The Project Spotlight for Reimagine wouldn’t be complete without due mention to it’s project collaborators and their role in this project. Collaborators on an GBTN team are sub-consultants or a product/service provider with a strong business connection to the design, construction, and clean technology sector. Collaborators mutually benefit from the business development, learning opportunity and relationships made that continue on to leverage new business after the project is complete.

Reimagine Project Collaborators include Glas Curtain, Revolve Engineering and BuildSense

How did you get involved in the SSRIA GBTN with Reimagine?

Revolve Engineering: I have worked with Vedran and the ReImagine team many time before on cool projects and luckily they brought us in again -Jacob Komar

Build Sense: BuildSense joined the Reimagine project team to provide measurement and verification of the energy savings achieved through the use of the improved curtain wall system. I originally got involved as a part-time team member but through the course of some unexpected twists became more of a full-fledged team member and I’m very glad I did. – David Norris

Glas Curtain: Past project experience – Peter Dushenski

SSRIA connects members on projects with the intent of bringing together the strengths of industry. Check out our members listing to see who you could network with by joining SSRIA, including members like GlasCurtain and BuildSense and Revolve Engineering featured on this months collaborator spotlight.

What does it mean to you be a project collaborator and what value do you add?

Revolve Engineering: We love to be part of innovative projects and to push the collective industry’s knowledge of energy efficiency. Our role and strength is to provide energy modelling and consulting to minimize the building’s energy usage and maximize how we use the innovative technologies implemented. -Jacob Komar

Build Sense: Simply put, we provide the confidence in knowing the proposed new curtain wall system is actually performing better than a business-as-usual construction. Mathematical models are all well and good but without the verification aspect it’s all too easy for a client to be left wondering whether their investment delivered the anticipated results. Our monitoring system will allow the client to verify the improvements in energy use and associated emissions leading to further marketing collateral for the client and an increased awareness of how their decisions directly impact both their operational bottom line and their contribution to local, regional, and global energy-related emissions. Personally, I take a lot of pride in collaborating on these projects as it allows all parties to explore new alternatives in established “best practice” with the shared goal of moving the needle when it comes to what’s possible, what’s expected, and what’s accepted. Progress is never easy but the value added by the verification not only results in an improved sense of confidence for the client in knowing they made the right design and materials decisions but also in the potential to further strengthen building codes and standards in the future; we should collectively view energy efficiency as standard practice rather than a luxury add-on and projects like this do a lot to help spread that narrative. – David Norris

Glas Curtain: It’s a great privilege to work on an innovative project like this! We brought our expertise and connections to the glass and glazing industry, as well as our network of suppliers that can help to deliver on this ambitious vision. It was hard work but a lot of fun and very rewarding! – Peter Dushenski

What do you think you will gain from your participation in the project?

Revolve Engineering: More data 🙂 We love to learn from these types of projects which push the boundaries of “typical” construction and products, we always learn so much. -Jacob Komar

Build Sense: Not sure it’s a “gain” exactly but I am looking forward to sitting down with the client after the building has been commissioned and saying “You made a great decision to pursue this improved curtain wall system and here’s the data that backs up that statement”. It can be daunting for a client to decide to pursue an untested or novel solution and I really enjoy being able to show them exactly how, where, and why their risk paid off. I learn a great deal from all stakeholders on the Reimagine project and I am grateful for the opportunity to benefit from their collective expertise. I’ve already gained a wealth of knowledge from the combined experience of all project stakeholders. I am a better energy management professional for this and I have made connections with folks who I may not have interacted with under a traditional siloed project delivery model, the immediate gains are supplemented by the future gains I believe are achievable through maintaining these connections and continuing to push the idea of integrated project delivery forward throughout the sector, the province, and the nation. -David Norris

Glas Curtain: Valuable exposure to our innovation! This is the first project in Alberta (to our knowledge) to use Vacuum-Insulated Glass (VIG) technology, and combined with our fibreglass-framed curtain wall, this showcase will demonstrate how forward-thinking our province can be! – Peter Dushenski

What do you hope the greatest project outcome will be?

Revolve Engineering: That we will not only reduce the building’s energy usage and improve occupant comfort and satisfaction, but also that the industry will not only learn from our lessons, but also be inspired to do something awesome. We are in a climate crisis so the time to be bold and try new things is now. -Jacob Komar

BuildSense: That our project will show the improvements achievable through the use of the improved curtain wall system either meet or exceed the modelled projections. My own personal greatest outcome will be when the client says “I’m really glad we pursued the improvements to our design, we love our building and we’re proud to showcase it”. – David Norris

Glas Curtain: A high-quality building for the client that serves the students and teachers well for generations, as well as one that offers low maintenance and high-performance. Of course we also hope that this project is the first of many to leverage this new technology combination of VIG+fibreglass framing! – Peter Dushenski

How will you continue to use the experience and learnings from this project to further reduce GHG emissions in the built environment?

Revolve Engineering: The lessons we learned from this project will help us make more informed decisions and give better advice to future innovative projects. -Jacob Komar

Build Sense: As a short answer, I now know of an improved curtain wall system to suggest to clients who are pursuing either a retrofit or a new construction project. I also now know a team of skilled engineers to pull into projects where their knowledge will help the client reach their goals with confidence, a team of window / curtain wall experts to call on when clients are concerned about the quality of their building envelope, and a team of imaginative architects who pursue energy efficiency as diligently as they pursue aesthetic design. It’s impossible for that to be anything but beneficial moving forward. I think my biggest takeaway is the knowledge that energy efficiency is fast becoming business-as-usual in the built environment and not to be satisfied working with trades or project collaborators who believe it’s still a nice-to-have rather than a base need. – David Norris

Glas Curtain: With this new technology combination of VIG+fibreglass framing, we can offer ultra-high-performance curtain wall solutions at a much more competitive price-point than was previously available. This increase in accessibility will open up many new opportunities for our other clients to specify our ThermVIG system to reduce their operational and embodied GHG impacts. – Peter Dushenski