Building on the firm’s robust commitment to sustainable design, BDP Quadrangle is proud to announce that six (6) additional members in our Toronto studio are now Certified Passive House Designers (“CPHD”).
Considered to be the most rigorous energy-based standard in the design industry today, Passive House (Passivhaus) is recognized by the United Nations as the optimal way to build healthy, climate-resilient, affordable, and energy-efficient residential, institutional, and commercial buildings through all stages of design, construction, and livability. Professionals certified under the program are essential advocates and educators for this high standard of sustainable building performance which contribute to the mitigation of climate change.
Within Canada and the Greater Toronto Area, there are only a handful of Passive House certified multi-residential buildings. Armed with newly acquired CPHD expertise, extensive experience and a reputation as the City’s premiere multi-residential architect and designer, BDP Quadrangle is proactively positioned to change the standard on how we design sustainable residential buildings.
“We are extremely proud of our team members for achieving this certification,” said BDP’s Head of Sustainability, Lucy Townsend. “This demonstrates their commitment to the highest standards of sustainable building design, and the global firm’s dedication to creating built environments that are energy-efficient, comfortable, and healthy for all.”
The Toronto studio’s Passive House team is now made up of 9 certified architects and technologists. The recent recipients in the Toronto Studio include: David Burgess, Intermediate Technologist; Hanieh Momeni, Senior Architect; Lisa Spensieri, Associate / Senior Architect; Karl van Es, Associate / Senior Architect; Andrew Geldard, Senior Associate / Design Director; and Michelle Xuereb, Director of Innovation / Architect. They join Toronto colleagues Yves Bonnardeaux, Associate / Senior Architect; Verena Hornig, Intermediate Architectural Graduate; and Sakshi Sood, Intermediate Intern Architect who were previously certified. Our Passive House expertise extends beyond our Toronto studio with another seven (7) Passive House certified professionals located in BDP studios around the globe.
“We’re considerate of how we, as architects and designers can do our part in mitigating climate change,” said BDP Quadrangle’s Director of Innovation, Michelle Xuereb. “By accessing grant funding from the Canada-Ontario Job Grant (“COJG”) Program, we were able to invest in our studio membership, upskilling our workforce and increasing our role as advocates for sustainable design.”
Investment in our studio members and their expertise forms a part of the greater sustainability strategy at BDP which is based on a holistic net positive impact framework. The framework considers our role in the industry and how we design high-performance built environments that can help to mitigate climate change, while creating healthy, resilient buildings and an internal culture of sustainability and advocacy.
The Toronto studio is a signatory of The Architects’ Declare, and to support this we have a selection of initiatives underway including:
• approved near-term Science Based (SBTi) emission reduction targets to reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 46.2 % by 2030;
• our decarbonization roadmap with the goal to design all projects to Net Zero Operational Carbon with a 40% reduction in embodied carbon by 2030;
• representation and advocacy in several professional organizations including the OAA, Passive House Canada, CaGBC and the City of Toronto.
In addition to this, we have close to 60 LEED certified or registered projects; a dozen projects that have achieved or are targeting higher levels of the Toronto Green Standard; one completed Zero Fossil Fuel project; and three current projects exploring pathways to Net Zero Carbon or Passive House. Our own Studio at the Well is pre-certified to meet Well Certification. We continue to produce concept research work in support of higher performance design including Neighbourhood Nests, Embodied Carbon in High Performance Walls and Low Carbon Now.
With these newly CPHD designers, our collective knowledge and scope of reach is expanded, allowing our firm to more effectively tackle the challenges of climate change. We are thrilled to have these highly-skilled professionals on our team and look forward to incorporating their expertise into future projects, and to design, build and live better.