BC Living
How to Support BC Wineries Now
Embark on Culinary Adventures: 5 Must-Try Solo Dining Experiences Around BC
You Gotta Try this in April 2024
4 Tips on Balancing a Nutritious Diet with a Side of Indulgence
Choosing Connection: A BC Family Day Pledge to Prioritize Presence Over Plans
Embracing Plant-Based Living this Veganuary and Beyond
Inviting the Steller’s Jay to Your Garden
6 Budget-friendly Holiday Decor Pieces
Dream Home: $8 Million for a Modern Surprise
Travel Light, Travel Right: Minimalist Packing Tips for Solo Explorers
A Solo Traveller’s Guide to Cozy Accommodations
Local Getaway: Relax at a Hidden Cabin along Jordan River
Films and TV Series that Inspire Solo Travel
B.C. Adventures: Our picks for April
Cooking Classes
8 Gadgets and Gear for Your Solo Adventures
A Solo Traveller’s Guide to Souvenir Hunting in BC
Sḵwálwen Botanicals – Changing the Face of Skincare
Why is LEED designed primarily for single-family homes?
As anyone who’s attended a strata meeting can attest to, there’s a big difference between buying a house and buying a condo. The same could be said, of course, for building them. So why is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) – the most prominent third-party certification program for green builders – designed primarily for single-family homes?
This was the quandary Norm Couttie, president of Adera Development Corporation – a Vancouver-based company attempting to pioneer a green wave in B.C.’s explosive multi-family development sector – found himself in. That’s when he discovered Calgary’s Built Green.
“LEED gives you points for being near a bus stop,” Couttie explains. “Built Green gives you points for what you can control.” Instead of focusing solely on single-family dwellings as LEED does, Built Green is another green-builder certification program that serves multi-family developments as well. “We said this is what we have to hitch our horse to,” Couttie tells Granville.
This year, Adera announced it would become one of Built Green’s platinum sponsors, donating somewhere between $10,000 and $30,000 over the next three years. Couttie sees Built Green as beneficial to the everyday condo-buyer while helping his company as well. Many buyers suspect condo developers of greenwashing, and it’s a difficult stigma to shake. “Anyone can say they’ve built a green project,” Couttie insists. “This is a way to prove we’re walking the walk.”