Conference Program

The program committee is working hard to develop an insightful and engaging program for you to enjoy! Check back for new sessions and full descriptions as we put together the official program.

The Passive House Canada Conference will explore:

Green building policies to support climate change mitigation and adaptation

Cost implications of climate resilience strategies for new construction and deep energy retrofits

Health benefits of Passive House buildings

How can we work together on creating future-focused, resilient and sustainable buildings and communities

Our Annual Conference will offer the latest insights, case studies and best practices, spanning the spectrum of knowledge for architects, engineers, building owners, government policy makers and planners, financial decision-makers, and property managers.

Session Themes

Technical

Process & Tools

Embodied Carbon

Unique Case Studies

Mechanical

Resilience

Enerphit

Codes

Indoor Air Quality

Wednesday May 25th
Thursday May 26th
Friday May 27th

7:00 - 8:00am PT
Registration & Networking Breakfast
8:00 – 9:00am PT
Plenary Session: Conference Kick-Off & Opening Feature

Chris Ballard
Passive House Canada

Lisa Helps
Mayor of Victoria

Scott Kennedy
Cornerstone Architecture

Evelyne Bouchard
Tandem Architecture Écologique

Jeremiah Point
Point Engineering

Description

Please stay tuned for more details about the opening session.

Speakers

Chris Ballard
Passive House Canada
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Chris Ballard
Passive House Canada

Chris Ballard has a history of supporting environmental and land use causes, most recently as the Ontario’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change implementing the government’s plan for a clean environment and a sustainable economy. He also served as the Minister of Housing and the Minister responsible for Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy and a Member of the Treasury Board. Chris’ political experience also includes being a municipal councillor in Aurora, Ontario. Chris is a past Executive Director of the 60,000 member Consumers’ Association of Canada (Ontario) and a founding board member of the Consumers Council of Canada. His leadership in journalism, communications and public affairs includes terms as President and Board member of the Public Affairs Association of Canada.

Lisa Helps
Mayor of Victoria
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Lisa Helps
Mayor of Victoria

Lisa has worked hard over the past four years to deliver on her 2014 campaign platform. Four years later, revitalization, renewal, and acts of reconciliation are taking place across Victoria. It’s an interesting and exciting time. With a transparent, no-nonsense approach to decision-making and a deeply collaborative nature, Lisa has brought unprecedented economic vitality to Victoria. She’s also worked to ensure that everyone benefits from Victoria’s success and to preserve the feeling of connection and belonging in our neighbourhoods. An internationally recognized speaker on local approaches to climate change and community economic development, she’s built strong relationships with Victoria’s business community and with the provincial and federal governments. She’s made City Hall more accessible by fostering an innovative and responsive culture. Most importantly, Lisa has a vision of compassion, understanding, courage, and hope for the future. And she’s got a plan to tackle the City’s most pressing issues.

Scott Kennedy
Cornerstone Architecture
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Scott Kennedy
Cornerstone Architecture

Scott has been a principal of Cornerstone Architecture, currently a 15 employee firm, since 1988. He is a Professional Engineer with a degree from University of Alberta and holds a Bachelor of Architecture from UBC. Scott has committed Cornerstone Architecture to start the conversation about Passive House and its principles with each new client. The firm has had success and currently has an 85 suite mixed use 6 storey wood frame Passive House building under construction, and 11 additional Passive House projects at various stages of development. “The Passive House concept is important and I believe we are just getting started. We must spread the word and protect it from being watered down, as it is a wholistic concept that delivers a reliable building if it is executed properly. Hopefully in the future the Passive House standard or something similar will be standard practise and our organization may cease to be relevant other than as a liaison to code committees on the subject. We can only dream.”

Evelyne Bouchard
Tandem Architecture Écologique
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Evelyne Bouchard
Tandem Architecture Écologique

Evelyne Bouchard is a course instructor and board director at Passive House Canada. She is also a practicing architect (OAA & OAQ) and principal at Tandem Architecture Écologique, a small firm dedicated to creating high-performance sustainable projects at all scales through collaboration with like-minded professionals. Evelyne is passionate about the overlap between thoughtful design and technical rigour. She strives to embed Passive House design principles and measurable performance into the creative process to design projects that are durable, sustainable, functional and beautiful.

Jeremiah Point
Point Engineering
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Jeremiah Point
Point Engineering

Jeremiah Point is the owner at Point Engineering, a company based in the Territory of Akwesasne. As a proud Akwesasro:non he is able to incorporate new technology with traditional values. Jeremiah is new to the board this year and is committed to promoting the Passive House Standard to all his clients.
9:30 - 10:30am PT
First Nation Energy Challenges

Jeremiah Point
Point Engineering

Description

The challenges to create affordable energy efficient homes for First people and the challenges with fixed budgets, governance and policies that are not supported within the general population .What is the solution and how can it be supported for positive change. ie : Create building standards for each regional area, have First people manage their own inspections, enforce their own policies related to construction.

Speakers

Jeremiah Point
Point Engineering
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(Live In-Person)

Jeremiah Point
Point Engineering

Jeremiah Point is the owner at Point Engineering, a company based in the Territory of Akwesasne. As a proud Akwesasro:non he is able to incorporate new technology with traditional values. Jeremiah is new to the board this year and is committed to promoting the Passive House Standard to all his clients.
9:30 - 10:30am PT
Aligning Strategy and High Performance Buildings

Kevan Tacq
Ryder Architecture

Description

Vital to the success of any residential development is the alignment of a project's team values, interests, and goals. Ryder Architecture (Canada), with not-for-profit housing provider Brightside Community Homes Foundation, discusses the importance of alignment in achieving project-specific goals, including building operations, occupant comfort, constructability, and policy, without compromising the ability to provide affordable housing suitable to fostering and supporting the community of Brightside and other not-for-profit organizations.

Speakers

Kevan Tacq
Ryder Architecture
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(Live In-Person)

Kevan Tacq
Ryder Architecture

Kevan Tacq has over ten years of experience in designing, planning, coordination, and contract administration. Kevan has been involved in projects across Western Canada, including the Lower Mainland, Edmonton, and Calgary, with specialized experience in high-performance, multi-family residential, commercial, and civic projects. He is passionate about sustainable, low-carbon design and is currently working on Edward Byers and Alice Saunder's affordable housing projects for Brightside Community Homes Foundation, which are targeting Passive House Certification to provide affordable high-performance housing for seniors, families, and people with disabilities.
9:30 - 10:30am PT
Getting the Most Out of Your Deep Retrofit

Tania Krysa
MTE Consultants

Sophie Tremblay
LGA Architectural Partners

Description

Improving the energy performance of our existing building stock will play a key role in addressing climate change, but how can this be realized to its full potential if buildings are occupied? In this presentation, we will be exploring several energy performance upgrades utilized in occupied high-rise and mid-rise social housing retrofits in Toronto, identifying the challenges during design and construction, and reflecting on lessons learned: how can we do better?

Speakers

Tania Krysa
MTE Consultants
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(Live Virtually)

Tania Krysa
MTE Consultants

Tania Krysa, P.Eng. Manager, Building Restoration – MTE Consultants Tania has 10 years of experience specializing in building restoration and retrofits. She joined MTE Consultants in 2014 to start their Building Restoration team and grow the business in southwestern Ontario. Tania’s focus has been in the design and management of deep building retrofits in the mid to high-rise residential sector, including Condominiums, rental apartments, and social housing. She is passionate about sustainability and loves educating her clients on making impactful choices to support the long-term performance and durability of their building assets.

Sophie Tremblay
LGA Architectural Partners
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(Live Virtually)

Sophie Tremblay
LGA Architectural Partners

Sophie Tremblay B.Arch., M.Arch., OAQ Sophie studied architecture at Université de Montréal, Carleton University, Istanbul Technical University in Turkey and École nationale supérieure d’architecture Paris-Malaquais in France. She is licensed with the OAQ (Ordre des architectes du Québec), having lived and practiced in Montreal for several years. In addition to educational, community and residential architecture, her experience encompasses urban design and transportation-sector projects. After moving to Toronto in 2013, she worked at Weiss Architecture and Urbanism, where she became an Associate in 2016. At that firm she developed a strong interest in community and not-for-profit projects. Sophie joined LGA in 2017, where her projects include a new housing co-op for Innstead and several Toronto Community Housing tower renewal projects. Sophie has served as a guest reviewer at the architecture schools of Carleton University, the University of Toronto, and Waterloo University.
10:30 - 11:00am PT
Networking Break & Exhibits
11:00am - 12:00pm PT
Ken Soble Transformation: The Final Steps: Commissioning, Certification and Initial Occupancy

Joshua Vanwyck
JMV Consulting

Graeme Stewart
ERA Architects

Mikael Sydor
ERA Architects

Lori O’Malley
PCL Construction

Description

After a long journey the Ken Soble Tower is the largest Multi-Unit Residential EnerPHit in the world. This panel discussion will share some of the key learnings as we took the final steps to test, commission, certify and have occupants move in.

