Sustainable Building Certifications
Dedicated to fostering sustainability excellence in properties across North America, CD SONTER Ltd. proudly forms strategic alliances with property management firms, tailoring our support to meet their distinct sustainability goals. Central to our mission is guiding clients to achieve third-party sustainable building certifications. Our recent partnership with Oshawa Centre, managed by JLL, on their prestigious BOMA BEST® Platinum Recertification stands as a testament.
Green Building Certifications
Oshawa Centre attained BOMA BEST® Platinum Recertification, the highest-ranking certification level of BOMA BEST®, with an impressive final score of 94.7%. This project has provided a promising trajectory toward the BOMA Toronto TOBY (The Outstanding Building of the Year) Award in 2024 and the BOMA BEST® Award in 2025. In addition, Oshawa Centre is aiming to secure the Fitwel® 2-Star Certification in 2024. These outstanding accomplishments will set a benchmark, illustrating what is achievable for other retail assets within JLL’s portfolio and setting a precedent for shopping centres across Ontario.
Sustainability Initiatives
The collaboration with JLL inspired sustainability initiatives that improved Oshawa Centre’s environmental performance and occupant well-being while surpassing the benchmarks for receiving BOMA BEST® and other building certifications. Oshawa Centre’s pursuit to address gaps while leveraging new opportunities in its sustainability strategy to align with sustainable building certifications propelled several innovative campaigns including:
- The installation of a living green wall and sustainability hoarding wall within the common area, offering a biophilic element and creating a more nature-centric ambiance, while educating visitors about their green initiatives and achievements.
- As part of their continuous commitment to better waste diversion practices, Oshawa Centre has partnered with ChopValue to collect used wooden chopsticks from its food court and converting them to useable furniture items. To date, 47,803 chopsticks have been used to produce a total of 8 food court tables diverting 143.41kg of chopsticks from landfills, while offsetting 2327 kg of Co2.
- A comprehensive education program on energy and low carbon-related topics was provided to all operations staff underlining the property’s commitment to ongoing learning.
- Oshawa Centre conducted an Occupant Satisfaction Survey to understand and address concerns related to green procurement, sustainable transportation, indoor environment quality, and more.
- The commitment to sustainable transportation resulted in Oshawa Centre installing additional covered bike racks, strategically positioned around the property. Complementing this, the property included shower and locker facilities for all staff members, making sustainable transportation options more accessible.
- Conscious efforts towards energy and water conservation were evident by upgrading all light fixtures in common, service, and office areas to efficient LED models, and installing water- efficient low flow fixtures in all washrooms.
- The attainment of the Gold Level Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility CertificationTM further exemplified the property’s conscious efforts to increase accessibility infrastructure for all guests.
- Every year since 1959, the Oshawa Centre Farmer’s Market operates weekly from June to October, uniting local vendors and providing community members in the Durham region the opportunity to support local farmers and businesses.
- Looking ahead, the forthcoming installation of an urban rooftop garden in partnership with MicroHabitat©, scheduled for completion in 2024, signifies a strategic transformation of unused rooftop spaces to vegetated greenspace, while educating staff and tenants on urban farming practices.
- The property’s ongoing transition to higher- efficiency HVAC systems aligns with BOMA BEST® efficiency standards, a crucial step in reducing both the property’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Campaign Insights
This project notably helped to engage staff, tenants, and contractors at Oshawa Centre on key sustainability issues. It fostered a heightened awareness among occupants regarding environmental concerns and encouraged mindful practices related to emissions reduction, sustainable transportation practices, and the appreciation of urban green spaces. Alongside the tasks undertaken to achieve the sustainable building certifications, this endeavour played a pivotal role in JLL’s broader ESG mission, aiding in the reduction of carbon emissions and advancing progress toward water, energy, and waste reduction targets.
The passion and dedication demonstrated by the Oshawa Centre team in championing this project helped push the boundaries to improve their sustainability performance. Through the collaborative efforts of CD SONTER’s Sustainability Consulting expertise and JLL’s commitment to sustainability, this project seamlessly aligned JLL’s ESG goals with the attainment of green certification standards.
