Dockside Green is Going Beyond Green

Dockside Green in Victoria, British Columbia is one of those transformative developments that is changing the face of real estate – and it may be the greenest project of its kind ever in North America. The first phase, a residential complex of condos and townhouses called “Synergy” opened in March 2008; a second ‘residential cluster’, known as “Balance”, will debut in early 2009. And you can expect to hear much more about Dockside Green over the next couple of years.

ArchitectureWeek just ran a fine piece by Brian Libby, capturing the significance of this 1.3 million square foot mixed-use sustainable community:

“The development's first phase recently received LEED Platinum certification and, with 63 points, set a new record for the highest number of points achieved in the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system.

That's one clue that Dockside Green seems to be meeting the triple bottom line of environmental, economic, and social performance that the City of Victoria called for in its original request for proposals. The goal of developers Windmill West and Vancity Enterprises is to achieve LEED Platinum ratings for every building in the development, which would be a North American first. Dockside is also a pilot project for the new LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system.”

I was first introduced to the project myself three years ago while writing The Ecological Engineer. “A Prototype for Green Living” describes Keen Engineering’s pioneering MEP designs that would result in a state-of-the-art biomass energy co-generation plant and on-site sewage treatment:

“There’s going to be a lot of magic happening with Dockside Green,” said Blair McCarry, the lead designer for KEEN (now Stantec). “Its real significance is that the entire concept is based on an assessment of the ‘triple bottom line.’ This development is taking that idea to a new level: creating new jobs on site, revitalizing the local economy with viable businesses, and aiming for a greenhouse gas-neutral community that’s also a net producer of clean energy.”

That magic is taking shape. Becoming real. And Dockside Green is all the more remarkable as a 15-acre former brownfield site located on the city's inner harbor and eventually home to new residential, office, commercial and light industrial space.
State-of-the-art blackwater treatment – using bioreactor tanks and ultra-filter membrane technology – will be a central feature of Dockside Green.
IMAGE: Stantec