From tips of what we wished we’d known during design, to airtightness testing an 18 storey tower, to the occupant handbook, we’ll talk about the practical aspects of ensuring the project met certification. Bring your questions! We hope this can be a discussion.

Speakers

Joshua Vanwyck
JMV Consulting
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(Live In-Person)

Joshua Vanwyck
JMV Consulting

Joshua has over 15 years of experience working in sustainable building design. Having worked on projects around the world including Canada, Germany, France, Tanzania, China and the Middle East, he brings his background in modeling, systems thinking, building science, and master planning to drive innovative sustainability projects forward. Joshua has worked on a mix of sustainable new and retrofit buildings as well as large master plan projects all with a focus on simple solutions.

Graeme Stewart
ERA Architects
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(Live Virtually)

Graeme Stewart
ERA Architects

Graeme Stewart is a registered architect and planner, and is a Principal at ERA Architects. Graeme has been involved in numerous urban design, cultural planning, conservation and architecture projects focusing on neighborhood design and regional sustainability. He was a key initiator of the Tower Renewal Partnership, an initiative in low-carbon retrofit and community reinvestment that examines the future of Canada’s remarkable stock of modern tower neighborhoods in collaboration with CMHC, the United Way, City of Toronto, Province of Ontario, University of Toronto, and other partners. Graeme is also a founding director of the Centre for Urban Growth and Renewal (CUG+R), an interdisciplinary urban research organization, working with NGOs, academic, government and community partners. CUG+R supports policy and action toward more equitable and resilient urban regions. Graeme is a member of the Toronto Community Housing Design Review Panel and a regular lecturer at universities in Ontario and abroad.

Mikael Sydor
ERA Architects
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(Live In-Person)

Mikael Sydor
ERA Architects

Mikael is a registered Architect and senior project manager at ERA Architects in Toronto, Canada. His role focuses on the conservation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings. Notable projects include the University of Alberta’s historic Dentistry-Pharmacy Building and the high-performance retrofit of the Ken Soble social housing tower in Hamilton. He leads the digital documentation team at ERA which is focused on cultural heritage including existing buildings, sites, and landscapes. Mikael was also involved in research projects exploring digital documentation and Heritage BIM integration. He has contributed to peer-reviewed papers on the topic.

Lori O’Malley
PCL Construction
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Lori O’Malley
PCL Construction

Lori O’Malley, a P.Eng., M.A.Sc., and LEED Green Associate, has specialized uniquely in building envelope design and construction for over 24 years, serving as PCL’s in-house building envelope engineering specialist for the last 12. Based out of PCL’s Toronto District, Lori provides technical assistance on high-performance building envelope projects across North America. In addition to providing technical assistance throughout the project life to identify improved building envelope performance solutions, she assists in material selection, identifying continuity concerns, and potential constructability and sequencing concerns of building envelope throughout the design, construction and commissioning phases of a project. Before joining PCL, Lori was an associate responsible for the Façade Consulting Services department at a large consulting engineering firm in Toronto. Lori has spoken at several industry events and lectures, including Façade Tectonics, OBEC, Construct Canada and the University of Toronto.
11:00am - 12:00pm PT
How Long can Passive House Buildings Stand Thermally Resilient During a Power Outage?

Aylin Ozkan
RWDI

Joel Good
RWDI

Description

The frequency and severity of climate disasters are escalating. Often these weather events occur during periods of extreme heat and cold and can knock out power for extended periods of times. As a result, most buildings quickly get too cold or too hot, unable to deliver occupant shelter needs under these conditions. To increase our preparedness for climate disasters widely, it is advised that multi-unit residential and larger scale community buildings should be a focus of thermally resilient design in order to provide safe, comfortable gathering spaces for people in need during a prolonged power outage. The goal of this presentation is to exemplify the performance of Passive House buildings (MURBs and community hubs) during a prolonged power outage. We will also discuss their annual performance with/out the active systems (HVAC, lighting and equipment), input and emphasize the design measures to improve the performance.

Speakers

Aylin Ozkan
RWDI
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(Live Virtually)

Aylin Ozkan
RWDI

Aylin Ozkan is an Energy Consultant at RWDI. She is a recognized expert in the field of thermal resilience in building design. Aylin holds a Ph.D. in Building Science, a Master’s in Environmental Building Design and Bachelor of Architecture. She also teaches Simulation, Data Visualization and Resiliency at the University of Toronto. Aylin has contributed to projects such as the development of the MURB Design Guide and Thermal Resilience Design Guide and her research continues to advance thermal resilience design practice. She has provided consulting to notable architecture firms on a variety of projects including Residential Buildings, Affordable Housing, Hotel and Spa, Libraries, Community Centers and several post-secondary buildings. Aylin’s areas of expertise include energy modeling, solar studies, daylight modeling, CFD, sustainable design, building enclosure solutions and performance enhancement for existing buildings.

Joel Good
RWDI
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(Live Virtually)

Joel Good
RWDI

Joel Good is a senior consultant with RWDI’s Building Performance and Sustainability team, where he applies his mechanical and environmental engineering background to focus on passive design and active system components. He has a Master of Applied Science in Environmental Engineering from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Victoria. Joel has a deep understanding of energy, daylight, airflow and comfort modelling in complex buildings and climates. Whether designing for low energy, performing energy simulations or supporting building code compliance, Joel always adds value and helps secure strong project outcomes. His keen insight into the unique challenges and opportunities of each project helps project teams make the most of the natural passive energy potential offered by a site’s specific climate.
11:00am - 12:00pm PT
Façade Detailing Strategies for Efficient Performing Envelopes

Ehab Naim Ibrahim
Gamma North America

Description

The increased controversies between transparent versus opaque dominations in buildings’ façades manifest in their overall performance outcome, influencing interior and exterior climates. With our weather fluctuating towards the extremes, and factoring the climbing indoor operating costs, codes, and shifting politics, smart construction strategies endorsing true façades’ performance are urgently required. This presentation will discuss key tools and indicators leading to failures or success, in light of current façade schematic designs throughout to detailing and construction. We aim to analyze objectives and challenges, but also the influences of jurisdictional regulations and guidelines. And therewith focus on practical solutions, achieving our prescribed targeted performance.

Speakers

Ehab Naim Ibrahim
Gamma North America
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(Live In-Person)

Ehab Naim Ibrahim
Gamma North America

Ehab focuses on building envelopes’ improvements, developing innovative solution, and establishing non-traditional façade concepts. He started with Gamma NA 2019 after 25 yrs with WSP and other Canadian and German consulting and architectural firms. Ehab is a Certified Passive House Designer [CPHD], a LEED AP, and a Member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Ehab served as the president of the Ontario Building Envelope Council [OBEC] 2019-2021, and is a guest lecturer, design studio workshop assistant, and critic at the University of Toronto school of Architecture 2nd yr master’s program. He’s the registered inventor of the patented first North American Passivhaus Certified Unitized CurtainWall.
12:00pm - 1:15pm PT
Lunch & Keynote with Dr. Melissa Lem

Dr. Melissa Lem
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

Description

Buildings generate close to 30% of carbon pollution worldwide, accelerating global heating and resulting in numerous harms to communities, families and the environment. Dr. Lem will explore the not-so-hidden health risks of powering our homes with fossil fuels, how and why the spaces where we live and work are essential for improving our well-being, and the importance of cross-sectoral partnerships for advancing climate action.

