Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)

The City has adopted the LEED Green Building Rating System as part of its ongoing sustainability program to reduce environmental impact, save energy and reduce operational costs as well as provide long term benefits for the community.

The LEED building rating system, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a series of environmentally sustainable construction guidelines that result in the creation of sustainable, high performance buildings. Under this rating system, a project or building earns a series of credits for various building features that lead to sustainable building performance. In turn, a building or project then receives a Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum LEED accreditation.

New civic buildings will be designed and built to conserve both water and materials, minimize waste, maximize air quality, protect surrounding areas and continue to provide environmental and community benefits over their lifetimes. The City plans to achieve LEED Gold accreditation as its preferred standard for all newly constructed civic buildings greater than 900 square metres, and LEED Silver accreditation as the minimum acceptable building standard. To demonstrate commitment to this new initiative, the City will build the new 35,000-square foot Library and Civic Centre in accordance with the LEED building rating standards. The estimated cost to achieve

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Current studies indicate that a typical additional capital investment of 2% in construction costs to incorporate LEED features will result in overall lifecycle cost savings of approximately ten times the initial capital investment, through the reduction of energy expenditures and overall maintenance savings, as well as potential employee productivity improvements.

For more information about all of the City's environmental projects and initiatives, click here.