The Project Spotlight for Homes by Sorensen wouldn’t be complete without due mention to it’s project collaborators and their role in this project.

Collaborators on a 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.

Homes by Sorensen project Collaborators include: The Homeowners, Nicol Design and Passive House Alberta

How did you get involved in the SSRIA GBTN with Homes by Sorensen?

Homeowner: We dreamed up Project Leo when Emily and I were trying to pay off our student loans and Heather (my mom) was trying to retire. We all knew our home was a major part of our environmental impacts and wanted something net-zero to reduce this. Initially we were looking at tiny homes, but after designing one and budgeting it out, we decided that this was not the right solution for us. Heather suggested that we buy a property and make a laneway suite to reduce costs. At first, we were skeptical of living in such close proximity but as we weighed the benefits, we started to understand that it might be a really good financial idea.

Glenn began researching sustainable building techniques and ways to affordably implement them into a house. This is when we came across passive house design. Immediately, we understood the implications from a life-cycle perspective. -Glenn Harasym and Emily

Nicol Design : I was invited by the contractor to assist. -Kevin Brown

Passive House Alberta: The homeowners were clients of mine: I helped them clarify their goals, vision and needs, provided high performance building education, created a preliminary design and reviewed potential properties to purchase. I answered question as needed throughout the design and build. -Frank Crawford

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 Nicol Design and Passive House Alberta featured on this months collaborator spotlight.

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

Homeowner: I am an environmental consultant by trade, but usually work in resource extraction like mining, urban development, renewable farms, or nuclear. It is very exciting to be able to collaborate with different technical professionals in a new way to implement thought processes and ideas on reducing environmental impacts. Since I see the direct results of the life-cycle process (i.e. resource extraction and reclamation), I really understand what happens for us to get products to sites. I also understand my clients concerns for project cost and “bang for buck”, and peoples criticisms of sustainability. It is great to be able to plan for all phases (construction, operation, and decommissioning), with the environment in mind at each phase.

Overall, my family and I did the research and garnered a very in depth understanding of a host of sustainable building techniques. We vetted these against cost, overall environmental impacts (embodied and operational), and realistic implementation to decide on the technique that would offer the best balance of environmental impact vs money. We then created the overall goals for Project Leo, which were privacy, affordability, and net-zero. Finding the right property and gathering the right team probably took us 2 years. Heather and Emily spent many hours after work looking for properties that met our financial, south exposure and zoning protection needs. Once we had the property, I designed around eight different overall concepts for the house to achieve the best layouts that met our three goals. During design and construction, we assisted in researching and deciding on products to meet the requirements for passive and low embodied carbon. Heather used to be a lawyer and was heavily involved in the legal details and funding (i.e. banking, as it was quite difficult to get financial institutions to mortgage us). I am excited to see the data and report the final environmental and financial numbers. -Glenn Harasym and Emily

Nicol Design : It’s been a great learning opportunity in a collaborative project that was foundational for the contractor, and to further my firm’s training and client engagement processes. Great lessons were learned as Nicol Design moves forward with training and coaching opportunities for the contracting community. As the market for equipment and materials continues to evolve; each project presents new opportunities. My recent partnership – soon to be announced – with a mechanical engineer and an architect will add further capacity. -Kevin Brown

Passive House Alberta: High Performance buildings need to move from pilot projects to mass adoption as part of our effort to combat climate change. I am happy to share my experience and knowledge with others to ensure all high performance projects are a success. I bring a rare combination of experience from designing, building and living in a cold climate Passive House. -Frank Crawford

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

Homeowner: I think to us, Project Leo offers a great quality of life improvement. For Heather, it has allowed her to retire in a beautiful house that is net-zero, with connection to a city and her family. For us, we have moved to twice the space, brand new, net-zero, with a similar commute for the same cost per month as when we rented. To create such a life improvement and make a better financial investment for our future is amazing. I am pretty excited to show these financials in the final reports. It’s unbelievable what the team achieved for the money. We also learned a lot about the building industry and how optimizing technologies can take so much thought. I work for an urban development and planning firm, so I am excited to take this knowledge and implement it wherever I can. Emily has decided to return for a Masters in Community Development, to implement her social work background with affordable environmental housing and create more sustainable communities. -Glenn Harasym and Emily

Nicol Design : More capacity to build Passive Houses more affordably, and confirmation of the importance of training and collaborative engagement. -Kevin Brown

Passive House Alberta: More experience in cold climate high performance construction and up to date costing data. -Frank Crawford

What do you hope the greatest project outcome will be?

Homeowner: I hope we can explain to home buyers why this may be a viable option for them, so we can create more sustainable homes. We have seen quite a bit of interest so far and when people find out the financials, we usually come in 40% less than they were expecting (i.e. people think this would be a 50% increase in cost). I also hope to talk to some planners surrounding how planning could create more optimal orientations and energy savings for little to no cost. -Glenn Harasym and Emily

Nicol Design : A satisfied client in a comfortable and healthy home. -Kevin Brown

Passive House Alberta: Help improve public awareness of all the benefits of Passive House and High Performance Construction and thus increase adoption. Increase the number of skilled high performance trades. -Frank Crawford

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

Homeowner: I hope to be able to educate and influence others in my professional career to implement more of these technologies in pre-planning phases. We are seeing so many funding opportunities pop up that relate to sustainable building and having the experience really helps us to understand and deliver these products successfully. Opportunities with the SSRIA and Passive House Alberta have also really allowed me to gain a network of professionals to reach out to. My involvement in pre-development phases of projects, allows me to chat with these folks and understand what is possible. I am also able to pass along information for them to get involved in upcoming potential opportunities. -Glenn Harasym and Emily

Nicol Design : Careful accounting of material carbon and operational costs and emissions. We must count everything. -Kevin Brown

Passive House Alberta: I incorporate all my past experiences and learnings into future projects. I am learning all the time. -Frank Crawford

For more information on this project, visit their project page here.