Loyalist Township - Sustainable Community Hub

Loyalist Township will conduct a feasibility study and develop a conceptual design for a net-zero community hub. The Hub will include new buildings housing the Township’s municipal offices, a daycare, library, and other services while an existing adjacent recreation complex will be expanded and retrofitted with energy efficient measures. Implementation of this project will result in a projected 75% reduction in energy consumption and 90% reduction in GHG emissions compared to the current facilities. These reductions will be achieved through: - Replacement of the existing administrative office with the new building which despite being significantly larger will consume 65% less energy. - A novel approach to energy conservation at the existing recreation centre by recovering the heat generated by the arena ice making process which could provide enough of a heating load to service the remainder of the facility, including the pool and new administrative building, effectively eliminating the need for natural gas on-site. The balance of the hub’s energy requirements will be met using traditional renewable energy methods, such as rooftop photovoltaic cells or through the use of a geothermal field. The project will also contribute to reducing corporate water consumption by implementing low-flow water fixtures and grey water re-use systems in the proposed new construction. Economic benefits of the initiative will be realized not solely through a reduction in operating costs stemming from energy savings but also by the consolidation of municipal services into one location. The new facility will be strategically designed to allow different groups to share common spaces reducing the amount of idle space and requiring a smaller footprint. Furthermore, combining the two facilities into a single site will contribute to the economies of scale, thereby increasing the return on investment. The project will demonstrate the social benefits associated with housing multiple services out of a central and accessible location within a municipality in order to deliver services to residents in a more efficient manner. Material will be installed throughout the site to educate users and community members, in the hopes that they will be encouraged to invest in their own energy retrofits. The net-zero component of the proposed new construction will act as a demonstration project for the benefits associated with high-performance new construction. The project will quantify the mark-up in upfront capital costs associated with Net-Zero buildings as well as the savings associated with reduced energy usage. This information will be shared with FCM and other Canadian Municipalities to provide a cost-benefit analysis for similar projects which might be undertaken in the future. (Project description from original funding application)