By Kellah Lavoie

St. Anne School is green where it counts

Jan 25, 2011 | 5:25 AM

St. Anne School has reached a level of energy efficiency.

It has a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certified standard – it means the new school has 37 out of a possible 70 points under the Green Building Rating System.

Mitch Strocen, lead coordinator with AODBT architecture, said the rating is through the Canada Green Building Council.

“It takes a whole building view,” he said.

“A whole way of looking at how to build buildings better, but also use buildings more wisely.”

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He said some of the bigger environmental projects in the new school are the solar panel on the outside of the gym – it heats the entire room – and the air exhaust system.

“(It allows) supply and exhaust of air that will keep the air moving and keep the air fresh. The mixture of natural and the mechanically ventilated air will give the students and staff the best breathing environment possible,” he said.

Other features include numerous south facing windows, a shared parking lot with the community centre next door and the fact that the school is on two bus routes.

Tim Jelinksi, director of education for the Prince Albert Roman Catholic Separate School Division, said they are very happy with the efficiency of the new facility.

He explained the Ministry of Education mandated the new school be LEED certified, but they were only too happy to go along with it.

Strocen explained that AODBT and the school division worked very well together in the design of the building and making it as efficient as possible.

“The catholic school division really jumped on board with this and was really receptive with some of these new ideas,” he said,

The school division plans to expand the ideas of the LEED certification into the classroom.

“We will be teaching our kids about everything that goes into a LEEDs building, in a hopes that they will have a better understanding in their responsibility to protect the environment,” Jelinski said.

This school is one of only a handful of LEED certified schools in the country.

While it does have a high distinction, Strocen said it will cost more to run than the old school.

“The current building is actually much, much cheaper than the new one will be just because of the new technologies, the new requirements. As the building code moves forward there are more requirements for ventilation for staff and students which takes more energy to create,” he said.

The opening of the 450-student school has been pushed back to the end of March.

klavoie@panow.com