Through its Strategic Plan and conservational initiatives, the City of St. Catharines has identified environmental responsibility as a primary long-term goal for the municipality. With this in mind, Vallee’s design of St. Catharines Fire Station No. 2 has incorporated strategies that strive to achieve CaGBC Zero Carbon Building Standard v3.

These strategies include:

• superior building envelope insulation levels
• thermal bridge reduction
• optimization and automation of mechanical and electrical systems
• appropriate placement of windows and doors to maximize heating season solar gains
• minimization or elimination of fossil fuel burning equipment
• innovative heating and cooling system design with focus on heat recovery and renewable energy sources
• energy modeling and building commissioning
• Low Impact Development (LID)
• product assessment based on longevity, recyclable content, waste reduction and improved indoor air quality

At the City’s request, Vallee has incorporated a historical look into the new design to compliment the surrounding residential area. The warm heritage façade of this new building will be a very welcome change and a dramatic improvement to the streetscape.