Sustainability Plan for Parkside Place Strata 68 Tillicum Rd. (Saanich) Victoria BC

If you are interested in being a part of this Parkside Place Team please email parksideplacevictoriabc@gmail.com or contact Sutton Group Westcan Realty Gilbert Gutfreund - Property Manager - ggutfreund@sutton.com

Project Proposal
Sustainability Plan for Parkside Place Strata 68 Tillicum Rd. (Saanich) Victoria BC
Project Team: Alex Berthin and Jared Noble Project Supervisor: Tim Elkin (Camosun College)

Executive Summary

Using standards provided from associations such as LEED, we hope to provide adapted solutions which will reduce the environmental impact of Parkside Place. The improvements proposed will be beneficial to everyone; providing lower costs economically and ecologically. The energy retrofitting of existing residential urban buildings is relatively unaddressed, and shows promise of expanding in the near future. We hope to provide a foundation which can be applied in future case studies. Corporate and municipal sponsorship goes a long way towards motivating the implementation of energy efficient endeavours; we plan to seek these sponsors. A formal report will be provided outlining our findings, cost-benefit analysis and recommendations for reducing energy, water and waste at Parkside Place.
Introduction

The focus of this study is to produce a sustainability plan for Parkside Place, located in Victoria, BC. Parkside place is a strata living complex built in the 1960’s. Modern environmental and sustainable standards were not applied during the time period of its construction due to different levels of environmental awareness. Little has been done to address these issues; as a result the older buildings are inefficient, and thus becoming quite costly.

This project aims to provide possible solutions and recommendations towards a more sustainable development. The areas we will be addressing include public awareness, energy efficiency, and water consumption. Currently each building, containing approximately 8 units, share one hot water tank. This hot water is used not only for usual household hot water needs, but also for heating the units themselves. In addition, the community shares the cost of utilities, discouraging individual efforts to reduce energy consumption.

Along with recommendations for energy improvements we will also seek municipal and corporate participation. Any help with funding will increase the chances that the proposed solutions will be implemented. The corporation may benefit from becoming a sponsor through positive publicity.

Project Rationale

These buildings are in an area where there is the possibility for improving sustainability. Costs are often unnecessarily high, because of older, inefficient technology. The main problem stems from the fact that it is an old development that was built on old ideals. Originally the complex was created for low income housing; however, that does not apply to the current situation. The Sutton Group recently took over the Property Management of the development and may seek to improve the investment the owners have made on their behalf

This project is pertinent to the program because it addresses green building practices. Sustainable improvement among residential urban communities is a market which has not formally been addressed. Therefore, we believe that there is a lot of opportunity in this area, and hope to gain experience and expertise in this market niche.

Objectives

We intend to use proven residential building standards such as LEED. Using these standards we hope to adapt them for our purposes of retrofitting Parkside Place. The retrofitting of residential areas is relatively unaddressed, and we plan to provide a foundation for future case studies. The majority of our time will be spent researching possible alternatives for energy, waste, and water reduction. We aim to provide solutions for energy and water reduction; however, the systems for waste reduction are already in place and we believe education and possible business strategies will compliment the current system. We will seek sponsorship from possible corporate and municipal sources. A cost-benefit analysis will be provided for each of our findings to help the owners and residents decide which ones are feasible or applicable for them. Following our research we will provide a report with recommendations for decreasing their ecological footprint. This report, if the recommendations are followed, should reduce utility costs for the residents. We also aim to raise the environmental awareness of Parkside Place residents and the general public. Reduction of annual economic costs for residents and owners alike, while also protecting and preserving the environment is the primary objective of this proposal.

Qualifications

Jared

Excellent communication skills:

Contacted many industry and government representatives while employed with Monk Office.

Experienced in technical writing; completed a formal report for Monk Office on Sustainable Energy Initiatives, in addition to many formal and scientific reports in the Environmental Technology program.

Alex

Fluent with many computer functions including:

Instructed in the use of ArcMap for the Provincial Government.

Taken several classes in the program Environmental Technology, experiencing myself in ArcGIS, Office and Minitab.

Extensive background in practical uses and applications involving Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Publisher.

Alex and Jared

Practiced in research and development of a wide range ideas and subjects.

Applied many of the researched ideas into formal written reports and oral presentations in the Environmental Technology program.

Methods

Task 1: Research

Research for this project will be a cumulative effort consisting of site visits, online readings, and dialogue with industry representatives.

Task 2: Cost Benefit Analysis

A cost benefit analysis will be completed for each proposed improvement we discover in the research stage.

Task 3: Site Mapping

Alex will be creating a map of the site, using Natural Areas Atlas.

Task 4: Spreading Awareness

We will be trying to spread awareness of ways to reduce energy and water consumption along with waste.

Task 5: Seeking Sponsors

We will be seeking local sponsorship in order to help Parkside Place implement some o the recommendations we make.

Task 6: Write Report

We will be writing a formal report outlining all of our research and recommendations to be given to both Camosun College and Parkside Place.

Task 7: Create Presentation

We will be creating a presentation using Microsoft’s Power Point program.

Timeline

Table 1: Proposed Timeline for Carrying Out Tasks
	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Task 4
Task 5
Task 6
Task 7

Budget

Table 2: Proposed Budget
Item	Cost
Travel/Comunication
Gas	$40
Phone Time	$20
Supplies
Flash Drive	$50
Printing/Binding	$75
Total	$185

Our budget is fairly minimal since we do not require any specific materials for our project. The majority of the budget will be dedicated to writing, printing, and binding the final project. The rest is dedicated to site visits and communication.

Conclusion

If this proposal is accepted we will provide recommendations which will reduce utility costs for the residents and owners alike, while also reducing the environmental impact of Parkside Place.