Catherine Nasmith Reviews Heritage Canada Conference
October 3, 2009
Several heritage conferences in different areas have dealt with the theme, APT in Halifax, ACO/CHO in Collingwood, Heritage Canada in Winnipeg. What made this conference unique was the inclusion of representatives of major environmental organizations such as The Sierra Club of Canada, the David Suzuki Foundation and the commitment to a dialogue.
Environmentalists are correctly focused on reducing the carbon emissions of buildings, but do not have a full understanding of how structures built with traditional technologies fit into that goal. Many engineers fail to understand the potential negative impacts of mixing new and old technologies, and that short term energy benefits may be outweighed by the potential for damage to the building fabric. Replacement windows bedevil heritage conservation, and this was an area where the gulf is very wide indeed. It will take much repetition of our message to overcome prejudice against traditional wood windows.
Thomas Homer Dixon began with an Al Gore type presentation of the impending environmental crisis, and the need to cut carbon emissions by 80%. His presentation included his personal struggle to make his older stone house more energy efficient. Alas, there was consensus among the heritage architects in attendance that in his quest to insulate he may have created conditions that would lead to the deterioration of key components of the building structure and envelope.
Shortly afterwards, Carl Elephante, a LEED certified preservation architect, countered by leading the audience in a chant of “The greenest building is the one that is already built”. He points to embodied energy and thermal mass properties, as well as the reasonable performance level of historic windows. Buildings that are built to last are a key advantage of pre-war building stock, whether it has a “heritage” label or not.
By Saturday morning there had been sufficient presentations of the challenges on both sides for a lively exchange on the dangers of pushing a building beyond a reasonable level of performance. As a participant on that panel discussion I took the position that the focus on end energy consumption of the building is too narrow a lense with which to evaluate the green benefits of heritage buildings. For example, it doesn’t take into account the benefits of construction built without any petroleum products, built to last for centuries. Lloyd Alter, the President of ACO took on Nicholas Heap of the Suzuki institute about the dangers of treating all buildings the same way, of considering operating costs without taking into account the damage done to the environment in any construction process, renovation or new construction.
Heap countered with everyone has to do their part to meet 80% reduction targets. But he was listening, and had made a presentation the previous day on how energy efficient traditional walkable neighbourhoods are.
Stephen Hazell from the Sierra Club of Canada spoke about what the heritage community needs to do to get its needs on the political agenda. He noted that even though it is clear cousin to the environmental movement no one sees it that way.
Bruce Cox of Greenpeace talked about how to get attention of politicians, noting that we will always have challenges as long as the development industry continues to dominate political decision-making. Both stressed the need to get a clear message out to politicians about how heritage conservation fits into the broader conservation movement. Cox suggested a message along the lines of Heritage: Greener than “New”- a proposal that shows that at least Greenpeace understands how conservation of an inherited built resource puts us ahead of the game in sustainability.
They have first hand experience. Greenpeace has just finished retrofitting a 1950’s modernist building, taking a middle ground approach retaining the buildings major components and upgrading certain elements. Interestingly, MPP Peter Tabuns, a former Executive Director of Greenpeace is now the Ontario Culture critic for the NDP. He has been a strong voice in the Ontario legislature for heritage conservation.
In Toronto Mayor David Miller has commented on the rehabilitation of 215 Spadina being the greenest of projects because it re-uses an existing structure. So even though the heritage movement’s message is not on everyone’s agenda, the work we have been doing in the last few years is starting to register.
We must keep talking!
Type of News Item: News
For More Information Contact:
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Location Information:
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