Waterfront Toronto Honoured with Prestigious Environmental Award

TORONTO, March 19, 2012 /CNW/ - Waterfront Toronto and Halsall Engineering have received a 2012 Award for Excellence in Urban Sustainability from the GLOBE Foundation for their leading-edge Minimum Green Building Requirements.

Since 2002, The GLOBE Awards for Environmental Excellence have recognized leading Canadian companies for outstanding achievement in environmental stewardship. Canada's most high profile annual national environmental accolades, the GLOBE Awards are judged by a panel of recognized experts. The Award for Excellence in Urban Sustainability honours a local government, private sector company or consortium that has developed and applied outstanding urban sustainability principles.

"We are honoured that our efforts have been recognized by the Globe Foundation for leadership in promoting and encouraging urban sustainability principles," said John Campbell, President and CEO of Waterfront Toronto. "Ensuring that sustainability principles are integrated into all facets of waterfront revitalization has been a core principle for Waterfront Toronto since our inception.  The Minimum Green Building Requirements were developed as a strategic tool for achieving our goals and to encourage innovation and market transformation."

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 were developed to help achieve that objective and drive market transformation.

The requirements support Waterfront Toronto's integration of sustainability into every facet of planning, design and development on the waterfront. They define Waterfront Toronto's vision for green building design and construction, and the requirements mandate high performance buildings, which represent superior conditions for occupant health, comfort, conservation and cost savings.

The Minimum Green Building Requirements also support Waterfront Toronto's achievement of LEED ND Gold for the planning stage, which focuses on sustainability at a neighbourhood-wide scale, taking green development beyond the threshold of energy-efficient buildings.

With funding support from the Ontario Power Authority, the Minimum Green Building Requirements were updated in 2011 to ensure that they were leading the market in best practices for the building industry, incorporating the newest building methods and technologies available.

Waterfront Toronto's recently developed Carbon Tool provides the corporation and its building partners an objective tool for understanding and influencing sustainability choices at the design stage. Developed in collaboration with the C40-Clinton Climate Initiative, the Carbon Tool has the ability to analyze carbon reduction strategies to effectively understand and plan energy needs and carbon outputs, supporting the Minimum Green Building Requirements and outstanding urban sustainability principles.

The GLOBE Foundation
The GLOBE Foundation is a Vancouver-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to finding practical business-oriented solutions to the world's environmental problems. Formed in 1993, the foundation has helped companies and individuals realize the value of economically viable environmental business opportunities. The foundation is a leader in championing green initiatives and leveraging sustainable ventures into mutually rewarding opportunities for enterprise and the environment. From urban sustainability to climate change, we're helping change the world by degrees.

Waterfront Toronto
The Governments of Canada and Ontario and the City of Toronto created Waterfront Toronto to oversee and lead the renewal of Toronto's waterfront. Public accessibility, design excellence, sustainable development, economic development and fiscal sustainability are the key drivers of waterfront revitalization.

Media Contacts: 
Tari Stork, Manager, Project Communications, Waterfront Toronto
416-214-1344 x 279 / [email protected]