Michael Geller and Harold Kalke build communities and buildings with innovative, 'sustainable' features. Bob Rennie has sold more residential real estate, mostly condominiums, than anyone else in Canada. We brought the three together to discuss the future of energy efficient and 'sustainable' residential developments in British Columbia, and what could be done to encourage more environmentally-conscious residential infill in BC's communities.
A cornerstone of most attempts to improve both the energy performance and the environmental and social 'liveability' of urban centres is to increase residential density. But while it's one thing for a municipality to zone and to encourage increased residential density in Official Community Plans, it can be another to actually attract developers with the vision and sensitivity to infill areas in ways that add real value both to energy performance and urban liveability. Finding residents willing to trade-in some of the perceived luxuries of suburban living can more difficult again.
So how can a municipality attract the 'right kind of developer?' Is there money to be made from sustainable buildings? What are 'green' or 'sustainable' developers looking for, and how can their buildings be sold to people? In this feature, we ask three leading figures from BC's building industry to discuss the barriers and opportunities facing beneficial urban densification.
Michael Geller, Harold Kalke and Bob Rennie are three of BC's best known and most influential figures in the building industry. Each has successfully created and defined a unique role in BC's (particularly Vancouver's) development community, and has pioneered practices that others have and will continue to emulate. With differing backgrounds, goals and worldviews, their perspectives on what should be done to promote community and energy planning naturally vary. What unites them is a belief that the building industry can do better at creating environmentally-aware developments that benefit everyone.In late September 2000, Geller, Kalke and Rennie came to the Yaletown offices of Compass Resource Management to discuss their needs, objectives and ideas for encouraging 'greener' residential infill in BC's communities. The following notes have been prepared from what turned into a remarkably animated and wide-ranging discussion.
