Sustainable design is the practice of creating buildings with responsible planning approaches, systems and materials that aim to reduce the impact on the physical environment and maximize the use of renewable resources. To successfully implement sustainable design practices, it’s important that all parties be working towards this shared goal from the very beginning.
Our integrated design team consists of building design professionals providing Architectural, Interior Design, Structural, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and Project and Construction Management services in a cooperative, mutually supportive work environment where we are able to apply sustainable principles throughout each phase of a project.
Omicron has a number of LEED® certified professionals on staff who are leaders in the field of sustainable design and environmental stewardship.
Whether or not a client expresses the desire to pursue specific criteria stipulated by LEED® or a similar rating system, Omicron makes a practice of incorporating environmentally sound options whenever possible.
The LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system was created to provide a standard for developing buildings which use water, energy, and materials more efficiently. The result is a better environment for the building occupants and reduced impact on the overall physical surroundings.
Our track record is best exemplified by the combined experience of our staff and our recent projects in design and construction: the City of Vancouver National Works Yard (the first project awarded LEED® Gold by the Canada Green Building Council for the facility’s two main administrative buildings); the Fred Kaiser Building at UBC; the GVRD Boardroom in Burnaby; the renovated oqoqo retail store on West 4th in Vancouver and the Gleneagles Public Safety Building in West Vancouver.
Furthermore, our Vancouver office space was the first office tenant improvement in Canada to achieve a LEED® Gold CI certification from the United States Green Building Council as part of their LEED® for Commercial Interiors Pilot program.
In our day-to-day operations, we strive to really live our sustainable philosophy. Aside from the green design elements of our LEED® Certified space, we have also adopted the following practices:
- We recycle as many of our consumables as possible.
- We have replaced all of our CRT computer monitors with more energy efficient flat-panel displays.
- We strive to run a “digital” office in order to reduce our consumption of paper products.
- We have in-office composting for organic materials such as food scraps and paper napkins/plates.
- We have participated in the Lower Mainland Commuter Challenge and have been one of the top two firms three years in a row in our category with a participation rate of 96 – 97%. We consistently encourage our staff to use transit or walk, bike or skate to work each day.
- We recently formed a green taskforce (o-vert) to catalyze sustainability at the individual and operational levels within our company. The launch of our green taskforce has included an online forum (www.o-vert.com) to express our views on all things green, shed light on green building and construction practices and invite public dialogue about sustainability.
- We are members of the Canada Green Building Council and one of the "100 Friends of Cascadia".
For more information, contact:
Kevin Hanvey, MAIBC, LEED® AP
Director of Sustainable Design
Omicron
604 632 4367
khanvey@omicronaec.com
