Vancouver’s Iconic Arthur Erickson Place Achieves Zero Carbon Building – Performance Standard Certification

January 22, 2024

Arthur Erickson Place on West Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver has achieved the Zero Carbon Building – Performance (ZCB) Standard™ certification from the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC). This certification marks an important milestone for the co-owners of Arthur Erickson Place, the building’s tenants, and the City of Vancouver as a meaningful step towards reaching their overall sustainability and net-zero goals.

Achieving ZCB Performance certification for Arthur Erickson Place demonstrates the building’s energy efficiency and the investment its co-owners have made to minimize carbon emissions from its operations. The three-year decarbonization process, which began in 2022, involved an innovative retrofitting of the 363,000 square-foot 26-storey commercial building. The process is expected to be complete in 2025, at which point Arthur Erickson Place will have reduced its carbon emissions by 97 per cent. 

Arthur Erickson Place’s new sustainable mechanical upgrades and features include optimized HVAC controls as well as new electric boilers, heat pumps, air handling units, a rooftop beehive installation to promote biodiversity and a spacious outdoor plaza. The achievement demonstrates the commitment by the building’s owners to create pathways to a net-zero future while creating a safe and healthy work environment for their tenants.

The decarbonization of Arthur Erickson Place will result in:

• The reduction of carbon emissions from the building by 97% by 2025.
• A 40% reduction in the building’s energy consumption.
• The equivalent of removing approximately 140 gas-powered cars from the road each year.
• Ensuring the building exceeds its individual requirement to meet the Global Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5C.
• Further validation of the business case for fuel switching and electrification in Canada.

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