Innovation and progress toward sustainability goals require creative thinking and bold action. An ingrained willingness to test ideas, measure constantly and adapt helps, too.
EllisDon Corporation – an employee-owned global construction services company – is embracing those characteristics and working toward ambitious sustainable construction goals, including targeting Gold level certification under the LEEDv4 Healthcare rating system, for its work on The Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) in New Westminster, B.C.
This upgrade project includes constructing a new acute care tower with single occupancy intensive care, medicine and surgical beds. Also in construction are a modern emergency department, medical imaging facilities, 25 operating theatres, two radiology suites, another CT scanner, dedicated maternity operating rooms, a new main entrance and a rooftop helipad, all scheduled for completion in 2025.
In this project, and others, the organization is piloting several initiatives designed to unlock new ways to achieve higher sustainability goals. And sometimes the positive results come in unexpected ways.
“Not every new idea merits a pilot project but we’ve been fortunate to implement several new initiatives on the RCH site that have had knock-on positive effects we didn’t foresee,” said environmental manager Daniel Molnar, B.Arch, LEED Green Associate, at EllisDon.
Waste management
As the building’s exterior approaches completion, the RCH initiative stands as a testament to efficient waste management strategies and meticulous source-separation efforts. By focusing on four specific material streams – concrete, steel, wood/cardboard and gypsum – EllisDon and project teams have successfully diverted 22,441 tonnes of material, achieving an impressive 93 per cent diversion rate and surpassing the original goal of 75 per cent.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
RCH is collaborating with insulation company Rockwool on an exciting pilot program for an Insulation Take-Back Program (RockCycle), intended to collect and return stone wool insulation off-cuts or discards to reprocess into new material and circumvent the landfill altogether.
What EllisDon managers couldn’t entirely quantify while planning the pilot was how well subcontractors would adopt and adhere to the process. Exceeding expectations, the subs not only collected and returned off-cuts, but many proactively used the collection bins to source suitable off-cuts that fit other uses, further reducing the environmental impacts and materials cost.
EllisDon collected and recycled over 500 used hard hats from employees across Canada while distributing new, safer models as part of its enhanced safety program.
Additionally, to promote sustainability and creativity in line with the Canadian Environmental Week’s theme (“Beat Plastic Pollution”) in the summer of 2023, EllisDon collected and recycled over 500 used hard hats from employees across Canada while distributing new, safer models as part of its enhanced safety program.
“We prevented these hard hats from ending up in landfills by removing the inner baskets and recycling the high-density polyethylene outer shell into pellets for use in new products,” said Molnar.
This initiative not only diverted materials from landfills, but also supported local art initiatives and sparked conversations about environmental issues. Leeroy New, a Filipino visual artist, repurposed about half of the initial collection into a mixed-media installation. After the exhibit, the hard hats were recycled.
Inroads to NetZero
EllisDon also achieved a significant reduction (well above the original baseline estimates) of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from ready-mix concrete for RCH without increasing cost. In collaboration with consultant partners (Bush, Bohlman & Partners and Ocean Concrete), and with guidance from its internal Sustainable Building Solutions and Building Material Science divisions, concrete mixes were optimized to reduce GHG emissions, while still keeping schedule impacts and contract requirements in consideration.
Early calculations showed a reduction of 3,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent – compared to the industry average per mix as identified in the Canadian Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s Industry-Wide Environmental Product Declaration – without impacting performance or expense.
Overall, by prioritizing these efforts, emissions savings were equal to 12 million kilometres driven in the average passenger vehicle.
Measuring and optimizing
Setting aggressive sustainability goals and testing new pilot projects are only as good as the methods for monitoring, adjusting and reporting on the progress. As Molnar knows from experience, not every pilot project goes as planned, so measuring success is a critical function that should be consistently addressed during the project to avoid missed opportunities and avoid surprises after completion.
There are several ways to collect and track the right metrics; the important factor is finding one that works across all the teams and requires the least amount of data entry. On the RCH project, EllisDon has implemented Green Badger’s online sustainability dashboard tools for the first time in British Columbia. The RCH team benefits from the capability to progressively fill out various LEED construction documents online collaboratively and watch the metrics change.
“This advantage quickly became apparent as we’ve easily shared our tracking progress with clients and consultants at any given moment with the click of a button. The real magic will shine at the final stage of the project when our team can simply click export to prepare all the necessary documentation in the (Canada Green Building Council) calculator format for the LEED auditors’ final assessment,” said Molnar.
The process previously required considerable effort and steps on past projects, and the new method will contribute to saved time and resources at RCH’s completion since most of the intensive input and cataloging work will have been automated or pre-emptively handled.
It’s said that fortune favours the bold and, by and large, that holds true for building a more sustainable world. By fostering a culture willing to explore what works and staying nimble enough to endure and adapt when pilots don’t pan out, organizations like EllisDon are helping to make our industry more responsible and resilient.