Green building is good, but incremental. Developers can make bigger impacts by building green on a larger scale, like Dockside Green, a carefully planned multi-unit housing that takes advantage of sustainable building practices. British Columbia’s Dockside Green is a prime example of the potential of what green building can be.

Dockside Green, located on downtown waterfront in Victoria, offers its residents a complete sustainable living package. No detail overlooked, builders Windmill West have created a seamless green living reality that makes living sustainability, well, natural. The 2500 unit mixed use neighborhoods employ nearly every efficiency and greentech advance that can be named.

The complex makes transit easy, both in its central, downtown location, but also by offering residents a carshare program, a shuttle bus to popular destinations, and a cash incentive to put towards purchasing a low emissions vehicle. They discourage occupants from choosing condo options with parking spots, instead encouraging residents who move in to also transition to a new way of life.

The apartments are replete with environmental amenities. Every unit is equipped with a device that monitors the emissions output of the apartment, so that users can better control their energy use and adjust accordingly; remotely as well, as residents are able to turn appliances on and off via internet. The idea behind this autonomy is encourage better environmental stewardship through conscious choices.

Beyond this, the buildings are super efficient, extensively insulated, have a minimal carbon footprint and used all sustainable building materials. Low VOCs and circulating fresh air systems keep the indoor atmosphere healthy. The condos also keep the outdoor atmosphere healthy by using energy that comes from local biomass gasification, resulting in a net emissions recovery. The complex boasts extensive rooftop gardens and community composting. The apartments are smart, using sensors to turn on and off lights, appliances and even blinds that sense wind and retract when too strong. This is really a brief glimpse of what they have done.

Dockside Green is a triple-bottom-line project, meaning that their goals extend beyond profit, also concerned with sustainability and community. In this way, despite extensive sustainable measures, the apartments are on price par with nearby real estate. The Market Affordable Program sets aside a portion of the condos that can be purchased for 25% off the regular price to encourage low income people to enter the market and produce a more heterogeneous community.

The first LEED platinum housing development in North America, the residential apartments have been sold out before their opening. Dockside Green’s environmental benefits are as important as its symbolic ones, noted Trisha Lees, representing Dockside Green. “One thing that we have really noticed is that having something like Dockside has influenced other builders and developers to think green, causing a ripple effect.

Dockside Green has set a new standard and gotten other people thinking about what they ought to be doing.” Check out the website here.

Photo by Dockside Green