Donadeo building gets LEED Gold

The university's newest engineering facility was designed to generate renewable energy and save 3,000 m3 of water each year.

UAlberta Sustainability - 25 July 2017

The Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering has received LEED® Gold certification in recognition of its exceptional environmental and energy-saving design.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design™, is a third-party certification system for buildings designed to be environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and healthy. Solar panels, low-flow washroom fixtures, and chilled beam temperature control all contributed to the Donadeo building's certification.

"From the outset, we wanted to be sure this building had the smallest possible impact on the environment and would be at the leading edge of building design and efficiency," said Fraser Forbes, dean of engineering.

Right from the drawing board, the building had environmental innovation in its DNA. In order to avoid any loss of campus green space, the Faculty of Engineering opted to squeeze the 14-storey facility into a 16-metre-wide parking lot between two existing structures. To accomplish this, the building's upper floors would cantilever out over Windsor Car Park and it would be tied to the hip of the older Chemical & Material Engineering Building. (Three renovated floors of CMEB have also earned LEED Gold certification.)

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