Mona Campbell Building earns first university LEED* Gold in Atlantic Canada

It's been dubbed “the greenest building on campus” since it opened. And now the Mona Campbell Building has the credential to prove it — and then some.

Dalhousie’s latest building has earned LEED* Gold certification from the Canadian Green Building Council (CaGBC). This makes it the first university building in Atlantic Canada to become LEED* Gold certified.

"The Mona Campbell Building sets the standard for all new buildings being built at Dal and shows the community the ‘art of the possible’: anyone can incorporate green building principles when upgrading or creating a new building," says Rochelle Owen, director of Dalhousie's Office of Sustainability.

A whole slew of green features

LEED*, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a third-party certification program and the internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. The New Construction field, in which the Mona Campbell Building was entered, is based on six categories: sustainable sites; materials and resources; water efficiency; indoor environmental quality; energy and atmosphere, and innovation and design process.

The building’s sustainability features include:

• A Cistern to collect non-potable water
• The use of rainwater to flush toilets
• Low-flow bathroom fixtures
• A green roof, planted with drought-resistant sedum and grasses
• A SolarWall system to preheat ventilation air
• “OptiNet” air quality sensors to measure and monitor humidity, carbon dioxide and small particles
• High-efficiency lighting with sensors that allows rejected core heat to be used for perimeter heating in the winter months
  

It was also the first university building in Atlantic Canada to be built using Bubbledeck technology, which uses hollow, plastic balls, reinforced by steel within concrete slabs to reduce the amount of concrete used while maintaining the structure’s strength. The result is a lighter, equally as strong, more environmentally friendly structure.

Dalhousie's Green Building Policy

"This was an exciting, yet challenging project since it was the first of its kind on campus,” says Omar Khartabil, senior project manager with Facilities Management. “We implemented leading edge technologies and managed to complete the project on time and under budget."

While the Mona Campbell Building may be the first LEED* Gold building at Dalhousie, it won’t be the last.

“All new buildings will be built according to LEED* Gold standards,” says Ken Burt, vice-president finance and administration, referring to Dalhousie’s Green Building Policy. “We’re also trying to incorporate as many green building principles as possible in our retrofits."