Projects

Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario

Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario

Toronto, Ontario
Canada
ETFO

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has set a benchmark in sustainable design, with its headquarters targeting LEED Platinum certification.

The project consists of a new stand-alone four-story office building that provides a home for the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario. Introba (formerly Integral Group) provided mechanical sustainable design services, LEED coordination, and building energy simulation for this four-story structure with a construction budget of $30M.

The project comprises several sustainability initiatives. One of the first installations of a geo-exchange field within the footprint of the building allowed the contractor a three-month head start on construction which helped to meet ETFO’s anticipated move-in schedule. The vertical field is installed within a series of vertical boreholes below the building, providing a renewable resource to address thermal comfort within the building. A displacement ventilation scheme has been implemented via an underfloor air distribution system, with dedicated outdoor air handling units (DOAS) providing 100% outdoor air. The mechanical/electrical systems are installed in an access floor space of each building’s four stories. A low-volume, low-velocity ventilation system disperses fresh air from raised floor plenums. Thermal comfort is provided via a series of two and four capillary pipe mats – flexible hydronic mats that sit above a perforated ceiling to provide radiant heating and cooling. A large portion of the roof covered in a mat of ground cover acts as an insulation barrier and a filter to pretreat rainwater captured in a cistern for reuse in landscape irrigation. A second rainwater cistern is used for toilets and urinals. The elementary education headquarters features a building envelope with a sophisticated series of automated solar shades. To prevent the shades from damage, sensors that detect high winds enable a mechanism to retract the shades into a protective cover.