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Two Major Commercial Landlords Partner to "Green" Iconic Brookfield Place
Tenant Engagement Plays Key Role in TransformationTORONTO, October 14, 2010 - Two of Canada's major commercial building landlords, Brookfield Office Properties and Oxford Properties, have announced they are working together towards LEED Gold Certification in Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance for the Brookfield Place Complex, which provides 2.6 million square feet of Toronto's commercial building space for 97 commercial tenants. The green transformation of one of Canada's dominant landmarks was announced at the latest meeting of Greening Greater Toronto's (GGT) "Greening Our Workplaces" Tenant Series and included a major focus on tenant education and engagement.
This meeting kicked off the fall 2010 instalment of GGT's tenant series, which will see four more meetings hosted by large commercial tenants with their landlords. The series is part of Greening Greater Toronto's Commercial Building Energy Initiative which aims to break down barriers to achieving greater resource efficiency in the GTA's existing commercial building stock.
The event was hosted in Cisco Systems Canada's space at Brookfield Place, and showcased tenant-led energy conservation initiatives to encourage neighbouring tenants to make changes in their operations and workplaces to achieve greater resource and energy efficiency. Tenants from Brookfield Place's 49-storey Bay Wellington Tower, 53-storey TD Canada Trust Tower and 22 Front Street heard from Cisco on the energy efficiency measures it is adopting throughout its global building portfolio, in conjunction with a Cisco company-wide commitment of achieving a 25 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. Cisco has already achieved a 40 per cent reduction, making the global networking giant the ideal candidate to inspire other tenants to make greening their workplaces a priority.
"Cisco has set out to impact its sustainability agenda by integrating our many partners into our larger greening 'ecosystem'," said Rick Huijbregts, VP, Business Development, Smart + Connected Real Estate, Cisco Systems Canada Co. "The hardest part of the greening process has not been related to making system changes and upgrades; it has been changing organizational behaviour and engaging our employees from the bottom-up. We're starting to see the first wave of a generation that will demand a green, efficient workspace, and Cisco aims to take leadership in presenting a company-wide green agenda and helping our Brookfield Place colleagues in their organization's sustainability initiatives."
Attendees also heard presentations from Halsall Associates on the business case for going green, and details on the building landlords' activities as they work towards LEED Existing Building Certification. BOMA Toronto addressed the meeting to provide information on the cash incentives available through the BOMA Conservation & Demand Management Program to fund the implementation of energy efficiency measures.
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About Greening Greater Toronto:
Greening Greater Toronto (www.greeninggreatertoronto.ca) is an initiative of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance(www.civicaction.ca), a coalition of thousands of civic leaders who develop and launch solutions to pressing social and economic challenges in the Toronto region. More than 200 partners from corporations, industry, government, and the non-profit sector have joined the Greening Greater Toronto initiative, which aims to make the Greater Toronto Area the greenest city region in North America. They and others are engaged in three programs to address the region's environmental challenges, including: driving energy efficiency measures in Toronto region commercial buildings; creating a local emissions reduction fund; and encouraging green procurement.
Media Contact:
Rebecca Geller
Communications and Events Officer, Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance
rebecca.geller@civicaction.ca
(416) 992-4966 (cell)
(416) 309-4480 x509 (work)
This meeting kicked off the fall 2010 instalment of GGT's tenant series, which will see four more meetings hosted by large commercial tenants with their landlords. The series is part of Greening Greater Toronto's Commercial Building Energy Initiative which aims to break down barriers to achieving greater resource efficiency in the GTA's existing commercial building stock.
The event was hosted in Cisco Systems Canada's space at Brookfield Place, and showcased tenant-led energy conservation initiatives to encourage neighbouring tenants to make changes in their operations and workplaces to achieve greater resource and energy efficiency. Tenants from Brookfield Place's 49-storey Bay Wellington Tower, 53-storey TD Canada Trust Tower and 22 Front Street heard from Cisco on the energy efficiency measures it is adopting throughout its global building portfolio, in conjunction with a Cisco company-wide commitment of achieving a 25 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. Cisco has already achieved a 40 per cent reduction, making the global networking giant the ideal candidate to inspire other tenants to make greening their workplaces a priority.
"Cisco has set out to impact its sustainability agenda by integrating our many partners into our larger greening 'ecosystem'," said Rick Huijbregts, VP, Business Development, Smart + Connected Real Estate, Cisco Systems Canada Co. "The hardest part of the greening process has not been related to making system changes and upgrades; it has been changing organizational behaviour and engaging our employees from the bottom-up. We're starting to see the first wave of a generation that will demand a green, efficient workspace, and Cisco aims to take leadership in presenting a company-wide green agenda and helping our Brookfield Place colleagues in their organization's sustainability initiatives."
Attendees also heard presentations from Halsall Associates on the business case for going green, and details on the building landlords' activities as they work towards LEED Existing Building Certification. BOMA Toronto addressed the meeting to provide information on the cash incentives available through the BOMA Conservation & Demand Management Program to fund the implementation of energy efficiency measures.
- 30 -
About Greening Greater Toronto:
Greening Greater Toronto (www.greeninggreatertoronto.ca) is an initiative of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance(www.civicaction.ca), a coalition of thousands of civic leaders who develop and launch solutions to pressing social and economic challenges in the Toronto region. More than 200 partners from corporations, industry, government, and the non-profit sector have joined the Greening Greater Toronto initiative, which aims to make the Greater Toronto Area the greenest city region in North America. They and others are engaged in three programs to address the region's environmental challenges, including: driving energy efficiency measures in Toronto region commercial buildings; creating a local emissions reduction fund; and encouraging green procurement.
Media Contact:
Rebecca Geller
Communications and Events Officer, Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance
rebecca.geller@civicaction.ca
(416) 992-4966 (cell)
(416) 309-4480 x509 (work)
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