Nova Scotia Community College
IN-2: Innovation 2

Innovation Credit: The Centre for the Built Environment The Centre for the Built Environment (CBE) was completed in 2010 and open for students as the Woodside wing for the Waterfront campus. It was designed to be a living building and a constant interactive learning tool on environmentally sustainable technologies for students. The planning and design of the project is open-ended and adaptive to change so that, as a living building that has the capacity to learn and evolve over time, the CBE can continue down the path towards long-term goals such as net zero energy, zero footprint, and carbon neutral as new technologies and solutions mature and are incorporated. The building and its infrastructure perform as instruments of the curriculum, serving as interactive tools in an educational sandbox for exploration and demonstration of viable construction approaches and solutions, and of their operational implications. The building systems are subject to ongoing performance monitoring and evaluation, in their response to changes in internal occupancy and use and to changes in external environmental conditions (weather events), in support of the learning and research activity that it fosters. CBE GREEN FEATURES The sustainable design agenda for the CBE is extensive and varied, befitting a building that has been officially designated as Nova Scotia’s public demonstration building for environmental sustainability and energy efficiency under the NS Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act (Bill No. 146). The CBE project has recently applied for LEED certification at the high end of the Gold standard, on the basis of 48 targeted credits. Some of the features of the project that reflect the environmental agenda and demonstration impact of the CBE Woodside Wing include: ▪ permeable pavement (demonstration application) ▪ exterior biowall (experimental cold climate research application and demonstration project) ▪ interior living walls (two installations) ▪ green roofs (five applications, ranging from extensive to intensive) ▪ bioswale and retention pond filtering of storm water (using native plantings and landscape elements) ▪ storm water collection (for green roof and biowall irrigation) ▪ waste water heat recovery (residential scale demonstration system) ▪ water conserving plumbing fixtures (low flush toilets, waterless urinals, and self-closing faucets) ▪ high recycled content (steel structure, aluminum curtain wall framing, interior finishes, etc.) ▪ high regional content (concrete foundations and tilt-up panels wall panels, interior finishes, etc.) ▪ geothermal cooling & heating (closed loop borehole system) ▪ solar preheating of supply air (SolarWall installation) ▪ photovoltaic energy generation (scalable rooftop panel array) ▪ solar hot water heating (flat plate and evacuated tube collectors, on both fixed and tracking mounts) ▪ wind energy generation (vertical and horizontal wind turbines, freestanding and building mounted) ▪ automated natural ventilation in public atrium (controlled by the building automation system) ▪ advanced climate control and superior indoor air quality (high efficiency filtering, CO2 monitoring etc.) ▪ advanced monitoring, metering, control, and reporting for building systems (including structure) ▪ daylight harvesting (central atrium) ▪ Sensitivity to biophilia– natural lighting, views of the natural environment, vistas, and access to planting ▪ LED exterior and interior lighting ▪ automated lighting controls (daylight and occupancy sensors) ▪ environmental exposition areas (for exhibit, Interpretation, and advocacy of sustainable design) ▪ Brown field site reclamation ▪ Reflective roofing to promote cooler urban landscapes ▪ Natural landscaping, rather than groomed lawns ▪ Re-configurable internal spaces to avoid wasteful future re-construction ▪ Just-in-time storage techniques to avoid wasteful construction of dead storage