Sustainability

Great-West Lifeco and GWL Realty Advisors (GWLRA) recently made ambitious commitments to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. With these ambitious targets in mind, Canada Life’s national head office at 60-100 Osborne St. North in Winnipeg, Manitoba, managed by GWLRA, has started to make strides towards lower emissions. Given the need for upgrades at the office for an updated and efficient working environment, the opportunity was taken to complete a detailed retrofit of the site to drive energy efficiency, along with improvements for employees, in the building.

Starting in 2017, GWLRA and Canada Life developed a roadmap to significantly reduce energy use and carbon emissions on site, while also substantively modernizing its office spaces for its employees. This included significant retrofits on site to improve overall energy performance. Measures included:

• Window upgrades to triple-glazed, high-efficiency units
• LED lighting with daylight harvesting
• Replacement of old steam plant with high efficiency boiler plant
• Replacement of chiller plant with a new heat recovery chiller plant
• Complete re-zoning of building with distributed fan coils
• New VFD pumps in central plant and ECM motors for the fan coils
• Modernization of office floor space for increased employee use and engagement

As of mid-2021, the retrofit was substantially completed, and GWLRA engaged a consultant last year to assess whether the predicted savings were realized. A post-retrofit energy model verification was conducted to confirm the estimated savings from these improvements.

The results of the energy model verify the significant benefits of the energy improvements. Energy consumption decreased by 35%, compared to the 2016 baseline, which significantly exceeded expectations of the originally modeled 28% savings. There was also a 36% decrease in carbon emissions (700 tonnes CO₂e), which is equivalent to removing 151 gasoline powered vehicles from the road for one year.

Projects like these demonstrate the impact building upgrades can have on energy and carbon reductions and help contribute towards Great-West Lifeco’s and GWLRA’s net-zero commitments.

GWLRA Residential continually looks to innovate to improve operational efficiencies, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and enhance occupant comfort. This is the approach our asset management team took in 2022 at 50 Prince Arthur, a 149-suite apartment building located in Toronto’s luxurious Yorkville community. Working with our airtightness consultant, the team looked to improve the efficiency and operation of one of its make-up air (MUA) units by applying an aerosolized pressure and spray technology called Aeroseal. This technology is used to minimize duct leakage, a major cause of energy loss in buildings.

The aerosolized sealant, which is composed of a vinyl acetate polymer, works by being atomized and injected into ventilation systems to seal small holes in duct-work, creating tighter seals and reducing air leakage. Prior to sealing, conditioned air would flow into unintended spaces, wasting energy and impacting occupant comfort. The application of the sealant is non-disruptive to occupants and residents and does not produce any volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

The team also installed additional sensors and controls for the MUA unit, to further enhance its efficiency and operation, and identified and sealed larger holes found within the ductwork during testing.

Post-retrofit, the air flow through the MUA’s ventilation shaft has improved by 32% and reduced duct leakage to less than 5%. These savings produce a clear environmental benefit, resulting in a combined reduction in natural gas and electricity usage of 322,743 ekWh, over the study period. By reducing this utility usage, the building avoids producing 56 tonnes per year of CO₂e emissions, which is the same as 13.2 homes’ energy use for an entire year. The financial benefit of this efficiency improvement is also significant, resulting in estimated utility costs savings of $21,570 per year. This is a direct savings for our owner client, and is equivalent to over $600,000 in value creation (at a 3.5% cap rate).

With the success of the pilot, the team is looking to deploy this technology at other sites to further support GWLRA’s efforts to improve energy efficiency and strive for lower GHG emissions amongst its portfolio of managed assets.

The teams from eight GWLRA properties across Toronto have partnered with an outside service, Electrobac, to make e-waste diversion accessible to their building occupants. Electrobac is a Canadian company that supports the circular economy by increasing accessibility to proper e-waste collection, reuse, recycling, and disposal.

At participating locations, teams set up e-waste collection bins, which accept broken and unwanted electronics including cellphones and tablets, cables and chargers, ink cartridges, and more. Tenants and visitors can easily drop off their devices in one of the secure bins, while embedded sensors track the contributed items.

Once a bin is ready for pick-up, the bins are emptied and the provider permanently destroys all information on the devices. Each item is reviewed to determine whether it could be immediately reused, or refurbished and then reused, which avoids all waste by re-entering the device into circulation. If the electronics are deemed to be at end-of-life, they are recycled by Recycler Qualification Office (RQO) approved recyclers. Through the e-waste recycling process, precious metals are salvaged and then used to manufacture new devices.

In 2022, Electrobac collected 7,650 end-of- life or unwanted electronics from GWLRA properties, or 1,319 pounds of e-waste. Diverting these electronics from landfill avoids adverse environmental effects, including the leaching of toxic chemicals that would occur when buried in a standard landfill.

GWLRA actively incorporates sustainability considerations into its real estate investments, which helps to foster strong and stable long-term returns. There’s no better example of this than The Livmore, a 43-storey purpose-built rental apartment located in downtown Toronto.

The Livmore began leasing in 2018, bringing much-needed rental housing supply to the Toronto market. When designing The Livmore, GWLRA positioned the asset to attract premium rents, in part by offering sustainable features to prospective residents. Targeting LEED Gold certification, The Livmore is a green building, with a Walk Score of 99, over 600 bicycle spots and a 100% smoke-free environment.

In addition, suite sub-metering for electricity, natural gas and water incentivizes conservation, ensuring residents can realize their own energy and water usage and cost savings. It also benefits overall operating income, creating a win-win for the environment and investment returns. Additional sustainable design features and practices include electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, a green roof with a water retention and cistern system, and highly efficient building HVAC systems and common area lighting.

In the heart of downtown London, Ontario, the Canada Life Head Office is a BOMA BEST Platinum office with a strong commitment to incorporating innovative green technology. In 2019, the property team installed a small section of green roof in the courtyard over the building’s fitness centre. A form of biophilic design, the location offers a 360° view for staff and makes the rooftop more aesthetically pleasing. Other benefits include rainwater runoff control, increased roof lifespan and lower energy use. In addition to the new green roof, the team installed a 6-kW solar array on top of the transformer building in the parking lot. The array is net-metered and intended to offset the electricity use of four new electric vehicle charging spots in the parking lot, effectively powering vehicles with the equivalent amount of clean solar electricity.