Speakers

Dr. Melissa Lem
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
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(Live Virtually )

Dr. Melissa Lem
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

Dr. Melissa Lem is a Vancouver family physician who also works in rural and northern communities within Canada. President-Elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and Founder and Director of PaRx, Canada’s national nature prescription program powered by the BC Parks Foundation, she is an internationally recognized expert on the nature-health connection. She has engaged in advocacy and policy work on a broad range of issues, from climate change and hydraulic fracturing to sustainable health care and nature-based solutions. A senior writer for the CBC, her work has been widely published by media including the Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, The Narwhal, National Observer, and Alternatives Journal. She was the resident medical expert on CBC TV’s hit show Steven and Chris for four seasons and is a regular contributor to CBC Radio and CTV News. Dr. Lem was the inaugural winner of University College’s Young Alumni of Influence Award at the University of Toronto, a 2020 Joule Innovation grant recipient from the Canadian Medical Association, a 2021 World Parks Week Ambassador, sits on the Advisory Committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Health and Well-being Specialist Group, and is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia.
1:30 - 2:30pm PT
Demand Control Ventilation and Passive House: Research and Experience

Mike Woolsey
Swegon

Andrew Peel
Peel Passive House Consulting

Description

Demand Control Ventilation (DCV) is a decades-old technology that is well-researched and now has a track record on Passive House projects. This panel discussion will review relevant DCV research and explore the experience of Passive House consultants who have applied DCV to achieve project energy savings and occupant comfort.

Speakers

Mike Woolsey
Swegon
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(Live In-Person)

Mike Woolsey
Swegon

Mike is a Certified Passive House Designer. -ASHRAE. Member since 1985. Voting member and Administration \ Compliance lead for ASHRAE 227p Passive Buildings. Previous voting member of ASHRAE 170 Healthcare Ventilation. -Passive House Institute (PHI). Certified Passive House Designer (CPHD) and member of International Passive House Association (iPHA). -International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). WELL AP and IWBI Thermal Comfort Advisor.

Andrew Peel
Peel Passive House Consulting
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(Live In-Person)

Andrew Peel
Peel Passive House Consulting

Andrew’s primary areas of expertise are in low carbon buildings and renewable energy. His professional and academic experience ranges from consultancy, program management, authoring technical and non-technical articles, course and lecture delivery, and technical research. Andrew provides Passive House and sustainability consultancy, certification, and training services to the building sector. He is one of only a handful of Canadian-based Passive House certifiers accredited by the German Passivhaus Institut.
1:30 - 2:30pm PT
Embodied Carbon

Cillian Collins
Perkins & Will

Manuela Londono Suarez
Perkins & Will

Description

We view carbon holistically on projects, through a whole life cycle carbon analysis which evaluates both operational carbon and embodied carbon. As buildings are transitioning towards net zero operational carbon, embodied carbon remains as part of a project's negative environmental impact and requires critical analysis. We have established a stepped process through each phase of design which builds on our holistic carbon thinking and maximizes the embodied carbon reduction potential. As we design and select materials, we analyze materials, such as envelope enhancements, against both long term operational carbon as well as immediate embodied carbon reductions associated with their manufacturing.

With a multi year stepped embodied carbon reduction target which is currently a minimum 20% on all architectural and interiors projects, approach to material selection is an integral part of the design process that design teams must embrace.

Speakers

Cillian Collins
Perkins & Will
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(Live In-Person)

Cillian Collins
Perkins & Will

Cillian Collins is a Senior Architect with Perkins+Will and a Certified Passive House Designer with over 10 years of experience across a variety of project types and scales, including Passive House projects in Canada and Ireland. He is Chair of the Passive House Canada Education Committee, playing a key role in curriculum development, teaching, and advocating for the Passive House standard in Canada.

Manuela Londono Suarez
Perkins & Will
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(Live In-Person)

Manuela Londono Suarez
Perkins & Will

Originally from Colombia, Manuela developed an appreciation for using local materials and believes that knowing where things come from and the impact they have on the environment is at the core of sustainability. Manuela works with various teams to bring transparency to the material selection process and contributes regularly to the body of research in Perkins&Will’s Material Performance Lab. She is also involved with Perkins&Will’s embodied carbon initiative, helping to establish carbon related reporting and requirements for projects. Manuela’s technical know-how was fostered from her time working on large scale projects with ambitious sustainability goals
1:30 - 2:30pm PT
The Surprisingly Difficult Journey of Component Certification (And Why It’s Still Worth It)

Peter Dushenski
GlasCurtain Inc.

Description

Why is it so hard to find North American manufacturers with PHI certified components? Why don’t more manufacturers certify their products to PHI criteria? Is it worth the effort to certify at all? Passive House is the most important standard of the 21st century, but it won’t happen with manufacturer buy-in. In this engaging and fast-paced presentation, we’ll explore the challenges and opportunities facing manufacturers interested in component certification, and how these hurdles impact all of us, including architects, contractors, and clients.

Speakers

Peter Dushenski
GlasCurtain Inc.
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(Live In-Person)

Peter Dushenski
GlasCurtain Inc.

Peter Dushenski is the Managing Director of GlasCurtain, a Canadian manufacturer of fibreglass-framed curtain wall systems for triple-glazed applications. Peter has headed the team since commercial launch in 2013 and has since lead the company to several industry firsts, including the world’s first PHI Cold Climate curtain wall system. He has previously been invited to speak at CaGBC, CSC, BUILDEX, Passive House Canada, Ecobuild UK, and EU-Canada Green Building Forum. Peter lives in Edmonton, is happily married, and is a proud father of two little boys.
2:30 - 3:00pm PT
Networking Break & Exhibits
3:00 - 4:00pm PT
Design Tools to Optimize High-Rise Passive House Buildings

Cody Belton
Morrison Hershfield

Ivan Lee
Morrison Hershfield

Description

The role of 3D thermal analysis in evaluating the impact of thermal bridging, condensation risks, and thermal comfort for large Part 3 Passive House buildings is discussed. Due to stricter structural requirements for larger buildings metal components in the building enclosure and fenestration used, where 2D models may underestimate its performance.

Examples of how 3D thermal modelling may be used is presented through a case study of a recently certified Passive House high-rise building in Vancouver, BC. Opportunities to optimize building enclosure design and PER/heating demand through mitigation of thermal bridging while considering costs and construction schedule are discussed.

Speakers

Cody Belton
Morrison Hershfield
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(Live In-Person)

Cody Belton
Morrison Hershfield

Cody is a Passive House Specialist with Morrison Hershfield’s Building Specialty Services team. He has served as a Building Enclosure Consultant for over 13 years, with mature engineering knowledge in building science and experience developing building enclosure design packages for various building typologies, ranging from single-family homes to high-rise buildings. Cody has been a strong Passive House advocate since 2010 and eagerly promotes its benefits to anyone who cares to listen. He has trained product manufacturers and architecture firms transitioning into the high-performance sector, along with providing Passive House consultation and design implementation strategies for new building construction and retrofit projects. Cody is an enthusiastic communicator and champion for Passive House, sharing his passion with various networking groups by delivering presentations on the significant advantages of super-insulated building enclosure design.

Ivan Lee
Morrison Hershfield
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(Live In-Person)

Ivan Lee
Morrison Hershfield

Ivan specializes in the research and evaluation of the thermal and hygrothermal performance of the building envelope and has worked with numerous project teams and manufacturers to better understand and mitigate thermal bridging in their designs. Ivan was a main contributor and modeller for the Building Envelope Thermal Bridging Guide and Guide to Low Thermal Demand Buildings.
3:00 - 4:00pm PT
Comparison of North American Fenestration Standards and Passive House Requirements

Brandon Gemme
RJC Engineers

Description

This session aims to review and contrast the typical window performance grades of NAFS and requirements of CSA A440.2-19 with EnerPHit and Passive House Component certification standards. The methodologies and theoretical assumptions used in both standards to quantify moisture, structural, durability, and airtightness window performance are explained, and from this a comparison is made to allow specifiers using North American standards to identify what performance grade would be required to meet the requirements of Passive House, potentially allowing ease of future Passive House specifying and product development. Potential requirements for additional testing and documentation, beyond what is required by NAFS, are listed for window manufacturers interested in producing windows which are Certified Passive House Components.

Speakers

Brandon Gemme
RJC Engineers
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(Live In-Person)

Brandon Gemme
RJC Engineers

Brandon Gemme is an Engineering Intern at RJC’s Building Science and Restoration division located in Toronto. He received his Bachelor of Applied Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto in 2016, with a minor in Sustainable Energy Systems and Certificate of Engineering Business. Brandon is responsible for evaluations, investigations and remediation of building envelope systems as well as the implementation of rehabilitation and preventative maintenance programs. He has been involved in several deep energy retrofit projects and has gained valuable experience in the design, modelling and management of these projects. Brandon is passionate about improving the performance of our buildings, with the goal providing more sustainable, healthier and comfortable spaces for end users. Brandon received his designation as a Certified Passive House Designer (CPHD) in 2021 and as a Building Science Specialist (BSS) in 2020.
3:00 - 4:00pm PT
Better Indoor Air Quality using Data Standards for the Built Environment

Stanton Wong
RESET Build

Description

An exploration on how to leverage continuous monitoring, data, and standards to manage indoor air quality for the built environment.

