Sustainability
Sustainability at Thinkspace
Sustainability is complex and it’s also contextual. At Thinkspace, we believe in a project-specific approach to sustainability that looks to push the bounds of current thinking and innovate where possible – and always align with the ambitions of our clients.
We have developed a system to ensure projects set goals and targets at early stages by having project-specific workshops. This helps teams define a shared sustainable vision for the project, and it helps project teams deliver on those targets. Some of these goals include 75% operational GHG reductions, 10% embodied carbon reductions, Net Zero energy designs, mass timber structural systems, limited demolition, and other project specific strategies.
We also collaborate with clients who want to pursue certification by designing buildings according to LEED®, WELL, Living Building Challenge, or Zero Carbon Building Standard.
AIA 2030 Commitment Signatories
To show our corporate commitment to sustainable design, we have signed onto the AIA 2030 Commitment, which is a commitment to reduce the energy and carbon use of the projects we design. This involves annual reporting and creating internal policy documents to shape our actions. We are very proud to be one of a small number of Canadian firms to be part of this important initiative.
Sustainability Action Plan
An important part of the the 2030 Commitment is developing and publishing an action plan. Our action plan is designed to set goals and actions for the next three to five years, so that we as a practice remain forward looking.
Some of the specific initiatives embedded in the plan include tracking and presenting the embodied and operational targets for clients’ projects, tracking our internal office energy use, and assigning project teams with sustainability advisors.
All of these efforts are designed to push our practice forward, and help our clients achieve buildings that cause less harm to their environment and meet their specific goals for the project.
Project performance brief
Our team believes in the importance of understanding and tracking key sustainability metrics on projects. To do this, we have developed a Project Performance Brief for every major project that documents in a clear way a few key metrics (graphic at right).
These metrics display total carbon emissions over a 30-year period, as well as total stored and avoided carbon through the use of various sustainability initiatives (rooftop photovoltaics and mass timber elements, in this example). We also included intensity values for upfront, operational, and lifecycle carbon to compare projects to each other easily.
The Brief has a section on energy displaying the critical Total Energy Use Intensity and comparing it to the Architecture 2030 Target as well as the baseline for the building type.
This simple tool is helping our team develop more literacy around carbon and energy, and helps us push the boundaries of sustainable design.
