NAIT exceeds sustainable design and building expectations
NAIT has turned silver into gold – LEED gold. During the planning stages of the Centre for Applied Technology (CAT), the polytechnic committed to achieving silver status under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, the international yardstick for measuring green building design and construction in over 160 countries.
“The decisions we made on CAT considered NAIT’s future sustainability,” says John Engleder, associate vice-president of facilities management and development at NAIT. “While we weren’t going after LEED gold specifically, it’s an outcome of making the right decisions.”
The result is a building that has exceeded expectations. Eight months after it opened its doors in August, 2016, the centre – the first NAIT building ever to aspire to be LEED certified – earned gold.
As the largest capital project in the polytechnic’s history, the centre has set a major precedent in sustainable campus development at NAIT.
“Everyone involved in the project wanted this building to be the heart of campus,” says Stantec’s Léo Lejeune, lead architect of the building. “It sets the future.”
Here’s a look at the factors and features that took the building from good to great.
