Built Space
At Longlands, all buildings will be designed and built as high-performance green buildings with universal access features (i.e. able to accommodate walkers and wheelchairs). In order to assure green building performance, all buildings will be assessed by the Canada Green Building Council’s LEED™ Canada for New Construction program. All buildings will target a LEED™ Platinum level of certification.
A key aspect of Green buildings is low energy consumption and the most effective way of achieving this is through proper orientation, and passive design. The buildings will be oriented to optimize both accesses to daylight and views, as well as passive solar and natural ventilation. Daylight and natural ventilation will work in combination to reduce electric lighting and mechanical loads for exhaust and ventilation. High performance building envelopes will be incorporated into the buildings to further reduce heating and cooling loads. Green roofs will aid in insulating the building from both heat and cooling loads, while cleaning the air and mitigating peak rainwater discharges. Appliances and equipment will be specified for their energy efficiency. LEED™ Platinum-certified buildings can expect in the order of 70 percent better energy performance than a similar building.
In addition to pursuing green buildings and innovative architecture, several good site planning and architectural design practices have been employed. These are described in more detail at the following pages:
