Sustainable Design
The firm is a member of the Canadian Green Building Council with a keen interest in sustainability. We share a conviction and belief that designing buildings to maximize their value, minimizing their environmental impact and ensuring their viability by creating high performance and low consumption designs is not only a responsible thing to do, but it is an investment in the future. Creating a high performance and healthy environment within a building is an essential ingredient in our sustainable designs. We philosophically support the green building concept - but implementing it to a major degree is not an easy task given the constraints of capital cost and availability. Salter Pilon is actively researching and incorporating a variety of environmental design aspects into its projects ranging from passive solar design elements coordinated with our mechanical systems, natural ventilation and a limited number of 'green' products that limit off-gassing (when economical to incorporate), through to progressive site strategies and storm water management solutions. These approaches can reduce operating costs while improving the quality of the building for staff and visitors. We have practiced the application of sustainable design throughout many of our projects over the past few years and have been granted the maximum CBIP grants (Commercial Building Incentive Program) from Natural Resources Canada for six school buildings, three long term care facilities and one recreation centre project.
Turning specifically to LEED, Gerry Pilon is a LEED accredited professional, who has designed our LEED Gold targeted Grey Bruce Health Unit in Owen Sound which is currently under construction. Our innovative design elements which could also be applied to the school environment include collection of rainwater for use in waterclosets and landscape irrigation, waterless urinals, the use of natural ventilation and sunshades to reduce cooling requirements.
