Canadian Property Management - Decarbonizing Existing Multi-Unit Residential Buildings

Canadian Property Management | December 2023
Mohammad Fakoor, PhD, P.Eng., CEA, CPHD, CEM, LEED® AP BD+C | Associate

“The most sustainable building is the one you don’t build”

As Canada’s 2050 net zero targets loom on the not-so-distant horizon, finding ways to decarbonize existing multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) in the most cost-effective way, with minimal disturbance to occupants, is an urgent undertaking for the sector.

According to Mohammed Fakoor, Associate at RJC Engineers, the goal isn’t just about retrofitting MURBs to address energy waste—it’s also about eliminating climate pollution, improving health and safety, and increasing resilience to extreme weather events.

In other words, it’s no easy task.

“Climate change is amping up the need to address our aging building stock,” he said, pointing out that existing MURBs account for approximately 38 per cent of our nation’s carbon emissions. “As the average temperature of the globe increases—especially once it passes the 2°C threshold—impacts will get out of hand and have dire consequences on the ecosystem. Building owners need to prepare for higher temperatures. The climate is changing, and our buildings need to change as well.”

Unlike new buildings that are designed with greener, low carbon resilience strategies embedded into all aspects of planning through to operations, carbon emissions were not a consideration for apartment buildings and condos borne of the 1960s and 70s. From poor insulation to cheap building materials, most MURBs from that era were anything but climate resilient. That said, the case for preserving rather than demolishing the existing buildings has been proven to bring greater rewards.

“There is more value in reusing existing materials, and in preserving buildings versus tearing them down, because it produces greater environmental savings,” Fakoor said. “Simply put, the most sustainable building is the one you don’t build.”

Still, the path forward isn’t easy. Most retrofits are invasive and much harder to conduct when a building is full of occupants. While there are ways to mitigate the disruption on tenants—i.e. tackling the work in chunks at a time and giving ample warning—it’s never ideal for tenants until the work is complete.

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