It is a conundrum every 100-mile foodie has encountered - how to find locally grown and sustainably made products while maintaining a healthy diet?
It is an even more difficult scenario in the construction industry.
But the building team behind UniverCity's new child-care centre is attempting to use only local, sustainable materials in its construction, according to Dale Mikkelsen, director of development for the project.
The concept behind the centre is to build it to Living Building Challenge standards, according to Mikkelsen.
A major challenge has been finding materials locally, which is one of the requirements for a living building, he explained.
"If you look at a map of North America, you'll notice our primary manufacturing centres are in the East, which is outside of our material radius," Mikkelsen said.
However, the construction company, Ledcor, has been helpful with sourcing local materials, as it has a lot of green building experience, he added.
But living building standards are even more stringent than LEED (Leadership on Energy and Environmental Design) standards, according to Mikkelsen.
"Living buildings have to use materials that have no toxicity to them," Mikkelsen said. "They look at materials from a full lifecycle, so even in the construction of that material, there can be no toxicity."
This has been another challenge in the construction of the centre, he explained.
"Imagine building a building these days with no PVC." Mikkelsen said. "A living building doesn't even allow PVC because of the petroleum products and the chemical processes in its production."
The Living Building Challenge was launched by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council in 2008.
To meet the challenge, the centre is being built to:
- generate more energy annually than it uses;
- recycle or harvest from rainwater more water than it uses;
- be free of toxic materials;
- obtain the majority of its materials from within a 400-kilometre radius; and
- cost less to construct than a conventional facility.
Working with the City of Burnaby on approval of new technologies has also made it clear how much new ground is being covered by the project, Mikkelsen added.
"This is the new kind of stuff that's starting to hit municipal governments," he said, "and they don't have the structures to deal with it yet."
The most important thing is ensuring the building process is "functional, safe and effective for those involved," he said.
The construction costs are between $100 and $150 less per square foot than other child-care projects built in the region, according to a backgrounder from the Simon Fraser University Community Trust.
The centre is intended for a child-care program for 50 three to five-yearold residents of the community.
The project is being developed by the trust, with the university's childcare society and faculty of early childhood education.
Construction is about 80 per cent complete and should be finished by Christmas, according to Mikkelsen.
But the living building concept isn't the only unique thing about the centre, he said.
Its central location and function in the community is also an interesting element.
"It's non-traditional, not only in the way we're building it but in the way we're furnishing and equipping it," he said.
The play structures have all been created by B.C. artists, he said, describing them as "interactive pieces that are built out of elements of nature by the local artist community."
The greenery planting and play structure installation is slated to be completed by March 15, 2012. he said.
