PwC Tower in Toronto "close to" LEED Platinum

EllisDon Corp. is putting the finishing touches on a Toronto office tower that its major tenant, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Canada, says may be able to obtain a Leadership in Environment and Energy Design (LEED) standard Platinum rating. Building designers are actually aiming for LEED Gold. Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) of San Jose, California was hired to put its Catalyst switches in the basement and ensure the building automation systems, lighting, blinds, computer and phone networks were all on Internet Protocol, or IP

EllisDon Corp. is putting the finishing touches on a Toronto office tower that its major tenant says may be able to obtain a Leadership in Environment and Energy Design (LEED) standard Platinum rating, though they are aiming for LEED Gold.

PwC Tower, located about halfway between the Rogers Centre and Air Canada Centre sports venues, is at 18 York St. The developer of the 650,000-square-foot building is Great West Life Realty Advisors while audit and consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Canada is the major tenant.

As part of the plan to aim for LEED Gold certification for the 26-storey building, Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) of San Jose, California was hired to put its Catalyst switches in the basement and ensure the building automation systems, lighting, blinds, computer and phone networks were all on Internet Protocol, or IP, which was traditionally used just for communications among computers.

EllisDon and Cisco also installed a system to provide fault detection for heating, ventilation and cooling, so they can predict building performance and conduct preventative maintenance.

View Larger Map

Founded in 1984, Cisco’s traditional core business was switches and routers for computer networks but it has since expanded to make other electronic equipment such as phones and video conferencing systems, and its Smart Connected Real Estate unit works with construction firms to connect lights and building automation systems.

During a recent media tour, PwC project leader Mary McGrath showed reporters how she can use an office phone to dim the lighting in the room and ensure she uses only the minimum level of lighting required.

In a conventional office building, if a worker comes in on a weekend, they have to light up a zone on a floor, and sometimes multiple floors, said Stephen Foster, EllisDon’s director of information and communications technology services

“Think of all that energy that’s being used,” he said. “So what we’ve installed in this site are occupancy sensors, so if this was 3 a.m. when you were arriving, it would essentially light your path as you made your way to your work station, and because we now have the solution you can actually then control just within your space, using only that amount of electricity.”

Although the developers are aiming for LEED Gold, McGrath said they might get a higher rating.

“We’re so close to Platinum that we might get it,” she said. “We’re striving for that but we actually committed to gold.”

Foster said with the audio-visual displays, which are also connected by IP, the users can display the amount of energy used by each floor, and they could have contests to reward floors who used less energy.

McGrath said the building is designed so all workers can see a window. Other environmental features include a green roof that collects rain water for toilets.

PwC manages 26 office locations across Canada and currently has to wait for year-end operating statements from landlords that show energy use.

“Once a year, from a corporate responsibility perspective, we want to measure our carbon emissions and we want to know how as a firm what we are doing,” McGrath said. “With this system, we won’t have to wait anymore. We’ll know instantaneously.”