for it.
at least there needs to be a model so that people can adapt to the coming changes – quebec has been ridiculously spoiled by cheap power and cheap gas but it will not last for long. note that the proposed building while having ‘green’ features, will still consume 2x the heating energy of a ‘passive house’, a standard preceding LEED and more widespread.
to compare, the european union will require all new buildings after 2020 (public buildings after 2018) to be zero energy, meaning at least as much energy output (i.e. solar panels, geothermie) than input (i.e. passive house technology). see http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?language=EN&type=IM-PRESS&reference=20090422IPR54163
This sounds like one of too many developments using a list of sustainability buzz words as a marketing scheme. Recycled building materials and rain-water toilets do not make sustainable architecture, the design of spaces that can accommodate changing needs and demands over centuries does. There is a tremendous lack of discussion and awareness about good design in sustainable architecture and far too much buzz-word dropping. The commercialization of the issue of sustainability is not helping the cause.
So the province is drowning in debt, taxes will be going up and we’re building a brand new brown building, with crooked windows which are out of style already, so that some 40 year old dropouts can flush more of our tax money down some rainwater toilets.
Ok I guess I’m being harsh, let’s have a look at the future proposed projects for this brand new facility, oh wait, there isn’t any!
Isn’t using existing office space much more sustainable? Especially when you’ve got no serious plans for this building, other than “65,000 square feet of hope”.
If anything, this is just a sweet heart deal by Hydro Quebec to shut the hippies up. Looks like the only ones making a profit from this are the construction crews.
Tough crowd… but good points…
I for one am glad this building is finally being built. I must’ve seen this project being announced at least five times in the last few years. I can somewhat understand something as big as the CHUM dragging a bit (not as much as it is right now of course) but this was a simple and easy project that kept getting recycled by politicians and Hydro over and over again…and they still hadn’t done anything worthy about it! Now they’re on the last stretch with the media event last week (and another one once construction is over no doubt)…
Who knows, maybe in time it will serve the people rather than the politicians!
Well put Jack.
Sometimes visiting this website can be depressing, judging by the comments that some people leave. I don’t understand why some people need to pooh-pooh everything that is being built in Montreal. To the people who are slagging this project, grow up, this area is in a need of a fix and the quartier des spectacles can revitalize an area of town that is beyond embarrassing.