Environmental Commitments at PARC Retirement Living
Cedar Springs PARC is LEED® Gold certified
We seek and employ leading sustainability and green building practices that reduce energy use, greenhouse gases, water use and light pollution. We know that waste costs money and less waste begets more success, both financially and environmentally.
We are proud to announce that three of our residences – Oceana PARC, Westerleigh PARC and Cedar Springs PARC are LEED® Gold certified.
Our green building and sustainable practices
While a beautifully designed building benefits both residents and the surrounding community, we know that a building that also minimizes its impact on the environment is even better for everyone.
When we build a PARC retirement residence, we set out to minimize our environmental footprint by:
- Utilizing gas and hot water meters to measure and actively reduce consumption.
- Replacing invasive species on the grounds.
- Conserving as much natural area as possible.
- Implementing storm water management systems.
- Developing highly efficient building envelopes that minimize the amount of heat escaping through the building walls in the winter and the amount of heat entering through the walls in the summer.
- Using building materials with a high recycled content.
In addition to green building design, we operate our buildings with a commitment to conservation and energy efficiency. We use green housekeeping products, install energy efficient lighting, drive electric vehicles whenever possible and recycle paper, batteries, light bulbs, bags and more.
Cedar Springs PARC and Westerleigh PARC
Cedar Springs PARC and Westerleigh PARC are proudly both LEED® Gold certified.
The overall site, building, integrated systems and interiors each have special design features that are sustainable in the following categories:
- Sustainable site design.
- Water use efficiency.
- Energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction.
- Material selection for durability and resource management.
- Good indoor air quality.
Innovative design features
- Energy efficient window designs to minimize heat loss and energy consumption.
- Approximately 30% less energy consumed compared to similar buildings.
- European green building technology used that dramatically reduces the heat gain and loss to the exterior.
- Mechanical and electrical systems were designed to offer the greatest efficiency in energy use and recovery.
- Domestic hot water is preheated using an air source heat pump, which is three times more efficient than conventional gas heating.
- Heat recovery using a GFX heat recovery coil wrapped around the commercial kitchen dishwasher discharge recovers heat from the 180 degree Fahrenheit water. This energy is returned via a heat exchanger to preheat domestic hot water.
Oceana PARC is currently LEED® Registered, along with our new development in Kelowna and both are targeting LEED® Gold certification upon completion.