Listen as we talk about how to build cleaner and greener in Canada

by BIM Academy | February 11, 2022 |  3 min read

Listen as we talk about how to build cleaner and greener in Canada
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Peter Barker returns for a second series of the BIM Academy Digital Climate podcast. In this series, Peter focuses on the digital built environment in Canada and the outstanding innovations and developments in BIM and digital construction within the region.

As in the previous series, Peter looks at the blend between digital processes and the sustainable actions that the AEC industry is taking to fight climate change. Leading to the intersection where building and infrastructure projects combine with new modern methods of construction to help us build safer, better, cleaner and greener.

In this first episode of the new podcast series, Peter talks to green building champion Shaun St Amour, Outreach and Education Associate at 475 High Performance Building Supply in Vancouver, British Columbia.

From the outset of their talk, Shaun made it very clear that the climate emergency is real is escalating rapidly, particularly in British Columbia where extreme weather events in 2021 have served as a wake-up call.

In the early 1980s, climate change came to the fore as a major planetary problem, taking over news outlets as scientists revealed just how fragile our ecosystem is, and the damage that had already been done due to global industrialisation. Ever since governments have taken action, at somewhat varying degrees, to make plans to change the way we live.

Today, these climate predictions are no longer something we simply read about, they are on our doorstep and directly reshaping our world and our society.  For Canada in particular, this region has witnessed its highest-ever temperature in the summer of 2021, which resulted in devastating fires and sudden deaths of hundreds. Shaun comments that as a result of the fires, there has been mass devastation building stock to infrastructure with many buildings and roads being lost.

Now more than ever, combating climate change is crucial to the wellbeing and survival of Canadians.

With the construction sector amassing almost 40% of annual global CO2 emissions, drastic measures need to be taken and part of this is to look at the way we not only build, but where we source materials.

Shaun is an advocate of passive house design and for many of the designs he is involved in, he elects timber as the main construction material.

Shaun comments that timber is a mass, readily available material, naturally sourced and easy to use. It is versatile as well as being aesthetically attractive.

The Canada government has led from the front and set a highly ambitious carbon reduction policy with strict targets. These targets afford an opportunity for new, sustainable material to become more mainstream. Uptake has been slow but is now rapidly escalating.

Peter asked what steps the industry and government could take to further improve this acceleration of adoption to encourage greater use of new construction processes and materials.

Shaun pointed out that education and training are key to accelerating the adoption, as not everyone is yet convinced of the benefits of replacing old with new!  

Follow the conversation further on the podcast here as Peter and Shaun dive deeper into what forward thinking businesses in Canada are doing to integrate digital and sustainability in the face of the climate change crisis.

Listen now
Peter Barker

Podcast Host:
Peter Barker, Director, BIM Academy
@PeterJohnBarker

Shaun St Amour

BIM Academy Guest and Sustainability Champion:
Shaun St Amour, Outreach and Education Associate with 475 High Performance Building Supply
@Shaun_Footprint