Cranberry Commons Cohousing
Location
4272 Albert St
Burnaby, BC
Canada
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Certifications & Awards
- 2002: Environmental Development Award, City of Burnaby
- 2002: Sustainability Award, Honourable Mention, Fraser Basin Council
Project Team
- Owner: Cranberry Commons Cohousing Development Corporation (resident led)
- Architect: Birmingham and Wood
- Structural Engineer: Chiu Sandys Wunsch Engineering
- Mechanical Engineer: Stantec (formerly Keen Engineering)
- Electrical Engineer: Falcon Engineering Ltd.
- Landscape Architect: Vagelatus Associates
- Contractor: Mann Construction
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Summary
Key Sustainability Features:
- Generates 50% fewer vehicle trips per household than similar buildings in similar locations
- Resident familiarity with the building design has enabled the implementation of post-occupancy sustainability strategies, including lighting and heating control system tuning and maintenance, and parkade lighting "de-bulbing"
Cranberry Commons is a project of the Cranberry Commons Cohousing Development Corporation. This is a not-for-profit corporation that was formed by future homeowners for the express purpose of financing and directing the design and development of this multi-family residential building. The development includes 22 strata-title private homes, and a common house which includes a kitchen, dining area, children's area, library, lounge, meeting room, laundry room, work room, guest room, and storage space.
This cohousing community is home to a diverse group of residents enjoying a range of private and shared living. Design considerations strive to support a healthy, comfortable, and interactive residential community. High priority is placed on environmental and community stewardship by incorporating green technologies and providing facilities and resources that can be voluntarily shared by interested community members. These include laundry facilities, a common kitchen for shared meals, outdoor gardens, composting bins, and children's play areas. Some residents share cars, tools, household appliances, canoes, and other recreational equipment, lowering overall consumption.
A properly commissioned control system for the central boilers helps to ensure that the infloor radiant heating system is operating as efficiently as possible. Other energy and water efficiencies include the use of compact fluorescent lighting for outdoor locations, efficient laundry appliances, low flow toilets and showerheads, and rain barrels for irrigation purposes. Under Canada's Renewable Energy Deployment Initiative and BC's Renewable Energy Technology Program, solar hot-water panels were installed, which offsets the domestic hot water load by 50%.
Construction site recycling was mandated in the construction contracts to minimize materials sent to landfill. Cardboard, clean dimensional timber and palette wood, concrete, scrap metal, drywall, and paint were sorted on-site and recycled. Green materials used in the building process included high volume fly ash concrete and reclaimed timbers.
"While the building itself incorporates many 'green' design elements, the most important sustainability feature is the strong sense of community; this makes higher density urban living successful by enabling shared indoor and outdoor spaces to function like extensions of one's private home while at the same time providing a rich environment for interaction between neighbours." Sean Pander, Building and Grounds Committee, Cranberry Commons
Tours: Available upon request
This Post Was imported from the 'Greater Vancouver Green Guide', it's part of the 'Green Guide Portal' to the Green Building Brain
