LEED Consultant - Advicas Group Consultants Inc.

Introduction

The Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique (Francophone School District #93) is proud to present the Regional Victor Brodeur School (École Régionale Victor-Brodeur). Funded primarily through the provincial Ministry of Education, with additional funding by the Federal Government, the school provides educational and community use facilities for the larger francophone community of Greater Victoria.

The $11 million project has a building area of 7,500 square metres over three storeys and is comprised of kindergarten to grade 12 spaces, preschool/daycare, and community based facilities. The project also includes an all-weather sports field, basketball courts, and adjacent play areas that service the K-12 student body and a variety of community groups.

The prime objective of the school was to reach sustainability through durability, a goal that was strongly supported by the client, parent advisory, and consultants. This project demonstrates the Conseil scolaire francophone’s commitment to long-term educational facilities that combine resilient building materials with efficient energy and water systems. The building embodies a wide range of sustainable features including highly durable interior and exterior systems, water efficient landscaping and washroom fixtures, high performance HVAC system, extensive reuse of building materials, use of Eco-Logo green power, and an integrated educational and signage program promoting sustainability.

Project Highlights

Durable Building

The building was designed and built to endure heavy occupancy use for an anticipated lifecycle exceeding 60 years. Through the pursuit of Materials & Resources Credit 8, Durable Building, the project has measured and verified the overall long-term durability of the exterior envelope, interior finishes, and building components and systems. The exterior envelope was designed and constructed from durable materials and systems that best suit the West Coast climate. Durable interior finishes include the use of highly polished exposed concrete flooring in the main circulation spaces of the school.

Stormwater Drainage

The redevelopment of the site incorporated an innovative stormwater drainage strategy, encouraging natural absorption of rainwater on the site via simple and relatively maintenance-free methods. The site was gently graded in to facilitate the movement and collection of excess storm water in a landscape depression and bioswales. The landscape depression acts as a detention pond that retains storm waters, attenuating the flow of water to the municipal sewer system; this system in effect lessens the demands on municipal infrastructure. Semi-permeable asphalt surfaces were used in parking lots to further mitigate stormwater runoff from the site.

Creative Sustainability

Creating a dramatic first impression upon entering the building is the permanent art project at the main entry to the building. Under the joint direction of the architects and a local glass artist, the students, teachers and other community members created stylized self-portraits on clear acrylic backgrounds. Over 450 panels are suspended behind the glass of the large, three-storey entry façade, providing a colourful record of the building’s creators and first occupants.

École Verte

The school is committed to integrating green building education in its own curriculum, as well as via a dialogue series and green building tours. Through a review of curriculum, the school has identified opportunities to address environmental issues. In a Roundtable on the Environment Series, students are engaged in discussion with community leaders on sustainability issues in order to provide youth with a better understanding of these issues and the role they themselves can play to address them. Green tours are organized by the students where they showcase the green aspects of their school and educate the public about key issues that affect the built and natural environment.