Windmill West

Tilting at giants┬áWith Quixote-like fervor, Windmill West and Vancity Enterprises are taking the sword to conventional property development ideas and proving that building green can be a profitable approach, as Alan T Swaby learns. Victoria, British Columbia, is a pretty, touristy town of around 80,000. ItÔÇÖs bustling and busy enough but not exactly a place where youÔÇÖd expect to find a revolution in residential development taking placeÔÇöa revolution that could some day change the face of residential building in North America.From the outside, the Dockside Green buildings, running along the harborfront, look conventional. ThereÔÇÖs nothing cutting-edge about the aesthetics. Everything special about the site is under the skin.The project started in 2004 as a result of the City of Victoria looking for ways of using a contaminated 12-acre waterfront site. The overriding philosophy, of creating a mixed-use development that delivered ÔÇ£triple bottom-lineÔÇØ rewardsÔÇöeconomic, ecological and socialÔÇömirrored exactly the direction Joe Van Belleghem was taking his company.┬á ÔÇ£For 15 years I was involved with property development in what would be viewed as the conventional model,ÔÇØ explains Van Belleghem. ÔÇ£My training as an accountant told me that being good to the environment was a cost of business. But the downside to this was continually having to do battle with environmental groups, battles that were draining my energy and desire to continue.ÔÇØBut thanks to a chance reading of Natural Capitalism & Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken, Van Belleghem had his own Damascus conversion and took the view that developers had a responsibility to contribute positively to the environment. ÔÇ£Interestingly, though,ÔÇØ he says, ÔÇ£my experience has shown me that doing the right thing ecologically can also bring greater commercial rewards, and that the environmental community was right.ÔÇØThe yardstick for environmentally friendly construction is the LEED certification system, as devised by the US Green Building Council. Van Belleghem had been development consultant on CanadaÔÇÖs very first LEED-certified building, an experience that gave him the encouragement to establish Windmill West, in collaboration with Three Point Properties, in order to bid for Dockside Green. Their objective was to produce a LEED Platinum designÔÇöthe highest level possible, which has rarely been met anywhere in the world.An integrated approach to the design of the whole site was taken, tailoring it specifically to the Dockside Green site and the Victoria West community. Specific functions and systems were designed to feed off each other, with waste from one use providing fuel for other uses. The developers applied whole-system costing to include site and community infrastructure costs. They argued that ecological storm-water management, for example, would reduce infrastructure costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and allow the creation of a more attractive natural habitat, which would contribute to improved human health. They wanted to show that joined-up thinking would provide ecological, social and financial success. Although the city of Victoria unanimously selected Windmill West and Vancity EnterprisesÔÇÖ proposal, NIMBYism could have dragged out the planning application process for years. Instead, Dockside Green and the City of Victoria brought together communities and special-interest groups in a way never before achieved. Rather than the customary three years, the go-ahead took only nine months.┬á From the very outset, the publicÔÇÖs imagination has been fired by the notion of the sustainability that forms the bedrock of the design. But what Dockside Green has demonstrated is that adopting green credentials is also good for the bottom line. Take sewage as a prime example. Rather than treat sewage, the Victoria region simply pumped it out to sea. So a key element of Dockside Green was to have its own treatment plant. The conventional wisdom is that this is an unnecessary expense. But in reality it means that treated water can be used for all non-potable purposes. ItÔÇÖs used extensively for irrigation, and in summer it supplements the flow of a natural creek. The result is that ground-floor apartmentsÔÇötraditionally difficult to sellÔÇöare surrounded by leafy landscapes and waterways full of wildlife. At Dockside Green, ground-floor apartments are desirable and sell at a premium sufficiently great to pay for the treatment plant.┬á The same treated water is used on all the premises to flush toilets, which, of course, are of the most water-efficient variety. Dockside Green will have its own centralized waste-wood gasification plant, providing renewable heating and making it the first North American community development to be ÔÇ£greenhouse gas positive.ÔÇØ Individual dwellings have their own water and energy bills, encouraging economic use and avoiding a situation in which the thrifty subsidize the wasteful. Consequently, residents at Dockside Green are protected from the vagaries of outside utility suppliers. It isnÔÇÖt necessary to be green to want to live at Dockside; you just need to recognize that it makes commercial sense.In fact, the project is proving beneficial for the whole of British Columbia. Wherever possible, local technology and products are being used to control the highly sophisticated systems found at Dockside Green. As international interest in Dockside Green translates into similar projects elsewhere, the components that have already proved themselves could find themselves at the top of the shopping list.For Van Belleghem, Dockside Green is a labor of love, and realistically it will be some time before the concepts he is promoting become run-of-the-mill. Nevertheless, a combination of aggressive climate-change taxes in British Columbia that are being used to reduce corporate and personal income taxes and a growing pool of skill and knowledge from environmentally minded businesses should see many more such projects in the future. ÔÇ£Breaking new ground is onerous, and itÔÇÖs tempting to stick to the old ways,ÔÇØ he says. ÔÇ£But Dockside Green is the tip of the iceberg. Today there are many more theories and strategies being aired. The encouragement for me is seeing a different value system taking shape. When people understand, they want to take ownership. As such, there is such goodwill associated with this development that everyone is committed to its success.ÔÇØ ÔÇô Editorial research by Michael Fretwell┬á