The Vale Living with Lakes Centre was certified
LEED platinum in 2014 and received an OAA Sustainable Design Excellence Award in 2015. The building uses locally sourced materials including Jack Pine glulam beams from
Chapleau, limestone for cladding and landscaping, and white cedar cladding from
Manitoulin Island. Wood was the primary building material for the center including engineered wood beams for the primary structure, and wood panelling for the lateral structure. Thus resulting in a Green Building Wood Design Award from Wood Works! in 2012. The centre's design for energy preservation and the use of sustainable energy sources derived from the idea that the facility would reduce the operating costs of the building to save funding for research. The Living with Lakes Centre uses an on-site
geothermal heating and cooling system consisting of 40
geothermal wells that feed 3
heat exchangers that connect to the
radiant in-floor heating system to provide sustainable heating and cooling for the centre. This
sustainable energy source saves money from operating costs and provides renewable heating and cooling without carbon emissions. Natural
daylighting and
ventilation strategies were also designed and implemented in the Living with Lakes building to reduce the energy requirements from artificial lighting and fans. The buildings south-facing orientation and the placement of windows result in a naturally well-lit building. The use of exterior
solar shading fins allows the sun to naturally light the building without overheating the interior during warm months. The angling of the
shading fins act to reflect light to minimize unwanted heat gains, reducing cooling requirements during warm months. The Living with Lakes Centre also uses a
super-insulated envelope to reduce thermal losses, which minimizes the amount of heating and cooling required. There are
green roofs on both of the Living with Lakes Centre buildings which reduce water runoff to minimize the chance of flooding during extreme weather events. The vegetation provides added roof insulation to minimize heating requirements, and it is planted with blueberries which provide habitat and food for native bird species of the
Sudbury area. An important element of the Vale Living with Lakes Centre is the sustainable landscape strategies that act to preserve and improve the shoreline of
Ramsey Lake so as not to further worsen the existing conditions.
Stormwater management strategies are designed to filter and treat water runoff on-site to avoid contaminated water from running into Ramsey Lake, Sudbury’s water reservoir.
Permeable paving was used in the parking area which acts to divert
stormwater to the on-site
bioswales that uses
vegetation to filter the water and directs the runoff into a pond on-site that acts as a water reservoir which further filters and treats the stormwater runoff using
native plant species that
naturally treat contaminants. Water from the pond reservoir is then recycled and used as
greywater for flushing toilets, and cleaning equipment, thus reducing potable water consumption.
Limestone was chosen as a primary landscaping material to gradually improve the acidic
Ramsey Lake through the
limestone’s ability to reduce acidity over time. == Awards ==