TAMRMS#: B06
8.1
REQUEST FOR DECISION
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Liggett Place - Sustainable Buildings Policy Exemption
Presented by: Karsen Zwiers, Senior Project Manager, Engineering Services
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RECOMMENDED MOTION(S)
recommendation
That the Liggett Place Expansion project be exempt from the third party verified green rating certification requirement identified in the Sustainable Buildings Council Policy C-P&E-12.
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SUMMARY
The LEED program focuses on occupied buildings or living spaces. Ligget Place is a mostly unoccupied utility building. Administration is requesting an exemption to Council Policy C-P&E-12, Sustainable Buildings Policy, for the Ligget Place Expansion.
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL DIRECTION OR MANDATORY STATUTORY PROVISION
On April 3, 2017, Council approved C-P&E-12, Sustainable Buildings.
Within this Policy, the definition of “City Building” means a Community Building, Corporate Building, or Utility Building owned or leased by the City of St. Albert that is greater than 500 m² in size that is not a Heritage Building. According to the Policy, the City is required to use an industry recognized standard third-party verified green rating certification, as approved by the Chief Administrative Officer, for all new City Buildings and for City Buildings undergoing Major Renovation.
A review/update of the Sustainable Buildings Policy is ongoing and planned for completion in Q2 2025, and in addition to broader suggested amendments, will assess the definition of a City Building and provide recommendations to clarify the footprint of a 500 m² building. It is expected that the upcoming changes will eliminate the need for this type of exemption in the future.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The Liggett Place Expansion Project is budgeted at $14,760,000 and is being funded from two approved capital projects:
• $10,760,000 from TRAN-024 Transit Garage (Liggett Place) Expansion approved as part of the 2025 Growth Capital Budget.
• $4,000,000 from PW-031 Municipal Facilities Repair & Renewal (PW-031) approved as part of the 2025 RMR Capital Budget.
To achieve construction efficiencies and minimize disruption the renewal and expansion will occur simultaneously. An alternative delivery model of Construction Management (CM) was chosen due to the complexity of the construction and the need to keep the existing facility operational throughout construction. The CM model brings in the prime contractor known as the construction manager during the design phase to assist in the engineering and design and to provide market accurate costing to account for the complexities that exist within the project as well as enable the project team to develop a suitable construction staging plan.
It was noted during a recent design review for the Liggett Place Expansion Project that both the expansion and existing facility is larger than 500 m2 and could be considered in contravention of the City’s Sustainable Buildings Policy unless third-party green certification is obtained. It should be noted that the existing building does not have an industry recognized standard third-party verified green rating certification.
While not incorporating third party green certification, individual elements that support certification achievement have been considered. Administration has considered sustainability and life cycle at every stage of design:
• Pumps were selected to maximize energy efficiency.
• The selection of HVAC equipment considered energy efficiency.
• All electrical fixtures will be LED.
• The hot water will be supplied using an energy efficient water heater.
It is unclear whether the footprint area calculation within the Sustainable Buildings Policy includes heated parking garages. The building footprint of the existing facility is 6,993 m² of which 1,086 m² is general admin space while the remaining 5,907 m² is the garage and fleet maintenance area. The proposed expansion of the facility will add 1,773 m² to the garage and fleet maintenance area, bringing the new total building footprint to 8,767 m². Policy C-P&E-12 is unclear in delineating the footprint area, but often square footage calculations for occupied buildings exclude garage building portions.
The most well-known method of green certification is the internationally recognized LEED Rating System that assigns Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum certifications following a verification and review process. The LEED program focuses on occupied buildings or living spaces. It is not reasonable to achieve LEED certification for a mostly unoccupied utility building without incorporating elements into the design that will be under-utilized.
None of the third-party green certification programs reviewed specifically consider utility facilities either:
• BOMA Best - intended for offices, shopping centers, open air retail plazas, light industrial buildings and multi-unit buildings.
• BuildGreen - intended for residential buildings.
• Green Key Eco-Rating Program - intended for hotels and lodging facilities.
The recommendation has been made in consideration of the following:
• Energy efficiency and building sustainability have already been considered extensively throughout the design of the new Liggett Place Expansion.
• Adherence to a requirement for third party green certification would be expected to add cost to the project without adding considerable value and could further impact the facility during construction which could jeopardize transit service to residents.
• None of the reviewed third-party green certification programs specifically consider this type of facility or a facility that is relatively unoccupied.
• Depending on the interpretation, the size of the occupied general admin space portion of the building is just over double the 500 m2 size specified within the Sustainable Buildings Policy, but overall only accounts for 12% of the entire building footprint.
• The principles of green certification are adhered through every work component of the project however several areas of the facility are not receiving RMR lifecycle work and thus would restrict obtaining the certification.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
N/A
IMPACTS OF RECOMMENDATION(S)
Financial:
None at this time as no additional costs would be required to obtain a third-party green certification.
Compliance & Legal:
Given that Policy C-P&E-12, Sustainable Buildings Policy, is a Council Policy, a resolution of Council is required in order to approve an exemption.
Program or Service:
None at this time.
Organizational:
None at this time.
Risks
None at this time.
ALIGNMENT TO PRIORITIES IN COUNCIL’S STRATEGIC PLAN
Strategic Priority Four
Build resiliency that allows the City to prepare for and respond to climate change and ensure the vitality of our land, river, natural resources and resilient infrastructure for future generations.
Strategic Priority Five
Continue to ensure efficiency in City Service delivery with a focus on long-term financial stability.
ALIGNMENT TO SERVICE DELIVERY
The following Level of Service is relevant:
Program: E. Movement of Good and People
Sub-Program: E.1 Public Transit
IMPACTS OF ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED
If Council does not wish to support the recommendation, the following alternatives could be considered:
ALTERNATIVE 1:
That the Liggett Place Expansion project team obtain third party green rating certification in order to comply with C-P&E-12, Sustainable Buildings Policy.
Financial:
The increased costs of construction to advance the facility up to a level that it could obtain a third-party green certification is anticipated to be 40-50% higher than the currently approved construction budget and would result in not being able to maintain operations during construction.
Compliance & Legal:
None at this time.
Program or Service:
Expansion at Liggett Place will not be completed, and this will cause future complications with transit fleet storage and possible impacts to maintaining the same level of transit service to the public.
Organizational:
None at this time.
Risks
None at this time.
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Report Date: January 21, 2025
Author(s): Karsen Zwiers, Senior Project Manager, Capital Project Office
Department: Engineering Services
Department Director: Dawny George
Managing Director: Adryan Slaght
Chief Administrative Officer: Bill Fletcher