GOing green: Pickering GO Station passenger building secures LEED Gold green building certification - a first for a transit agency in the GTHA

TORONTO, Aug. 22, 2013 /CNW/ - GO Transit's Pickering station building has attained LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Canada Gold certification for New Construction and Major Renovations, a first for a passenger station building in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The building was rehabilitated and is now complete with a number of passenger amenities and eco-friendly features, including 60 per cent savings in annual energy consumption.

"GO Transit is making a conscious effort to go green," said Gary McNeil, President of GO Transit. "We believe this LEED achievement for a station is a first for a transit agency in Canada. We are pushing ourselves to reach higher levels in environmental sustainability when it comes to the design, construction and operation of our new station buildings and facilities."

A number of GO Transit's maintenance and operational facilities have been recognized for incorporating more progressive environmental features. GO's Brampton and Oshawa bus facilities are also LEED Gold certified, while the Halton Hills and Streetsville bus facilities have been awarded LEED Silver certification. The East Gwillimbury Bus Facility and Burlington GO Station - both now under construction - are also hoping to achieve LEED Silver certification.

"This project is just one example of how we're making progress on transit and realizing The Big Move, Metrolinx's Regional Transportation Plan," added Mr. McNeil. "While growing to meet customer demand, we're also decreasing our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions."

Some of the building's eco-friendly features include:

• A ground-source heat pump that uses heat from the ground to warm the building in cooler weather and offsets warmer temperatures
• A heat recovery unit that extracts heat from the air leaving the building and uses it to heat the air entering the building
• Low-flow plumbing fixtures that conserve 45 per cent more potable water (equal to over 400,000 litres of water per year)
• A waste management plan implemented during construction that resulted in diverting 80 per cent of construction waste from landfill

For a complete list of the building's sustainability features, please visit our website. Reinders & Rieder Ltd. was GO's consultant on the project, helping GO Transit achieve the LEED Gold certification.

LEED® Canada is a third-party certification program and an internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. The standards and the certification process are set out and administered by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC). The building's owners first register the project and then apply for LEED certification once the project is complete.

Metrolinx is working to provide residents and businesses in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area with a transportation system that is modern, efficient and integrated.

Find out more about GO Transit and The Big Move, Metrolinx's Regional Transportation Plan for the GTHA, at www.metrolinx.com.

SOURCE: GO Transit

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Vanessa Thomas, Metrolinx
Media Relations
416-874-5974