Sherbourne Common Pavilion earns LEED gold

March 26, 2013, Toronto, ON— The Pavilion in Sherbourne Common has been certified LEED® Gold by the Canada Green Building Council. The striking zinc-clad structure is the first building built by Waterfront Toronto to be officially designated LEED® Gold.

LEED® is a third-party certification program and an internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. To achieve its LEED® Gold rating, the Pavilion earned credits in five areas: sustainable site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. Some of the specific credits achieved by the Pavilion include:

• Innovative wastewater technologies – no potable water will be used for sewage conveyance (only greywater will be used for the toilets in the Pavilion).
• Water efficient landscaping – water use is reduced by 50% through the use of high efficiency irrigation techniques.
• Sustainable construction – when building the Pavilion, 96% of construction waste was diverted from the landfill, 9.6% of construction materials contained recycled content, and 27% of materials were sourced regionally.
   

Some of the Pavilion’s LEED® Gold credits relied on its location in Sherbourne Common. A redeveloped brownfield site, Sherbourne Common is the first park in Canada to integrate a neighbourhood-wide stormwater treatment facility into its design. The UV facility where strong UV light will be used to treat East Bayfront’s stormwater is located in the basement of the Pavilion. Above ground, the Pavilion straddles the park’s beautiful and functional 240-metre long water channel which transports treated water to Lake Ontario. Until the stormwater infrastructure for East Bayfront is complete, the Pavilion’s UV Facility is treating water from Toronto’s Harbour.

Waterfront Toronto’s revitalization process is designed to make Toronto a world leader in sustainable development with buildings and neighbourhoods that are among the greenest in the world. Its Minimum Green Building Requirements define the sustainability standards for the waterfront and a minimum of LEED® Gold for all buildings.

In addition to sustainable green buildings, all new waterfront neighbourhoods are also being designed and built to promote green and healthy living. The neighbourhoods currently under development, East Bayfront, West Don Lands and North Keating in the Lower Don Lands, are among the first in the world to achieve Stage 1 Gold certification under the LEED ND (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighbourhood Development) pilot program established by the U.S. Green Building Council. The program is a tool to help planners and developers create communities that not only protect the environment, but also address important social and health issues such as sustainable transportation, affordable housing, public consultation, proximity to day-to-day destinations, and maintenance of heritage buildings.