Okanagan College a leader in sustainable construction

Okanagan College is being recognized as one of the few post secondary institutions in Canada with platinum certified LEED buildings.

The college’s trades building on the Kelowna campus was recently given official certification by the Canada Green Building Council as a LEED building.

A LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) certification is the highest standard awarded in the rating system, which measures “green” buildings, and OC now has two of 14 certified buildings in Canada.

That gives Okanagan College two of only 14 certified buildings at post secondary institutions across Canada. The college's first certified building was the Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence at the Penticton campus.

In order to achieve platinum a building must measure up across an array of factors, from the incorporation of sustainable building materials to water and energy efficiency to human-factor behaviours like recycling programs housed within a building.

"You don’t have to look hard to find advances in sustainability across all the trades, from automotive to welding, so in expanding and re-invigorating our Kelowna trades training facilities, we set out to provide our students and employees with a world-class learning environment that would celebrate them, their chosen career paths and the future of the trades,” noted Okanagan College President Jim Hamilton.

The provincial government contributed $28 million toward the $35-million, 10,000-square-metre Trades Complex project which involved new construction and extensive upgrades to existing facilities.