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Greenstone Building

A. D. Williams Engineering Inc. received an award from the Consulting Engineers of Alberta in 2006 for the Greenstone Building in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

This award was for: Award of Merit in the category of Building Engineering Client: Government of Canada Location: Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Award Photo: Greenstone Building

The design philosophy of this project was to create a new Government of Canada Building yhat would enhance the Federal Government's presence in the City of Yellowknife and the ability to deliver services to communities in the Northwest Territories. The building was designed to be flexible, accommodating the needs of the various departments that will occupy the building now, and for changes that will likely occur over the planned 75 year life expectancy of the building. Using LEED^® as a guide, the building is to provide healthy and energy-efficient results within a typical Yellowknife commercial building construction budget. The Greenstone Building will be the first North of 60 LEED^®-Canada-Gold standard certified office building. The objectives in designing the building were:

• Be a durable and flexible building to accommodate the changing needs of the government for up to 75 years
• Showcase the best available environment design practices to minimize the impact of the building on the natural environment
• Demonstrate practical and effective high-performance building strategies to other sectors of government and to the Canadian public

The sustainable development strategies employed to achieve the LEED^® Gold level, affect all areas of the building and site design including:

• Site planning for optimal stormwater and drainage management
• Building orientation for optimal solar gain and minimal heat loss
• Procurement of 'green' materials
• Operational and embodies energy reduction and management
• Waste reduction and management
• Recycling and reuse of materials, systems, and equipment
• Life cycle costing; cost benefit analysis of major building components

The building is a positive addition to Yellowknife's downtown core and is designed for the climate in this northern region.