The Budzey Building

 

Princess Street entrance.

The Budzey Building, located at 220 Princess Avenue in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, is one of 14 new developments that the B.C. government has built in partnership with the City of Vancouver to create over 1,500 supportive apartments. It has 600 square meters of leased tenant spaces for commercial use, and 9,600 sq. m. of residential area, consisting of 147 apartments as well as support services. Tenants are selected through BC Housing’s Supportive Housing Registry, with priority given to single women and women-led families. Rancity Housing and Support

Society manages the residential properties and aims to provide opportunities for the women and families living there to make connections with a range of services and navigate the transition from previous housing situations or homelessness into stable, supported, and permanent housing. Residential move-in was completed January of 2016. The Budzey Building has achieved LEED Gold Certification, with Blue Camas Consulting as the Sustainability Consultant on the project.

High Performance Features:

  • Energy modeling software indicates an estimated 63% Energy Performance reduction, and Energy Cost Savings of 67% will be achieved.

    South Alley Courtyard.

Water:

  • The selected low-water use plantings and efficient irrigation systems will reduce water consumption by 50%, even with on site urban agriculture gardens.
  • The high efficiency shower, toilet, and faucet plumbing fixtures selected, will reduce water use to 43% of that required by standard fixtures.

Energy:

  • Extra insulation reduced wall, roof and window conduction, and the exterior wall R-value is nearly 238% higher than the Model National Energy Code for Buildings (MNECB) baseline, with the roof R-value at 254% better than the baseline.
  • Passive design strategies supplement the HVAC systems to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

    Powell and Princess corner view.

  • A rooftop air-to-water heat pump unit reduces the energy needed for heating and cooling. The residential suites utilize this heated water via radiant slab (in floor) heating, which provides a thermally comfortable heat more efficiently than baseboard heat and requires less circulation energy than forced-air systems.