ganization has been involved
in advocating green building
policies with all levels of gov-
ernment and private sectors
in Canada, and as a result has
changed the way a developer
or a designer would view and
operate a project.
The CaGBC was responsible
for adapting Leadership in
Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) certification
to the Canadian industry, an
industry standard which is
now commonly used and has
made every project integrate
an energy or waste manage-
ment plan, which reaches for
certain levels of LEED certifi-
cation. LEED is a rating system
which is recognized interna-
tionally in over 135 countries
as a standard for excellence
in green building. It is hard
to find a commercial office
or a residential condominium
that doesn’t strive for a LEED
certification. It’s the quality
of living that allows for such
consideration of LEED stan-
dards and occupants and de-
velopers alike now look for
specific standards in their
building, whether it is clean-
er air, better waste manage-
ment or a greener environ-
ment. Communities have been
transformed to better support
a healthier standard of work-
ing, living and growing. Cana-
da alone has over 4,000 LEED
registered buildings and over
1,000 certified – making it
the second highest number in
the world.
As their core activity, the
CaGBC provides a “verifica-
tion process for developers
and builders who have fol-
lowed through on their com-
mitment to design, construct
and operate a building to a
higher environmental stan-
JANUARY 2014
H
business elite canada
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