by Shokry Rashwan PhD PEng
and Marten Duhoux AAA MAA NWTAA SAA MRAIC LEED® BD+C ID+C
ft3 Principal Architect / Housing Lead
LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) and other green standards for homes are intended to help develop buildings that are energy and water efficient, and that offer healthy and environmentally friendly indoor environments for people. That is basically why Manitoba Housing, the largest landlord in Manitoba, made the decision to develop seventy two (72) homes to those standards between 2011 and 2013 in three cities located in Northern and Western Manitoba. The homes were all designed according to green and LEED standards by one architectural firm, ft3 Architecture Landscape Interior Design, while the construction was done by three different contracting firms. Once construction was completed, only a few units at each location were selected for and achieved LEED certification. Brandon units were used as affordable housing rentals, in the fall of 2011 while the units in both Thompson and The Pas were used as college students’ family housing, in spring of 2013.
