The Vancouver Convention Centre West in Vancouver, Canada has achieved double LEED Platinum certification for its innovative sustainable design. It integrates the natural and built environments by including a six-acre living roof with over 400,000 plants that provides habitat for wildlife. The building also has a blackwater treatment plant that recycles grey and blackwater for toilet flushing and irrigation. A seawater heating and cooling system and locally sourced wood materials further enhance the building's sustainability. The design has received numerous environmental awards for its exemplary green features.

1. LEED : Double
Platinum
• New Construction
• Existing Buildings:
Operations and
Maintenance
The world’s first LEED
Platinum convention center,
Vancouver Convention Centre
West fully integrates the
urban ecosystem at the
intersection of a vibrant
downtown core and one of
the most spectacular natural
ecosystems in North America.
The Vancouver Convention
Centre West is designed to
bring together the natural
ecology, vibrant local culture,
and built environment,
accentuating their
interrelationships through
Case study: Green Rated Building
VANCOUVER CONVENTION
CENTRE
1859- Heenal Vora
WORLD’S GREENEST
CONVENTION CENTRE

2. SITE AND ITS CONTEXT
• Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada
• Coastal Seaport City
• An ideal location for a
Convention centre - Located in
the heart of city where
everything is accessible – from
hotel accommodations to an
exciting variety of restaurant,
entertainment, retail and
recreational options.
Over 130,000 square feet of
new walkway/bikeway and
public space that connects
across the site have been
created extending Vancouver’s
waterfront park system,
enhancing the public access to
the water’s edge and new public
plazas, festival spaces and
informal gathering areas.

3. • The old East building and the newer west
building together form the premises.
• While the older building has tried following
sustainability for 10-15 years, the focus for
this study is the newer West building
created in 2009 that received LEED
certification.
• 1 million square feet of convention space:
90,000 square feet of retail space
450 parking stalls
400,000 square feet of walkways, bikeways,
public open space, and plazas.
00
PROJECT OVERVIEW
MAIN FOCUS

4. SUSTAINABLE ROOF FEATURES
SIX-ACRE LIVING ROOF
•The roof helps regulate the building’s interior temperature
throughout the year.
•It is designed to act as an insulator, reducing heat losses
in the winter and heat gains in the summer.
•The living roof is designed as a self-sustaining grassy
habitat characteristic of the region’s coastal area, and
there are more than 400,000 indigenous plants and
grasses on it.
•The roof also provides a natural urban habitat for spiders,
dragonflies, ants, damselflies, grasshoppers, ants,
sparrows, juncos and finches.
•There are four rooftop beehives that provide a home for
European honey bees. The bees help pollinate the plants
on the living roof and produce approximately 110 pounds
of wildflower honey over the course of a year, which is
used by the facility’s kitchen.

5. •The design benefits the structure , humans, ecosystem and marine habitat all at the
same time .
•No pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers have ever been used on the roof, and most of the
clippings from the annual trim are composted back into the soil as a fertilizer.
• The roof purifies the air and lowers the surrounding temperature.
• The facility has a sophisticated blackwater treatment plant that recycles
grey and blackwater that goes back into their washrooms for toilet flushing
and is used for rooftop irrigation during drier weather.

6. • All the water on the roof funnels down through the
channels into storm drains back into cisterns down in the
basement and then it is recycled.
• The building also uses low-flow toilets and faucets, grease
interceptors, and a 72-zone drip irrigation system that has
15 moisture detectors for its living roof.
• Processing an average of 45,000 gallons a day (or 6,000
cubic feet), the 1,200-square-foot treatment plant is located
in the Centre’s West building.
• Two grinder pumps draw the water from the 10,000-gallon
holding tank to the aeration tanks, where bacteria break
down the solids. The liquid sewage then flows into the
membrane bioreactor. Water is extracted by use of a
vacuum induced on the filter and effluent is separated.
Chlorine is injected into the effluent before going into a
touch tank that removes any turbidity.
• The treated water then goes to two 10,000-gallon storage
tanks. Pumps move the treated water back into the building
for toilet flushing and irrigation needs, most notably on the
centre’s hallmark six-acre green roof.
WATER SYSTEM
The black water treatment
facility at the Vancouver
Convention Centre.
(Vancouver Convention
Centre)

7. The facility’s seawater heating and cooling system takes advantage of the adjacent seawater to produce cooling for the building
during warmer months and heating in cooler months.
• Radiant flooring is used in the
bulk of the program spaces,
creating superior air
circulation without significant
energy use.
• Prefunction areas benefit
from an advanced system of
air diffusers, interlaced in an
air swirl pattern above the
ceiling members.
•Natural light and ventilation are maximized throughout
the facility.
•There is a generous amount of glazing which admits
natural light into the space
RADIANT FLOOR HEATING SYSTEM NATURAL LIGHT AND VENTILATION

8. Concept diagram and biodiversity
Construction of Habitat skirt
MARINE HABITAT
• Runnels built into the tide flats beneath the
building create additional tidal habitats that
flush daily.
• The skirt was designed with input from marine
biologists and other consultants to make it
mimic a natural environment.
• A seawater heat pump system, for example,
takes advantage of the constant temperature
of seawater to produce cooling for the building
during warmer months and heating in cooler
months.
Approximately 35% of the project is built on piles over the water, surrounded by a custom-designed marine habitat skirt
consisting of 5 concrete tiers. Each tier supports a separate set of biota depending on the water depth, forming a complete
shoreline ecosystem including salmon, crabs, starfish, shellfish, and dozens of other native species.

9. • Wood, a traditional interior finish
material, was used in a
contemporary way for the
Convention Centre.
• Douglas fir slats (harvested
locally) run along the underside of
the roof plane.
• Their lines help articulate shifts in
slope, even from vantage points
far outside the building envelope,
since they are visible through
the glass curtain walls.
• Hemlock lumber (also harvested
locally) was cut into blocks and
assembled into a textured,
geometric pattern which was
applied along the elevator corridor
and other large public spaces.
LOCALLY SOURCED WOOD

10. • The Convention centre tied up with companies that
created materials sustainably . One of them is the
company that provided concrete.
• The concrete was provided by the Heidelberg
Cement Group who have achieved CSC (Concrete
Sustainability Council) certification.
• The concrete supplied on this project had an
overall post-industrial recycled content of 64%
as per LEED NCv1.0.
• To withstand the salt water and harsh
topographical challenges, HeidelbergCement’s
subsidiary Ocean Concrete used more than
10,000 m3 of high durability concrete containing
both silica fume and corrosion inhibitor.
COLLABORATION WITH COMPANY
FOCUSING ON SUSTAINABILITY
Goals of Heidelburg Cement Group

11. ENVIRONMENTAL AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• https://www.vancouverconventioncentre.com/about-us/sustainability
• https://lmnarchitects.com/project/vancouver-convention-centre-west
• https://www.naturallywood.com/?post_type=projects&s=vancouver
• https://www.archdaily.com/130373/vancouver-convention-centre-west-lmn-da-with-mcm
• Living Roof: A Look at the Vancouver Convention Centre’s Unique Topper – RecycleNation
• Vancouver Convention Centre is officially the world's greenest convention centre | Venture
• Greenprint: The Vancouver Convention Centre - Environment 911

13. THANK YOU !