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The Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) and the Region of Waterloo (ROW) built the new WRPS investigative services building to meet the needs of a growing community and police service, and to meet the criteria of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) rating system. GMF spoke with Charles Allen, manager of facilities engineering for the region, to find out more about the project.
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Why did the Region of Waterloo decide to undertake this green building project and what were the key steps?
It was after the decision to proceed with the expansion, but before the design process began that regional council gave the direction to build the new WRPS building to LEED® guidelines following a review and recommendation process.
First, WRPS undertook an internal review to assess the existing facilities and their compliance with Health Canada guidelines for forensic identification laboratories, and to further integrate operational procedures within the WRPS. The resulting report prompted a formal review by ROW facilities staff, a medical officer of the health unit, and a biological consultant to assess the feasibility of refurbishing the existing forensic facility versus building a new facility. The feasibility study also identified other police branches and units that required additional space, and resulted in a recommendation and plan to renovate the existing headquarters and expand into a new forensic facility. The design team — consisting of the architect and engineers, WRPS staff, ROW facilities staff and the general contractor — carried out an integrated design process to meet the requirements of the forensic unit and worked together to ensure the successful completion of the project.
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How did you obtain the support of municipal council?
In 2002, following the review and study phase, the WRPS board and ROW council approved a plan to significantly increase police staffing levels, and later approved the recommendation to proceed with the WRPS headquarters renovation and expansion project to accommodate this growth.
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How did you engage the community?
The WRPS headquarters expansion was an internal accommodation project, so public input was invited at various stages, such as the approval of the capital project budget by the WRPS board and regional council, and the approval of the recommendation to proceed with design and construction.
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What are the main barriers your municipality faces with respect to energy-efficient buildings, and how are you trying to overcome them?
One of the main barriers is the perceived additional cost for energy efficiency. To determine accurate costs, operation and maintenance costs over the life of the building must be considered. Once detailed cost estimates for LEED® options are prepared (by consultants), efficiencies gained through compliant building envelope and mechanical system designs can be proven to significantly decrease the payback period due to reduced energy costs.
In addition, energy efficiency in industrial or process buildings can be more difficult to achieve due to their unique structural and operational requirements. Creative alternatives such as radiant or surface heating and heat/energy recovery technologies can help mitigate these issues.
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How do you engage developers to look beyond these barriers?
We encourage staff to look carefully at their environmental and operational conditions to ensure their needs are met without over-sizing space or equipment. We then work with designers and consultants to identify and evaluate alternative or new technologies and methods to achieve these conditions.
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How much did the project cost?
The total cost of the WRPS project was $11.6 million — with approximately $9.2 million for the general construction contract.
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What lessons did you learn, and are they influencing other projects in your community?
In 2005, regional council adopted a policy requiring all new regional construction over 500 square metres to be designed and built to a minimum LEED® Silver certification. From this and other recent projects, we have learned that it can be difficult to enforce such criteria among consultants and contractors without a third-party review and evaluation of the process. Regional staff is becoming more aware of the importance of LEED® certification to ensure energy-efficiency compliance and to improve the overall quality of the building project.
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What advice or suggestions would you give to other municipalities considering a similar project?
A key piece of advice I would offer is to be very clear with consultants so that they fully understand the project requirements and their role in the process, and to ensure accountability for the design and environmental initiatives.
Our contractors have observed that it is vital to keep documentation in order throughout the project, collecting information as it becomes available and taking pictures of LEED® compliancy measures to avoid delays. They have also noted that the construction schedule is only minimally affected by
LEED® requirements.
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How do you keep the momentum going? How do you sustain your sustainability efforts?
After the first regional LEED® project was completed, staff reported to regional council on the benefits of achieving certification and the associated costs. This report became the foundation of the regional policy for LEED® certification for all new construction over 500 square metres and has, in turn, led to several other construction projects designed and built to these requirements. To date, the Region of Waterloo has two LEED® Gold certified buildings, two completed buildings awaiting LEED® Silver certification, and several other LEED® buildings under construction or in the design stages.
For the Region of Waterloo, internal communications has played a major role in sustaining the momentum. By regularly highlighting LEED® projects to regional staff, we continue to promote the many benefits that green buildings offer to the community.
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Click here to see the
Region of Waterloo’s Sustainable Construction Standard for Regional Facilities.
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