The Greenest Building is the One That Already Exists – SFU Liberal Arts & 55+ Program

Building Reuse is Climate Action: The Greenest Building is the One That Already Exists

This lecture is presented by the SFU Liberal Arts & 55+ Program in conjunction with Heritage BC’s Heritage Week 2023.

About 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions relate to buildings, with the vast majority coming from our existing buildings. But can we save our environment and our buildings too? We’ll explore how both traditional and modern buildings offer potential for deep green rehabilitation, to reduce “operational carbon.” Preserving the structure of these buildings alone prevents significant new emissions from “embodied carbon.” We’ll take a look at the work of conservation professionals who recognize value in the existing, to prepare buildings through multiple lifecycles and develop long-term solutions for their futures.

Lecturer

Mark Thompson Brandt (OAA, RAIC, FAPT-RP, LEED AP, CAHP) is principal conservation architect and urbanist for TRACE Architectures, an Ottawa firm specializing in natural and cultural conservation for architecture and urban design. Major projects on Parliament Hill include the $70M East Block rehabilitation and the $100M Sir John A. Macdonald Building renovation, which received seven national/international awards and a 5-Green-Globes rating.

Mark has more than 30 years’ experience, and currently specializes in modern heritage rehab/reuse. He co-authored the 2016 document Building Resilience: Practical Guidelines for the Sustainable Rehabilitation of Buildings in Canada. Mark is co-founder of Zero Net Carbon Collaboration for Existing & Historic Buildings and co-lead of the Climate Heritage Network’s Working Group 3, “Building Reuse is Climate Action”. He is the only Canadian architect to be an Association for Preservation Technology Fellow and Recognized Professional (FAPT-RP).