Forging pathways to decarbonize our built environment

From ideation to construction and operation.
Real-world solutions, applied at scale.

Learn more about the chair and our mission

Climate change demands action.

Act urgently, but plan strategically

We take our research out of the lab into the real world. Our goal is to drive rapid and sustainable change in the architecture, engineering, and construction ecosystem to address the detrimental effects of our built environment on the planet.

We partner with actors from multiple sectors of society to test and implement our ideas at the ground level — where they can have real and immediate impact.

Discover our pilot projects

Our current focus: upgrading the existing building stock.

80% of buildings that will be standing in Canada in 2050 already exist. Rapid mass deployment of deep energy retrofits is critical to meet net-zero emissions targets by then.

Deep energy retrofits (DERs) substantially reduce buildings' energy consumption demand (50%-80%+) and greenhouse gas emissions by upgrading a building's insulation, airtightness and mechanical systems while avoiding landfill and land use emissions. “The most sustainable building is the one already built.”

Our approach is referred to as “over-cladding”: wrapping a building's exterior with insulated, prefabricated panels and replacing its ventilation and mechanical systems with smaller, ultra-high efficiency ones.

For more on our work on deep energy retrofits