Speakers

Stanton Wong
RESET Build
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(Live Virtually)

Stanton Wong
RESET Build

Stanton is the President of RESET, a set of standards and assessment tools & services to develop actionable, long term strategies towards health and sustainability for the built environment. Stanton has a background in software development and product management and is passionate about the future, education, technology, crypto, the environment, and health. He is also fascinated by the optimization of processes and design choices using nudge theory.
5:30 - 7:00pm PT
Networking Event + Songhees Nation Welcoming Ceremony - Sponsored By: EuroLine Windows

EuroLine Windows

Speakers

EuroLine Windows

EuroLine Windows

8:00 - 9:00am PT
Registration, Exhibits & Networking Breakfast
9:30 - 10:30am PT
HRV Selection for Townhomes - All in One

Ruffy Ruan
Impact Engineering

Patrick Fyfe
Impact Engineering

Description

Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) traditionally comprise ""passive"" heat exchange cores. A new HRV system has come to market that utilizes heat pump technology, to transfer energy from exhaust air stream to pre-heat / cool incoming air.

There has been discussion as to whether this combined heat pump HRV system is more efficient and advantageous than the separate HRV and Heat Pump approach, as this ""all-in-one"" approach requires no outdoor condensers.

The intent of this presentation is to describe the journey our team undertook to evaluate the different technologies for East 21st Passive House project - a 16 unit, 3-storey townhome development.

Speakers

Ruffy Ruan
Impact Engineering
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(Live In-Person)

Ruffy Ruan
Impact Engineering

Ruffy Ruan is a Professional Engineer with expertise in sustainability and high-performance building design. Ruffy recently joined Impact Engineering to lead their growing Passive House sector and have applied lessons learnt from her diverse experience working on similar projects in the UK and Canada. She has delivered numerous presentations during her 14 years career. Her recent experience includes presenting University of Victoria Students and Dining Hall (Passive House) in BuildEx, Passive House Canada Tech Session and ZEBx. Ruffy has a passion for innovation and truly believes a holistic approach to integrate Passive House approach and optimized cooling design solution through IES to achieve optimized energy balance and thermal comfort throughout the year.

Patrick Fyfe
Impact Engineering
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(Live In-Person)

Patrick Fyfe
Impact Engineering

Patrick is a Professional Mechanical Engineer and Certified Passive House Designer from the University of British Columbia. Over his four-year career he has specialized in Mechanical Building Systems. Patrick has completed many types of projects from commercial, industrial, educational, residential, and retail projects. Patrick joined Impact in 2021 to follow his passion in reducing GHG emissions and energy usage to create a better future for generations to come Patrick has recently spoken in the Passive House Symposium on his tower decarbonization project located in North Vancouver.
9:30 - 10:30am PT
Strengthening Canada’s Supply Chains for Building Electrification: Starting with Heat Pumps

Jordan Fisher
FRESCo Building Efficiency

Patricia Lightburn
Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors

George Patrick Richard Benson
Vancouver Economic Commission

Description

Heat pumps are widely viewed as a key technology for decarbonizing heating, with efficiencies of more than 300%. But there are market barriers limiting the uptake of heat pump technologies including the lack of suitable technology availability due to low motivation of manufacturers and vendors to bring leading-edge proven technologies to the North American market. As part of the BC Heat Pump Technology Attraction Strategy Dunsky, FRESCo, and the Vancouver Economic Commission have worked with a variety of local stakeholders and international manufacturers to develop stronger supply chains for heat pumps to support BC’s building electrification pathway for both new and existing buildings. The Strategy lays out actions and processes for BC actors to attract and integrate heat pump products that are not currently sold in Canada or BC. The roundtable discussion will outline perspectives as well as key findings of the study to inform future policies.

Speakers

Jordan Fisher
FRESCo Building Efficiency
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(Live In-Person)

Jordan Fisher
FRESCo Building Efficiency

Jordan Fisher is FRESCo’s CDO (Chief Decarbonization Officer). For the last 16 years he has focused on reducing energy use and emissions in the residential and commercial building sectors. His work has included innovative projects and programs for public and private sector clients. He is particularly known for his work in multi-family building retrofits, with an increasing focus on heat pumps and deep decarbonization studies. Jordan strives for a collaborative approach that integrates holistic thinking in technical (mechanical, enclosure, structural, and electrical), financial, and social considerations. Jordan has acted as a senior advisor on numerous heat pump projects that electrified heating, hot water, and ventilation systems, as well as studies on heat pump installation practices, the VEC Heat Pump Attraction Study, and best practice guidelines.

Patricia Lightburn
Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors
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(Live In-Person)

Patricia Lightburn
Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors

Patricia is a Senior Consultant at Dunsky, bringing twelve years of experience in leadership roles in clean energy in Canada and abroad, working across several sectors. She has significant expertise in accelerating renewables through policy, research, project development and procurement. Patricia is a strong communicator with a passion for working across silos to deliver a wide range of climate and energy projects. She has contributed to several publications on renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric mobility and district energy, and holds a master’s in International Energy from Sciences Politiques, Paris. Prior to joining Dunsky, Patricia worked for one of Canada’s leading renewable energy companies and at the Ontario Power Authority (now IESO). She also worked at the International Energy Agency and the David Suzuki Foundation.

George Patrick Richard Benson
Vancouver Economic Commission
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(Live In-Person)

George Patrick Richard Benson
Vancouver Economic Commission

An urban planner by training, and an economic developer by trade, George Benson is Manager, Economic Transformation at the Vancouver Economic Commission, working to decarbonize, build resilience, and increase social equity in Vancouver’s massive architecture, engineering, and construction sectors. More broadly, George also supports much of VEC’s green economy and social impact work in different ways. George brings unique experience from the public, private, and non-profit sectors, together with deep content knowledge in resilience, urban sustainability, global governance, and new economic systems. He works with individual businesses, industry associations, building code developers, global businesses and networks, and researchers on numerous capacity building, coordination, and market transformation initiatives.
9:30 - 10:30am PT
A Comparison of Typical Deep Energy Retrofits and an EnerPHit Solution

Kiersten Shulhan
RJC Engineers

Maddy Kennedy-Parrott
RJC Engineers

Description

The vast quantity of Canada’s existing building stock is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. While many of these existing buildings are considering typical deep energy retrofits through mechanical system upgrades, building envelope focused retrofits provide alternative and competitive solutions. This session will compare the expected energy savings from typical mechanical upgrades with a building enveloped based EnerPHit solution. The challenges encountered as well as the expected energy savings and associated cost from both retrofit strategies will be presented.

Speakers

Kiersten Shulhan
RJC Engineers
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(Live In-Person)

Kiersten Shulhan
RJC Engineers

Kiersten started in the Building Science group at RJC as a Co-op Student, and recently joined the group in a full-time capacity following the completion of her Bachelors of Applied Science in Environmental Engineering. As a student, she was intrigued and inspired by Passive House design and concepts. This has developed into a passion for analyzing and designing retrofit strategies for existing buildings. As a new graduate, this will be Kiersten’s first corporate speaking experience.

Maddy Kennedy-Parrott
RJC Engineers
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Maddy Kennedy-Parrott
RJC Engineers

Maddy splits her time between the Building Science and Building Performance groups at RJC. She is experienced in design, analysis, evaluation and repair of building envelopes for new and existing buildings, and is highly proficient in a variety of energy and thermal modelling programs, and is a Certified Passive House Designer. Prior to joining RJC, Maddy worked as a technical sales representative for fibreglass building products, exposing her to Passive House, Living Building Challenge and LEED; igniting her passion for sustainable buildings. She is an avid public speaker, giving presentations on building science concepts to organizations like the Building Officials Associations in both BC and AB, and at conferences like the 2017 World Sustainable Built Environment Conference in Hong Kong. Additionally, Maddy presented the paper “Where Passive House Fits on the Energy Step Code Staircase” at NHICE 2020, and is set to present at CCBST and ASHRAE Conferences in 2022.
10:30 - 11:00am PT
Networking Break & Exhibits
11:00am - 12:00pm PT
Learning to work with thermal bridges in an Aquatic Centre

Susan Lewin
CS&P Architects

German Vaisman
Green Tectonics Inc.

