Laurentian University’s Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit, the Vale Inco Living With Lakes Centre has walked away with third place at the North American Holcim Awards, held in Montreal this fall.
The award, given out by the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, was accompanied by $25,000 which will go towards the cost of building the facility.
“It is quite tremendous to have won,” says John Gunn, a Canada Research Chair in Stressed Aquatic Systems at Laurentian, who helped conceive the idea of the LEED-platinum centre.
“This is one of the most prestigious and financially valuable awards out there, so this is a pretty neat thing. We’re in surprisingly good company.”
Designed in assistance with Vancouver’s Busby Perkins + Will and Sudbury’s J.L. Richards and Associates, the Sudbury centre saw fierce competition as event organizers received 174 entries from across North America for award consideration.
The top two awards went to a green energy arts and education centre in New York, and a self-contained day labour station in San Francisco.
More than 5,000 entries were seen across the competition’s five regions.
The top three from each region of the world will now move onto the final global competition to be held in Lucerne, Switzerland in May 2009. Gunn’s brainchild will soon be squaring off against 14 other projects from the four other regions of the competition, which include Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe.
This win strengthens the profile of the Living With Lakes project as a truly progressive concept, says Gunn, though he adds that the many other green-focused projects taking place in Sudbury will also likely benefit from the recognition.
In fact, he points to the award as a vindication of the growing cluster of green construction taking place in the city. This includes Cambrian College’s proposed Sustainable Energy Centre, two green grade schools, and a proposed architectural school which would focus in part on green design.
The city may also stand to benefit from the sheer curiosity that naturally follows from a globally respected sustainability award.
“One of the past winners told me that we better be prepared for the prestige that comes with the award, because it attracts a lot of professionals from around the world. If that’s what ends up happening, I hope Laurentian can help support us by helping to host these touring architects and so forth.”
After factoring in construction and related equipment, the project is expected to have a $16.5 million price tag, of which $15 million has already been raised.
Having been given naming rights, Vale Inco is the largest private-sector donor at $4.5 million. The province has provided more than $7 million, while FedNor has given $2.4 million. The City of Greater Sudbury has donated $100,000 to the project.
