Yorkdale mall earns first Parksmart certification

TORONTO — Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) has announced Canada’s first two Parksmart certifications.

Oxford Properties Group’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto achieved Parksmart certification at the Pioneer level for existing parking structures by achieving more than 90 points for its G Parkade southwest parking garage, and Yorkdale’s newly constructed E Parkade east structure was certified Parksmart Bronze by achieving between 110 and 134 points.

The parkades are the first two retail Parksmart certifications in the world, noted a recent release.

Sustainability measures that helped earn the certifications include the collection and usage of rainwater through cisterns in the two parkades and the repurposing of grey water from a tank in Parkade E for the mall’s washrooms, said GBCI.

The four cisterns in Parkade G and one in Parkade E, with capacities of 60,000 litres and 749,000 litres respectively, collect water to be used for irrigation of the mall’s landscaping and green roofs, and to power wash the garages, noted the release.

Other features earning Oxford Properties the designation include:

• four electric vehicle charging stations for Parkade E and 10 for Parkade G;
• dedicated carpool parking spaces;
• a free tire inflation station at each parkade that can be used by both drivers and cyclists;
• energy-saving programmable lighting with occupancy sensors and exterior photocell lighting;
• post-and-ring bicycle stands and bicycle lockers, offering both covered and uncovered bicycle parking; and
• access to cycle routes and mass transit, including the GO bus, city buses and the subway.

The mall’s rooftop is covered in more than 150,000 square feet of plantings, helping to save energy by reducing atmospheric heating, along with mitigating local air pollutants and managing surface water runoff, said the release. As well, it has one of the largest rooftop solar panel installations in the Toronto region, with more than 600 panels and seven inverters spanning more than a kilometre.

Parksmart was designed to advance sustainable mobility through targeted parking structure design and operation, said the release.

GBCI and the Canada Green Building Council launched a joint venture, GBCI Canada, in February 2018 to promote green building in Canada.