Description

High-performance, ultra-low energy buildings are key to meeting our greenhouse gas emission targets and building climate change resiliency. To achieve the CaGBC Zero Carbon Building Standard, and the Toronto Green Standard Tier 4, this facility is relying on a high performance and air tight enclosure to develop this 40,000 sq. ft. envelope-driven building. This seminar will explore the creative and integrated approach needed to achieve Net Zero Carbon Design, using the City of Toronto’s Davisville Aquatic Centre facility as a case study. Critical elements of the thermal envelope will be explored, including strategies to minimize thermal bridging and air leakage. The design process of the enclosure will be explored through this case study, and will help equip Canadian practices with the tools to incorporate high performance envelope.

Speakers

Susan Lewin
CS&P Architects
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(Live Virtually)

Susan Lewin
CS&P Architects

Susan Spencer Lewin is a Principal and Director of Sustainable Strategies at CS&P Architects. A Certified Passive House Designer and LEED BD+C Professional, Susan is a leading green design advocate, and has been actively involved in the Toronto Chapter of the Canada Green Building Council, as past Chair. She has many years of experience as a professional architect, with a focus on sustainable and universal design for community projects, including many LEED and Net Zero projects. She has considerable expertise in complex civic, recreational, educational, and public sector projects. Her experience includes planning and feasibility studies; master planning and urban design projects, adaptive reuse, retrofits, and new construction.

German Vaisman
Green Tectonics Inc.
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(Live Virtually)

German Vaisman
Green Tectonics Inc.

German Vaisman is the principal of Green Tectonics, a low energy buildings design firm that helps architects optimize their enclosure design with an emphasis on high performance buildings. He was trained as an architect with a master’s in building science from Ryerson University. Specialized in sustainability, building enclosures, and high-performance buildings, his experience ranges from construction detailing to building envelope analysis. He has worked for architecture and engineering firms in the Toronto area where he was involved in multiple Net Zero and Passive House projects.
11:00am - 12:00pm PT
Riverside Drive - A Stepwise EnerPHit Tower Retrofit - Phase 3

Andrew Peel
Peel Passive House Consulting

Jennifer Hogan
Pretium Engineering Inc.

Hans Kogel
Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation

Description

A 20 story, 300 unit, affordable housing tower built-in 1974, the Raymond Desmond Manor, was often uncomfortable in the winter and summer, while energy consumed half the operating budget. Fully occupied and in need of upgrades to all significant building components, the building owner, Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation, set out to do a step-by-step EnerPHit renovation, while leaving the tenants in place. The team has completed phase two of four planned phases and is nearing completion of Phase 3.

This session will focus on the challenges and solutions that have emerged during Phase 3 of the project, the exterior envelope upgrades. From design concepts, to sequencing of measures, to airtightness testing with live-in tenants, the presentation will reveal the practical lessons learned and transferrable knowledge gained from this beacon project.

Speakers

Andrew Peel
Peel Passive House Consulting
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(Live In-Person)

Andrew Peel
Peel Passive House Consulting

Andrew’s primary areas of expertise are in low carbon buildings and renewable energy. His professional and academic experience ranges from consultancy, program management, authoring technical and non-technical articles, course and lecture delivery, and technical research. Andrew provides Passive House and sustainability consultancy, certification, and training services to the building sector. He is one of only a handful of Canadian-based Passive House certifiers accredited by the German Passivhaus Institut.

Jennifer Hogan
Pretium Engineering Inc.
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(Live In-Person)

Jennifer Hogan
Pretium Engineering Inc.

Jennifer is a Certified Engineering Technologist with over 13 years of experience in building science engineering. Jennifer is currently the Practice Leader for Energy Management, Building Envelope Commissioning, and Passive House Services at Pretium Engineering Inc. In addition to her extensive experience in the investigation of building envelope failures, building condition assessments, specification writing, contract administration and field review of building condition rehabilitation projects, and capital planning studies; Jennifer also has experience in energy and green retrofit analysis, Passive House, hygrothermal modelling, building enclosure commissioning, and artistic renderings. Jennifer has been an active participating member of the International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants (IIBEC, formerly RCI) since 2012, serving on the Board of Directors since 2015. Jennifer is a frequent presenter at all the associations she participates in and has authored several technical publications.

Hans Kogel
Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation
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(Live In-Person)

Hans Kogel
Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation

Business leader with over 30 years' experience in engineering and asset management. Over a 10-year period at Windsor Essex Community Housing as Director of Asset Management, Hans was corporately responsible for bringing excellence in leadership to Asset Management, Project Management, Engineering Services, and Procurement. In July 2018, Hans was promoted to Chief Regeneration and Development Officer where he is currently responsible for leading a strategic corporate re-engineering of CHC through the regeneration of existing assets, development of new affordable housing assets and regeneration of operational initiatives. Among other initiatives and projects Hans is currently overseeing the largest multi-residential (10 storey – 145 unit) Passive House build in Ontario. Hans is a professional mechanical engineer (P.Eng.), project management professional (PMP®) and chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIHCM).
11:00am - 12:00pm PT
Challenges leading to a low-carbon, high efficient and constructable future - a manufacturer’s point of view

Jean-François Côté
SOPREMA

Les Yard
SOPREMA

Description

Design and construction of high-performance buildings poses challenges for producing envelopes that are thermally efficient, cost effective, safe and constructable. Fortunately, stakeholders are challenging the status quo and increasingly working together to reach more ambitious targets. Manufacturers can contribute to the process by developing solutions that enhance the thermal performance of envelopes. Effective use of thermally efficient cladding attachment strategies and selective replacement of lower R-value insulation materials with more thermally performing alternatives are examples of SOPREMA solutions that are supported by environment product declarations demonstrating the low levels of embodied carbon.

Speakers

Jean-François Côté
SOPREMA
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(Live In-Person)

Jean-François Côté
SOPREMA

Jean-François Côté holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Université de Sherbrooke and a Ph.D. in Materials Science from INRS-Université du Québec obtained in 1998. He joined Soprema in 1999 as a research chemist where he worked on the development of adhesives and sealants used in roofing and civil engineering. In his current role, he represents Soprema on technical committees of industry associations (ARMA, PIMA, CIMAC) and is actively engaged in various North American standards development organizations. He is chair of the CSA A123 technical committee on Bituminous Roofing Materials, and vice-chair of the ASTM D08 Committee on Roofing and Waterproofing. Mr. Côté has been a speaker at various conferences (CCBST, IIBEC, CRCA and more) and has delivered numerous online webinars from SOPREMA.

Les Yard
SOPREMA
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(Live In-Person)

Les Yard
SOPREMA

Les Yard is a senior building envelope technical professional with over 20 years of experience in the construction industry. Les is a frequent presenter and has co-authored a number of technical articles. Key career highlights include serving as a board member and President of the British Columbia Building Envelope Council and acting as a co-chair of the Canadian Conference on Building Science and Technology in 2017. As a member of the Strategy and Innovation Group at Soprema, Les is committed to developing systems and assemblies that meet and exceed building, fire and energy codes while considering the significant challenges facing our industry today including climate change, durability, resiliency, environmental concerns, cost effectiveness, constructability and a significant impending shortage of experienced trade contractors.
12:00 - 1:15pm PT
Lunch & Keynote with Rob Bernhardt, Jessica McIlroy & Luiz Bezerra - From Impact to Action, Helping Municipalities Lead on Climate

Rob Bernhardt
Building Performance & Policy Expert

Jessica McIlroy
Climate Caucus

Luiz Bezerra
Passive House Canada (Moderator)

Description

With a rising number of extreme heating events, wildfires, and floods, municipalities are on the front lines of managing multiple climate impacts, while also being leaders in climate action. A lot of the best sustainability work in Canada is being done by municipalities, but many lack funds to create a comprehensive climate change plan. Meanwhile, policies from the federal government and most provinces for new and existing buildings will limit Canada's ability to meet its international climate targets. Learn about what municipalities can do, what is needed from the different levels of government, and what you can be do when provincial or federal sustainability policies are not going far enough.

Speakers

Rob Bernhardt
Building Performance & Policy Expert
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(Live In-Person)

Rob Bernhardt
Building Performance & Policy Expert

Rob works to advance building energy efficiency and reduce emissions from the operation and construction of buildings. He assisted with the development of the UN Framework Guidelines for Energy Efficiency in Buildings, the BC Energy Step Code, Canada’s building strategy and provincial and municipal programs and the establishment of the Vancouver Zero Emissions Buildings Exchange, was the founding CEO of Passive House Canada and published articles on building policy and regulations. Rob built the first Passive House on Vancouver Island and Canada’s first Passive House condominium project. He has a deep understanding of people and climate friendly buildings, including the economic and social advantages they bring.

