VANCOUVER – Winners of the 2025 CAGBC Awards™ were recently announced at the Building Lasting Change™ (BLC) conference gala in Vancouver and recognized outstanding individuals and groundbreaking projects reshaping Canada’s green building sector.
“The CAGBC Awards spotlight the innovators transforming Canada’s building industry,” said Thomas Mueller, CAGBC president and CEO, in a statement. “This year’s winners exemplify extraordinary commitment and leadership pushing beyond industry limits to deliver the next generation of sustainable buildings in Canada.”
The CAGBC Awards were presented in two categories: Green Building Excellence and Green Building Leadership.
There is also the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was given to Jonathan Westeinde, CEO and founder of Windmill Development Group.
According to the CAGBC, Westeinde has led more than $5 billion in high-performance, socially responsible building projects across Canada. His leadership has driven the creation of innovative financing models to support green development, including zero carbon district energy systems, geothermal energy services contracts and green loans. He co-launched the One Planet Living Real Estate Fund, a $1 billion impact investment vehicle focused on building sustainable communities across the country.
“Jonathan Westeinde has spent his career proving that developing sustainable market housing and profitability can go hand in hand,” said Mueller. “Through his work at Windmill and beyond, he’s helped redefine what’s possible in green residential development. His leadership has not only delivered exceptional residential projects but also created new pathways for financing and scaling low-carbon development projects in Canada.”
Mueller himself was also honoured at the gala for his outstanding leadership, in particular,
for 20 years at the helm as the organization’s president and Chief Executive Officer.
Mueller was a founding director of CAGBC, which was established in 2002. He took the reigns of the fledgling organization in 2005. Under his guidance, CAGBC saw its first LEED certified building in 2004. Today there are over 6,286 certifications and Canada was recognized as the third largest LEED territory in the world after the United States and China.
Mueller also oversaw the development of the Zero Carbon Building Standards in 2017. He will officially celebrate his 20th anniversary as president and CEO in July.
Excellence Awards
Zero Carbon Design
Winner: Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association Administration Office and Resiliency Centre
Location: Millbrook First Nation, N.S.
Designed by Solterre Design, in collaboration with Indigenous leaders and artists, the facility blends Mi’kmaq knowledge with high-performance strategies to achieve certification under the Zero Carbon Building – Design Standard™ v3.
Deep Carbon Retrofit
Winner: Fairmont Royal York Decarbonization
Location: Toronto
Led by real estate investor KingSett Capital, the Fairmont Royal York’s deep carbon retrofit stands as the largest heritage hotel decarbonization project in North America, transforming a 96-year-old, 1.2- million-square-foot landmark into a model of low-carbon innovation. Completed while the hotel remained open and operational, the retrofit achieved Zero Carbon Building – Performance Standard.™
Other CAGBC members involved in this project were PCL, JLL, Purpose Building, BPA (formerly TMP), MBII, Continual, Sprint, Plan Mechanical and Ampere.
Honourable Mention: 240 Markland Drive
Location: Toronto
Carttera’s retrofit of a 1960s-era residential tower cut energy use in half and nearly eliminated operational carbon. Ground source heat pumps, high-performance envelope upgrades and energy-saving features transformed the building into a resilient, low-carbon asset.
New Construction
Winner: Western University Ronald D. Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Location: London, Ont.
Designed by Perkins&Will, Western University’s Ronald D. Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is targeting LEED® Gold certification and features a high-performance envelope, geothermal heating and cooling, rooftop photovoltaics and all-electric systems. Water conservation, low-impact materials, and advanced stormwater management enhance its environmental performance.
Inspiring Home
Winner: L’Albédo and CPE La Petite Cour de Mistigri
Location: Québec
Designed by Lafond Côté Architectes Engagés, L’Albédo is a 12-storey complex combining social housing and day care, which combines high environmental performance and bold social inclusion. With 128 energy-efficient housing units – 30 of which are reserved for vulnerable populations – as well as a 148-space day care, the project integrates a geothermal system, heat recovery from the largest ice sports centre in neighbouring America and a microgrid-ready electrical network.
Leadership Awards
Green Building Champion
Winner: Russell Horne
Organization: City of Kingston
The CAGBC notes Russell Horne has demonstrated exceptional leadership in municipal sustainability, advancing green building practices across more than 100 City of Kingston facilities. As manager of facilities energy and asset management, he has embedded green building principles into policy, planning, and implementation. His work includes a building commissioning program, energy audits, a robust energy model library, energy retrofits and the development of a citywide Facilities Net Zero Transition Plan.
Green Building Visionary
Winner: UWCRC 2.0 Inc.
Location: Winnipeg
UWCRC 2.0 Inc., a not-for-profit real estate developer and housing provider, is mandated to develop wholly owned or joint-venture real estate projects and to deliver development, project management, and property management services to post-secondary institutions, non-profits, community-based organizations, and First Nations clients. The organization is redefining sustainable urban development by integrating social equity and climate leadership into every project. As Winnipeg’s largest core-area residential developer, UWCRC 2.0 has delivered over 570 rental units while advancing net-zero carbon innovation.
Emerging Green Leader
Winner: Della Wang
Organization: Fengate Asset Management
Della Wang leads Fengate’s Responsible Investment strategy. She’s led the development of Fengate’s sustainable design standards, launched a firm-wide due diligence program including standardized physical climate risk assessment, and produced Fengate’s first Sustainability Report. Beyond the firm, Wang champions green building through roles with Real Property Association of Canada (REALPAC), and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.
Government Leadership
Winner: City of Kingston – Facilities Management & Construction Services
Location: Kingston, Ont.
The City of Kingston’s Facilities Management and Construction Services team is setting a new municipal standard for climate leadership, the CAGBC states. Its centralized management of over 160 municipal facilities that includes energy management, asset management, construction, commissioning and maintenance has allowed the successful deployment of it Net Zero Transition Plan and the team has driven a 21 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per square foot since 2018.
Ed Lim Technical Volunteer
Winner: Steve Kemp
Organization: RDH Building Science Inc.
Steve Kemp is one of Canada’s foremost experts in energy efficiency and carbon reduction. A LEED fellow and principal at RDH Building Science, Kemp brings technical expertise in low-carbon technologies, from geothermal and solar to thermal storage and energy recovery. Steve has dedicated over 17 years of volunteering with CAGBC’s Energy & Engineering Technical Advisory Group. As well, for over seven years, he has volunteered with the National Research Council national codes committee, where he has helped guide Canada’s transition toward net-zero buildings.
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