Construction of the Habitat Boundary multiplex is set to start the middle of April and the project is well on its way to becoming a green building.
Rick Friesen, executive director for Habitat for Humanity Boundary, is now a certified Built Green builder. Friesen successfully completed the course and test last week, which allows the building to be a Built Green project. Built Green is a Western Canadian program that marks buildings on their energy efficiency and hands out an EnerGuide rating.
“We are now a registered and certified Built Green homebuilder,” Friesen says. “So we’re authorized now to do the construction and we’ll have the build audited by Built Green.”
Built Green will do a blower test on each external door when the building is complete and give an EnerGuide rating and certify the project as a Built Green project.
Friesen says they are aiming for a minimum rating of 77, but may achieve 82. He says current building practices average between 69 and 72.
The ratings can be seen on builtgreencanada.ca under how Built Green works. The highest level of achievement is the platinum level, which is reached at 82 points.
The building will now have superior insulation as well as other features.
“Our air barriers and vapour barriers are going to be up quite significantly,” he says. “They do a blower test and you can’t have leaks; how we do our wiring and plumbing, and how we seal everything is going to be different.”
The heating system will be Energy Star level or higher. Friesen says they will be following a checklist with some 60 items to qualify for Built Green. Each item is counted as points and when added, must satisfy a certain number of points to be classified as Built Green.
Friesen says that building with Built Green in mind does add some cost, adding $65,000 to the price of the $793,000 project. Out of this is subtracted the volunteer costs and donated products so Friesen says the actual cost is significantly less. The added Built Green costs will cost more upfront but will have long-term benefits when it comes to heating costs and eco-friendliness.
Friesen adds that the project is still looking for additional funding.
“We’re still a little bit shy on our funding,” he says.
“We’ve got quite a few grant applications out there that we’re waiting to hear responses on.”
Friesen says they hope to have at least $200,000 in the bank ready for the project before the sod turning ceremony on April 16. They currently have just over $115,000 secured and $350,000 of in-kind products and services, as well as mortgage income anticipated during the build.