Jessica McIlroy
Climate Caucus
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(Live In-Person)

Jessica McIlroy
Climate Caucus

Jessica McIlroy is passionate about driving change to realize social and climate justice. With over fifteen years of experience in clean energy and climate action, she is continually looking for and creating opportunities to change policy, behaviour and industry practices. Jessica is currently Deputy Executive Director with Climate Caucus and a Councillor with the City of North Vancouver, and sits on the City of North Vancouver Library Board of Trustees, the North Van Arts Council Board of Directors, the Lonsdale Energy Corporation Board of Directors, the Metro Vancouver Climate Action Committee, the BC Municipal Climate Leadership Council, and is Chair of the City’s Climate and Environment Task Force. Ms. McIlroy has held leadership positions with Climate Reality Project Canada, the BC Sustainable Energy Association, Marine Renewables Canada, and the BC Women in Energy Network.

Luiz Bezerra
Passive House Canada (Moderator)
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(Live In-Person)

Luiz Bezerra
Passive House Canada (Moderator)

Luiz is a Certified Passive House Designer and Civil Engineer with over 9 years of experience. He was the Project Manager for the first Certified Passive House in Latin America, located in his hometown of Natal in Brazil. In addition to his technical credentials, Luiz also has an MBA in Buildings Management and Construction Technology
1:30 - 2:30pm PT
The Curv, Designing the World’s Tallest Passive House

Rick Gregory
Brivia Group

Lorne Ricketts
RDH

Tom Wright
WKK Architects

Padraig McMorrow
IBI Group

Description

“The Curv” is set to be a global breakthrough in the design and construction of tall Passive House buildings. We want to share our journey, working on the world’s tallest PH building, located at 1075 Nelson street, Vancouver, BC.
The project has committed through to achieving Passive House Certification to comply with the City of Vancouver’s Zero Emissions Building Plan. We are bringing together the diverse project team to discuss the challenges and successes in achieving this goal.
The building is residential, with indoor, outdoor and rooftop amenity space, reaching to 60 stories the tower includes 25% social housing.

This session will dive deep into early-stage design and approvals process, discussing our Rezoning approval and current PHI review coordination for Design Stage Certification.
We will present our modular wall construction system, share floor plan layouts, and mechanical strategies for ventilation, heating and cooling.

Speakers

Rick Gregory
Brivia Group
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(Live In-Person)

Rick Gregory
Brivia Group

Rick Gregory is a senior executive with over 30 years experience in the planning and execution of large complex construction projects. Both private and public sector, his portfolio spans major civil, institutional, resort, hotel, office, retail and residential projects. He has lead teams on the owner’s side for the majority of his career but has worked for both consultants and contractors as well. Rick has pioneered ground-breaking prefabrication and modular construction methods on a number of his projects. He has also developed financial project control systems founded on an "Issues-Based Management" protocol. Rick was leading Henson's team on its landmark 60-storey passive house tower in Downtown Vancouver and its 9-acre residential development project in West Vancouver. Following acquisition of these 2 properties by Montreal’s Brivia Group in 2021 he has joined their new Vancouver operation and is Brivia's Project Director on the Curv.

Lorne Ricketts
RDH
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(Live In-Person)

Lorne Ricketts
RDH

Working across a wide spectrum of RDH’s core practice areas in his roles as a consultant, researcher, and educator, Lorne is able to leverage his multifaceted expertise to design optimal solutions to complex building science problems. As a trusted consultant, Lorne regularly works closely with architects and developers to achieve their design and performance goals. Lorne’s typical projects include world-class architecture, industry-leading energy efficiency, and cutting-edge building technologies. In his role as leader of RDH's Building Science Laboratories team in Vancouver, Lorne works with manufacturers, governments, and industry organization to develop and test the next generation of building systems, and to lead change through the production of numerous industry-leading guidance and research documents. Lorne is deeply committed to education and is an accomplished presenter, having spoken at numerous conferences and industry events across North America.

Tom Wright
WKK Architects
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(Virtual)

Tom Wright
WKK Architects

Tom is a UK based architect, he spent 21 years at Atkins, and as Director of Architecture he spent 5 years living in Dubai delivering the Jumeriah beach Resort Development, and the iconic the Burk Al Arab hotel. Tom and his team at WKK have developed an international reputation for producing designs which are unique, as well as practical and affordable. His wide portfolio includes hotel and leisure projects, residential and office buildings, mixed use developments, master planning and cruise liners. The Curv is his first Passive House building and he has embraced the certification standard, exploring the potential for iconic, beautiful architecture with integrity, which delivers the highest standards of energy efficiency.

Padraig McMorrow
IBI Group
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(Live Virtually)

Padraig McMorrow
IBI Group

Padraig is a sustainability leader at IBI, guiding projects to deliver greenhouse gas emission reductions, through innovative and cost-effective measures. Following completion of 825 Pacific, he is currently consulting on IBI’s portfolio of larger Passive House buildings including 1075 Nelson, Vancouver, the world’s tallest Passive House. In parallel design and detailing the large University of Toronto Passive House Student Residence, he brings a broad knowledge from an architectural perspective. Working in the UK and North America, he aims to share lessons learnt from both continents to broaden IBI’s approach in low carbon building.
1:30 - 2:30pm PT
The Benefits of Building Electrification with Packaged Terminal Heat Pump Technology

Thomas Moore
Steven Winter Associates, Inc.

Description

Packaged Terminal Air Conditioners (PTACs) have a reputation for being inefficient, leaky, noisy, and unsightly; however, the next generation technology called Packaged Terminal Heat Pumps (PTHPs) have a much more promising future! We need to use all the tools at our disposal to combat climate change and PTHPs are becoming a new and powerful tool that the Passive House community can use. In contrast to older PTACs, new PTHPs provide a host of benefits to building designers, owners, operators, occupants and the environment at large including: electrification of heating and cooling, improved air tightness, better thermal performance, reduced refrigerant leakage, lower first costs, and lower operation costs. These new PTHPs are getting so good they are being implemented in large scale multifamily Passive House projects in New York City. This session will overview PTHP technology and how this technology aligns with Passive House and electrification.

Speakers

Thomas Moore
Steven Winter Associates, Inc.
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(Live Virtually)

Thomas Moore
Steven Winter Associates, Inc.

Thomas Moore is a Senior Building Systems Consultant at Steven Winter Associates, Inc. specializing in Passive House designs, and advanced energy modeling. Thomas works on integrated teams of architects and engineers to design and construct exceptionally efficient buildings. Thomas brings a deep understanding of building envelope, HVAC, and domestic hot water systems to all projects. Thomas has 7 years of professional experience in the field of building science and energy efficient building design. His direct project experience includes large institutional projects such as the Passive House student dormitories designed for University of Toronto, and University of Southern Maine.
1:30 - 2:30pm PT
Code Compliance Approaches: Intensity-Based versus Reference Building

Sara Gilani
CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada

Mark Bernhardt
Bernhardt Contracting

Sepehr Foroushani
Bernhardt Contracting

Description

The National Building Code (NBC) of Canada requires the reference building approach for the performance path of the code. Another approach adopted by building energy codes around the world is based on energy use intensity (EUI) targets. There are many stakeholders in Canada supporting the adoption of the EUI-based approach in the NBC. There is a lack of consensus about which of the EUI-based and reference building approaches be adopted for the performance path of the NBC. This session will present evidence examining design outcomes of the two approaches using a statistically representative sample size of the Canadian housing stock.

Speakers

Sara Gilani
CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada
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(Live Virtually)

Sara Gilani
CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada

Sara Gilani is a Research Engineer at CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada. Her research focuses on improving energy performance and reducing greenhouse gas emissions of Canadian new construction.

Mark Bernhardt
Bernhardt Contracting
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(Live In-Person)

Mark Bernhardt
Bernhardt Contracting

Mark is the President of Bernhardt Contracting Ltd., a licensed builder based in Victoria BC. In 2012, Bernhardt Contracting built the first Certified Passive House on Vancouver Island, and has since gone on to build or consult on dozens more. Mark is also a Registered Energy Advisor and Passive House Consultant, and over the past few years has spent much of his time helping other builders gear up for Step Code and higher performance buildings. He serves on several provincial code comities and chairs the CHBA BC technical committee. He is also the CEO of Energy Code solutions a new company formed for the purpose of using big data and automation to inform design and code compliance across the country.

