By Juliet Kadzviti

Pine Grove building gets green thumbs up

Jan 26, 2016 | 5:27 AM

The Pine Grove Correctional Centre in Prince Albert has received a big thumbs up from the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) for being environmentally friendly.

The Tamarack building at the facility, was awarded a gold award in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system last December.

“This is a great achievement for government. The LEED gold certification is an excellent example of the ministry striving to reduce the environmental impact of government operations,” said Jared Kleisinger, director of engineering and sustainability for the Ministry of Central Services Saskatchewan. 

The rating system is designed to show which buildings have the best environmentally-sustainable features.

“It is a third-party verification, which looks at sustainable site development, water savings, energy savings and efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality of a facility and rates them,” Kleisinger explained.

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The building features a rainwater system, which captures rainfall that is used in the sanitation and irrigation systems at the facility.

This feature, among others, ends up saving enough water to be used in, on average, 7.5 Canadian homes annually. The energy savings are even greater, equalling usage in 30 Canadian homes annually according to a Sask. government release.

Environment Canada reports in their last estimate, Sask.’s greenhouse gas emissions were over 74 million tonnes in 2012.

Kleisinger said maintaining sustainable government-operated buildings is important for reducing emissions in the province.

“Environmental sustainability is a key consideration when designing, and reducing the overall effect of our operations is a priority for the ministry and for government,” he said.

Kleisinger said there is a push towards developing more environmentally-friendly facilities going forward.

“It is current policy to design all of our new facilities and major renovations of existing facilities to a LEED silver standard,” he said.  

The tamarack building went a step further and “exceeded government’s own policy in achieving gold status and we are very proud of this achievement,” Kleisinger said.

The Tamarack building was first designed in July 2011 and construction was completed in September 2013.

jkadzviti@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @princealbertnow