Sustainability

Longlands is pursing a green, sustainable form of development.  The proposed plan for Longlands makes every attempt to preserve the special qualities of the natural environment – those fundamental building blocks that make the Comox Valley such a special place – trees, wetlands, wildlife, trails. 

The proposed design of the Longlands site accomplished a high degree of environmental protection by using a fundamentally unique approach to site design called ‘Site Adaptive Planning’:

DESIGN WITH NATURE (Site Adaptive Planning)

Rather than develop a building program and then find a site to squeeze it onto, the Longlands design team studied the landscape, and then designed a building program to be ‘site adaptive’ – to fit within what the landscape could reasonably accommodate.  The aim was to prevent losing the special character and critical functional attributes of the land. 

Sustainability first and foremost must be about designing with nature, not replacing nature.  We must find ways to adapt development (both social and economic) to support and protect nature, not to exploit, override or replace it.  But of course, in order to be truly successful, this adaptive form of development still needs to meet human needs and must also be profitable.

By using the Site Adaptive Planning approach, Longlands has been able to design a truly low impact development that protects 100% of the wetlands on site, 70% of the existing forest cover and also restores fish habitat quality significantly.

Another critical component of the Longlands sustainability approach is to minimize demand for regional services such as sewer and water.  

Longlands is targeting a water consumption rate of 130 l/person/day, the lowest per capita consumption rate in Canada. 

The project addresses Greenhouse Gas GHG emissions by targeting Net Zero GHG emissions for buildings (which account for 40% of a typical project’s GHG emissions) and by implementing traffic demand management strategies (such as public/private transit options and car share programs) that will significantly reduce trip generation and associated GHG emissions.  Other initiatives, such as re-use and recycling of building materials, waste reduction, on-site composting, water use reduction and low impact design elements on site will all reduce overall GHG emissions.

All in all, Longlands is striving to achieve a high standard of environmental performance across the board by pursuing a holistic, aggressive approach to environmental protection.  The project aims to be a leader that will set the bar for future development in the Comox Valley, and help the Comox Valley become a leader in the emerging ‘green economy’.

Longlands has prepared a comprehensive set of Sustainability Principles and Guidelines that have served as a weathervane to the project through the design phase.  They also further demonstrate the project’s commitment to transparency of process and commitment to upholding the highest standard of sustainability.