Sepehr Foroushani
Bernhardt Contracting
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(Live Virtually)

Sepehr Foroushani
Bernhardt Contracting

Sepehr Foroushani, Ph.D., P.Eng., is a mechanical engineer whose primary research and policy interests are efficiency, sustainability and resilience in the building sector. He has worked for Simon Fraser University, City of Surrey (BC) and City of Richmond (BC). Currently he works as a research scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering & Bioeconomy in Germany.
2:30 - 3:00pm PT
Networking Break & Exhibits
3:00 - 3:30pm PT
Design MURBs for A Hot and Dry Climate by Integrating Environmental Analysis

Haobo Liu
DIALOG

Saurabh Shrestha
DIALOG

Description

Hermosillo is known as “the city of the sun” because it is in one of the zones that receive the greatest solar energy in the world. Our team has been working on residential development in this location, much of which is constructing midrise multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs). The design team identified several challenges with the design of MURBs in a hot and dry climate, including less flexible orientation, less daylight opportunity, and less cross-ventilation possibility. Through environmental analysis, the design team explored various strategies to overcome these challenges to achieve daylight, energy and comfort targets and applied them to the project. This project presents that by incorporating knowledge about the environmental performance in the design process, the designers could benefit from the wind, sun, and heat in this hot and dry climate and better amalgamate architectural design with performance objectives.

Speakers

Haobo Liu
DIALOG
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(Live In-Person)

Haobo Liu
DIALOG

Haobo Liu is an award-winning sustainability designer. He is a practitioner who advocates green building design and carries on through the design process by introducing new solutions and collaborating with various stakeholders. Haobo has presented his projects and research at various venues, including the 24th International Passive House Conference with his First-Prize award project from the 2019 High-Performance Buildings Design Competition. Besides his practice, Haobo is an adjunct professor teaching high-performance building courses at the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture in UBC.

Saurabh Shrestha
DIALOG
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(Live In-Person)

Saurabh Shrestha
DIALOG

Saurabh Shrestha is a sustainability consultant at DIALOG’s Toronto studio with experience in collaborating with project teams to realize their sustainability goals through an integrated design process. Saurabh has wide-ranging skills in building performance analysis, including early-phase energy and daylight simulations, and has delivered LEED certification for several projects in the mixed-use/residential, commercial, healthcare, sports and education sectors. Before joining DIALOG in Toronto, Saurabh worked as a sustainability consultant in California for five years. Saurabh has a background in Architecture and is a LEED® Accredited Professional with a specialty in Building Design and Construction and a WELL Accredited Professional.
3:00 - 3:30pm PT
Government Incentives and Financial Programs

Frederic Bettez
Canada Infrastructure Bank

Description

The Commercial Building Retrofit Initiative (CBRI) is an outcome focused on GHG emission reductions and agnostic to how the reductions are achieved as long as they are measurable and verifiable by industry accepted M&V standards in IPMVP. The objectives of the CBRI are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, transform the market and support economic and social co-benefits.

Speakers

Frederic Bettez
Canada Infrastructure Bank
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(Live Virtually)

Frederic Bettez
Canada Infrastructure Bank

Frederic Bettez (he/his) is currently a Managing Director – Investments at the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB). With 17 years of experience in the infrastructure and renewable energy sectors, he is responsible for leading the CIB Commercial Building Retrofits Initiative, the CIB’s investments in broadband, and overseeing the CIB activities in the province of Quebec across all sectors. Before joining the CIB, Frederic was President of Cosime Infrastucture and Energy Inc., providing advisory and asset management services to project developers and owners on project finance transactions. Frederic’s previous experience also includes being a project finance lender at Dexia Credit Local and an equity investor at Macquarie Capital Markets Canada where he mainly focused on public-private partnership development and financing. Frederic is a CFA charter holder and an MBA graduate from the University of British Columbia. He also holds a B. Eng in mechanical engineering from McGill.
3:00 - 4:00pm PT
Blind spots within blind spots - How Passive House helps mitigate embodied carbon within Refrigerants and Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing systems

Jeremy Field
Integral Group

Description

Embodied Carbon has been recognized as a blind spot of the building industry, and effort has gone into mitigating the carbon emissions tied to steel, concrete, wood and other structural & enclosure materials.

However, other major systems hiding within the walls of our buildings are not generally considered, but are made of some of the most carbon-intensive (per kg) materials - the systems that keep our buildings ventilated, sanitary, and powered.

As Canada works towards a zero carbon building sector, Passive House buildings are uniquely situated to support achieving some of the most drastic reductions in these blind spots within a blind spot.

Speakers

Jeremy Field
Integral Group
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(Live In-Person)

Jeremy Field
Integral Group

Passionate and thoughtful, Jeremy is a strong advocate for resilient, low carbon buildings that marry the ideas of passive design and fundamental sustainability. Focused on the building scale and with a background in energy modelling, Jeremy stays at the forefront of conversations at the intersection of operational and embodied carbon reduction opportunities. He is Co-chair of CLF Vancouver and sits on the City of Vancouver's Big Move 5 Advisory Committee in addition to his role at Integral Group. Buildex, 2022 - Constructing Lower Embodied Carbon Buildings: It Takes an (Interdisciplinary) Village (Panel Moderator) CLF Vancouver, 2021 - Improving How We Baseline Embodied Carbon CaGBC, 2021 - Low Embodied Carbon Designs Course CaGBC 2019 - Why Carbon 2.0 CaGBC 2018- Why Carbon
4:00 - 5:00 PT
Intro to PHPP 10: New features and developments

Jürgen Schnieders
Passivhaus Institut

Description

The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) has demonstrated its ability to reliably predict the energy performance of buildings for many years. The tenth version of the PHPP is now also available in an English language version. Jürgen Schnieders from the Passive House Institute coordinated the development of PHPP 10 and will explain all the new developments and features.

PHPP 10 contains helpful new add ons and innovative new features for the energy balancing of highly efficient buildings. The calculation of heat pumps has been improved, and split devices are now included as well. Another new feature is a stress test for summer comfort, which is helpful for planning buildings in an already noticeably shifting climate. Furthermore, PHPP 10 features a new sheet for the comparison of calculated results with measured data. The new version also simplifies the input of more complex windows, improves the algorithm for heat losses through the ground, and provides lots of further improvements.

Speakers

Jürgen Schnieders
Passivhaus Institut
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(Live Virtually )

Jürgen Schnieders
Passivhaus Institut

Born in Germany in 1967, studied physics with a focus on solar energy and efficient energy use. Member of the scientific staff of the Passive House Institute, Darmstadt, Germany, since 1997. Ph.D. on Passive Houses in the mildly warm climates of South West Europe in 2009. Joint managing director of Passivhaus Institut GmbH since its establishment in 2019. Major fields of work: • Development of the Passive House Planning Package PHPP • Development and application of dynamic hygro-thermal simulation software • Evaluation of field monitoring data • Investigations on the applicability of the Passive House approach in different regions and climates
3:30 - 5:00pm PT
Networking Break & Exhibits

8:00am - 9:00am PT
Registration, Exhibits & Networking Breakfast
9:00 - 10:00am PT
UBC Okanagan Skeena Residence – Lessons Learned from Canada’s first Passive House student residence.

Craig Shirra
UBC Properties Trust

Patrick Stewart
The AME Consulting Group Ltd

Shannon Dunn
UBC

Jamie Harte
PUBLIC Architecture

Brian Wakelin
PUBLIC Architecture

Description

The Project team presented on the UBC Okanagan Skeena Residence in 2018 about planning and technical design solutions for UBC’s first passive house student residence project. Since then, the project is now completed and has been in operation (since October 2020). This lecture will discuss challenges faced and lessons learned through the construction of this project, touch base on feedback from building occupants, and take a dive into the findings on energy usage and how it compares to the PHPP model.

Speakers

Craig Shirra
UBC Properties Trust
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(Live In-Person)

Craig Shirra
UBC Properties Trust

Craig is currently the Director of Development at UBC Properties Trust, where he acts as the owner’s project managers for all new capital projects at the University of British Columbia Okanagan campus and Kelowna region. Craig started his construction career as a steel stud and drywall tradesman working on some of Vancouver’s most significant projects pre-Olympics like the Richmond oval, BC place renovation and Queen Elizabeth Theatre renovation. Craig then joined Task Construction Management, a boutique CM firm managing projects such as the Vernon Library and South Surrey Rec Center. In 2012 Craig joined Bird Construction where he was part of the team that delivered the new UBC Student Union Building, Kelowna RCMP and the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre @ UBC Vancouver. Craig holds a degree in Construction Management and Diploma of Technology as a graduate of the Architectural Building Engineering Technologies program, both at BCIT.

