a local construction company is being recognized by the provincial government for its energy-efficient designs.
Vidorra Developments was one of 11 builders from across the province selected as a winner of the CleanBC Better Buildings Net-Zero Energy-Ready Challenge, for its OSO building in Golden.
"The idea behind this is to prove out all the technologies necessary to build buildings to the 2032 Step Code," said Rod Nadeau, managing partner with Vidorra.
"We're fortunate enough to have already done a few buildings to that standard, which is essentially a little bit beyond passive house standard."
The company is using the same energy-efficiency standards in Golden as it did for its Radius and Orion projects in Pemberton, Nadeau said
"We wanted to be able to do it at the same cost as a building code [building], because if it costs more, people just don't pay for it," he said.
"In the last 30 years I've been building energy-efficient buildings, and nobody wants to pay more for them. So we had to figure out how to get the costs in line, and we finally succeeded on our Orion building."
Bringing those costs down was largely a process of trial and error, with the Vidorra group teaming with engineers from BCIT to model every part of the building.
"What we did with them is we looked at every detail, and we costed it, and then we ran it through a variety of energy efficiency programs," Nadeau said.
"And an awful lot of things that we thought were great ideas, and we'd been doing in the industry for years, we found out just weren't that effective when you put a cost to them, and then we found other things didn't cost as much money, that were more effective."
As just one example, the modelling showed that using better quality windows (flangeless, which allow for interior installation) will cost a little more at the outset, but will save the building in the long run, Nadeau said.
"It's all the little things ... we just kept looking at various ways of improving things," he said.
"So our OSO project in Golden is reaping the benefits of all of it."
The Vidorra team has been somewhat ahead of the energy-efficient curve—what will it take to bring the process to the mainstream?
"One of the things that I really wanted to accomplish was to build it for the same price or less than our competition," Nadeau said.
"We're building for less than our competition now, because we've streamlined a lot of the processes, and some of it is just better construction practices, so I can stand up and go, 'I'm building 40-per-cent more energy efficient than the 2032 Step Code, and it's costing me less, and I'm making more money than you. And this is how we're doing it.'
"That will get people's attention, as opposed to, 'I'm saving $1,200 a year in energy."
The same energy-efficiency standards would be used in Vidorra's proposed project in Whistler (at 7104 Nancy Greene Drive in White Gold—one of five private-developer projects to arise through the Mayor's Task Force on Resident Housing—see "Rezoning continues for private employee-housing projects," Pique, Feb. 28: ).
Nadeau said he is working with the Resort Municipality of Whistler's planning department on the project, but couldn't say when it will come back to council.
Read more about the projects at vidorralife.com.
