Why We Do It

“DIAGRAM has combined the power of Green Building Information Modeling with the flexibility of the Green Globes family of Rating Systems to provide a simper, faster, more affordable way to a green building.”

– Richard Kula, Principal

The Canadian Green Building Certification Experience

In the last decade the world has seen the adoption of a spectrum of Green Building Policies in Canada and the U.S. that require Green Building Certification and yet the number of certified green buildings is relatively small. Manitoba’s experience is perhaps representative of why this is.

In 2005, the Government of Manitoba developed what was touted as “one of North America’s most progressive green buildings policies.” This policy would apply to all commercial and institutional projects funded by the Government of Manitoba including Crown Corporations and Agencies. The policy required that all new capital projects, including schools, daycares, healthcare and community facilities, be LEED Silver Certified by the Canada Green Building Council.

Since 2005, 70 projects in Manitoba have been bound by the Province’s Green Building Policy. However to date there is not a single project bound by the Green Building Policy that has completed the LEED certification process and more than a dozen Green Building Policy projects have formally abandoned pursing LEED certification as illustrated in a recent Winnipeg Free Press Article, “The green bar is stunningly high” – by Bartley Kives.

Why is this?

Manitoba is an environment of extremes characterized by:

The population of the region has a reputation for being value driven that attracts multinational corporations to test the market viability of their products.
An extreme climate, with a 70 degree C temperature range, that has encouraged a high baseline of energy efficiency. This makes cost effective energy upgrades more challenging.
Among the lowest utility rates in North America by one of the world’s most progressive utilities.
The region is typified by many smaller projects that face extraordinary challenges in justifying the high cost of the documentation required for LEED certification as below.

A comparison of the LEED Registered to Certified projects over time indicates less than 10% actually complete the process as below.

A phenomena referred to as the Gartner Hype Cycle that indicates a rapid growth and decline of a process when the difficulties of that process are discovered. The trend of LEED certification in Canada follows the initial stages of the Gartner Hype Cycle as below.

Our Solution

The LEED certification experience in the Manitoba Market and its relationship to the Gartner Hype Curve has been more extreme in Manitoba than in any other market due to the combination of relatively small projects, utility rates that are the lowest in North America and a population with a reputation for value that attracts multinational companies to test market their products.

In response to these challenges DIAGRAM has developed their own robust methodology to provide “value innovation” combining the analytical focus and flexibility of the Green Globes family of Rating Systems with state-of-the-art Building Information Modeling technologies to provide a simpler, faster and more affordable way to achieve green building certification for a wider range of project types and sizes.

As an example, The Linden Woods Community Centre is the first project bound by Manitoba’s Green Building Policy to complete the formal green building certification Process through Green Globes for New Construction Rating System. By using the more flexible Green Globes Rating System the project saved $70,000 in LEED certification fees that they spent to upgrade their mechanical systems saving the project more than $8,000 in annual energy costs.