Patrick Stewart
The AME Consulting Group Ltd
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(Live In-Person)

Patrick Stewart
The AME Consulting Group Ltd

As a Principal at AME Group, Patrick leads a team of engineers specializing in the design of mechanical systems for educational and residential facilities across Canada. Patrick has a keen focus for sustainable design, as a Passive House Certified Designer; he incorporates simple, sustainable designs into his work. Patrick is currently working on a number of new projects, some of which are seeking the goal of Passive House certification.

Shannon Dunn
UBC
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(Live In-Person)

Shannon Dunn
UBC

Shannon Dunn is the Director of Business Operations at the Okanagan campus of UBC where she has overseen the expansion of student housing from 300 beds to more than 2,100. In addition to student housing Shannon is responsible for the ancillary departments on campus and previously served as the Director of Capital Planning and the Director of Student Housing and Hospitality Services. Shannon has a Bachelor of Commerce from Ryerson University and a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies focused on health, psychology and education from the University of British Columbia.

Jamie Harte
PUBLIC Architecture
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(Live In-Person)

Jamie Harte
PUBLIC Architecture

Jamie is a graduate of the Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Edinburgh, with professional experience in Ireland before moving to BC in 2011. Demonstrating an early interest in residential building, he focused his thesis work on multi-unit housing and inventive social spaces. Since graduating, Jamie has been involved in all aspects of residential architecture including close client engagement, programming, detailed design, and consultation with local municipalities. Highly invested in energy efficiency and low-carbon materials, he is a Certified Passive House Designer with Passive House Institute in Germany. Thorough, methodical, and detail oriented, Jamie leads with a particular gift for untangling complex problems.

Brian Wakelin
PUBLIC Architecture
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(Live In-Person)

Brian Wakelin
PUBLIC Architecture

Brian has worked in the Architectural profession since 1989 and is a problem solver and collaborator by nature. In 2008, he co-founded PUBLIC which has developed a reputation for ongoing excellence. Under Brian’s leadership, the office was awarded for merit by the Society of Colleges and University Planning (SCUP), Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) and Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD). PUBLIC was selected as the AIBC’s Emerging Firm of the Year in 2012; in 2015 won the Canada Council for the Arts’ Prix de Rome; in 2017 earned an award of Excellence and the Robert Ledingham Award from the Interior Designers Institute of British Columbia; and four AIBC Lieutenant Governor Awards. Prior to co-founding PUBLIC, Brian was an Associate Principal at Busby Perkins+Will for ten years, where he led higher learning projects and played a significant role on many award winning public buildings. His work in higher education is widely recognized and has received three awards from SCUP/AIA.
9:00 - 10:00am PT
Resilience in a Time of Change: The Gabion House is Designed for Today and Tomorrow

Graeme Verhulst
Waymark Architecture

William King
Waymark Architecture

Description

Designing for today and tomorrow requires attention to performance, resilience and an integrated relationship with the natural environment. The Gabion house is a custom-designed single family home on Vancouver Island that is built to Passive House standards with post-disaster structural systems and will be petal-certified as part of the Living Building Challenge 3.1. The house is designed to withstand severe weather, power disruptions and earthquakes as well as provide the owners with local natural food sources, water storage and abundant electrical power. Other design criteria include designing for aging in place and visual impairment.

Speakers

Graeme Verhulst
Waymark Architecture
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(Live In-Person)

Graeme Verhulst
Waymark Architecture

Graeme is a founding principal of Waymark Architecture and a keen advocate for advanced building science. He is one of the first architects in BC trained to design to the stringent International Passive House Standard, the world’s leading approach to energy in buildings. Graeme is also past chair of the Vancouver Island Chapter of the AIBC and sits on the Township of Esquimalt's Design Review Committee. Graeme spends his time with his young family and his garden.

William King
Waymark Architecture
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(Live In-Person)

William King
Waymark Architecture

Will is a visionary designer that works with clients to bring the most out of their projects. Along with new commercial and residential projects, he has experience working with significant upgrades to existing buildings, including rigorous heritage building upgrades. His focus on measurable sustainable goals has led to widespread adoption of Passive House, LEED and Living Building standards within his practice. He currently sits on two Advisory Design Panels and is a past chair of the Architectural Conservation Committee of the Victoria Civic Heritage Trust.
9:00 - 10:00am PT - In-Person
An Active Approach to Passive House Windows

Solveig Rey
Cascadia Windows

Description

This presentation explores the Passive House strategy for windows, providing a high-level overview of the building science behind the standard, how the standard is measured and validated in real-world projects, as well as the benefits of Passive House windows for occupants.

Speakers

Solveig Rey
Cascadia Windows
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(Live In-Person)

Solveig Rey
Cascadia Windows

A member of the Cascadia Windows & Doors technical sales team, Solveig Rey is a certified Passive House Consultant with a background in mechanical engineering and more than a decade of experience in high-performance building products. Ms. Rey routinely works with Cascadia clients to optimize their product configurations and specs to maximize their project's fenestration performance.
10:00 - 10:30am PT
Networking Break & Exhibits
10:30 - 11:30am PT
Keynote - Climate Solutions on Campus

Mike Wilson
University of Victoria

Lorne Ricketts
RDH

Description

Universities play a critical role as conveners for climate understanding and are leaders in climate action through research, teaching and campus operations. They have the power to inspire, harness resources and stimulate innovation to drive climate solutions in our communities. This session will explore climate and sustainability planning at a campus scale including opportunities to improve integration amongst campus and community partners and to leverage the campus as a test-bed to trial, and advance climate and sustainability solutions.

Speakers

Mike Wilson
University of Victoria
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(Live In-Person)

Mike Wilson
University of Victoria

Mike Wilson is the Director of Campus Planning and Sustainability at the University of Victoria, where his team develops campus land use plans and facilitates the advancement of climate and sustainability action in campus operations. In this role, Mike has recently worked to develop a new Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 2030 which provides an integrated response to the challenges and opportunities afforded by climate change, and guides the university’s contribution to sustainability and planetary health. Prior to this position, Mike spent 10 years working in policy and development planning at the City of Victoria and City of Vancouver. Mike holds a Master of Planning from Dalhousie University and is a member of the Planning Institute of British Columbia.

Lorne Ricketts
RDH
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(Live In-Person)

Lorne Ricketts
RDH

Working across a wide spectrum of RDH’s core practice areas in his roles as a consultant, researcher, and educator, Lorne is able to leverage his multifaceted expertise to design optimal solutions to complex building science problems. As a trusted consultant, Lorne regularly works closely with architects and developers to achieve their design and performance goals. Lorne’s typical projects include world-class architecture, industry-leading energy efficiency, and cutting-edge building technologies. In his role as leader of RDH's Building Science Laboratories team in Vancouver, Lorne works with manufacturers, governments, and industry organization to develop and test the next generation of building systems, and to lead change through the production of numerous industry-leading guidance and research documents. Lorne is deeply committed to education and is an accomplished presenter, having spoken at numerous conferences and industry events across North America.
11:30 - 12:00pm PT
Closing Remarks & Closing Ceremony

Chris Ballard
Passive House Canada

Evelyne Bouchard
Tandem Architecture Écologique

Speakers

Chris Ballard
Passive House Canada
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(Live In-Person)

Chris Ballard
Passive House Canada

Chris Ballard has a history of supporting environmental and land use causes, most recently as the Ontario’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change implementing the government’s plan for a clean environment and a sustainable economy. He also served as the Minister of Housing and the Minister responsible for Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy and a Member of the Treasury Board. Chris’ political experience also includes being a municipal councillor in Aurora, Ontario. Chris is a past Executive Director of the 60,000 member Consumers’ Association of Canada (Ontario) and a founding board member of the Consumers Council of Canada. His leadership in journalism, communications and public affairs includes terms as President and Board member of the Public Affairs Association of Canada.

Evelyne Bouchard
Tandem Architecture Écologique
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(Live In-Person)

Evelyne Bouchard
Tandem Architecture Écologique

Evelyne Bouchard is a course instructor and board director at Passive House Canada. She is also a practicing architect (OAA & OAQ) and principal at Tandem Architecture Écologique, a small firm dedicated to creating high-performance sustainable projects at all scales through collaboration with like-minded professionals. Evelyne is passionate about the overlap between thoughtful design and technical rigour. She strives to embed Passive House design principles and measurable performance into the creative process to design projects that are durable, sustainable, functional and beautiful.
12:00 - 1:00pm PT
Lunch
1:30 - 5:00pm PT
Bike Tour (In Person)

Description

Please see our Bike Tour tab for more information
1:30 - 5:00pm PT
Exhibitor Presentation (Virtual)