City of White Rock Operations Building Energy Efficiency

The City of White Rock Operations Buildings, in White Rock, British Columbia, is built on the site of the original operations building in a predominantly single-family residential neighborhood. An abandoned wastewater treatment plant’s concrete clarifiers and pump house are used as a foundation for the facility.

The mandate of the City of White Rock was to make their new Operations Building as environmentally sustainable as reasonably possible, in accordance with the City’s own policy of promoting Green Strategies in all their developments and planning initiatives.

Environmental Aspects

This small facility effectively combines a variety of green strategies. To gauge the success of these strategies, the LEED(r) green building rating system was utilized, and the aggressive goal of a Gold certification was set and achieved.

A green roof reduces heat gain in the environment, and natural ventilation eliminates the need for air conditioning. Solar hot water tubes provide heat for the building. Thermal energy in stormwater diverted into a detention tank from city streets is used to augment heating for the facility during the winter and assist in cooling during the summer. The City purchased green power certificates to augment its onsite photovoltaic power generation. Extensive daylighting reduces electricity use and connects occupants to the outdoors.

Waterless urinals and low-flow faucets are used throughout the facility. Stormwater is diverted to a detention facility, and used for flushing toilets and washing City vehicles. A pervious parking lot allows infiltration of water into the ground.

Materials were selected for their low impact on the interior environment, regional manufacturing, recycled content, and long-term viability. 97.75% by weight of the demolition waste was diverted from the landfill.
More details are available on EERE’s Web site.

Owner & Occupancy