Monday, August 19, 2024 

Support to Communities Impacted by Natural Disasters

Built Green offers a means to build back better with support options

The ravages of forest fires in Canada’s beloved Jasper National Park that began in July remain out of control, while extensive flooding in Ontario continues into August. Late in June, a wildfire in Labrador forced evacuations in Churchill Falls, while weeks earlier, wildfires across Western Canada caused alerts and evacuation orders. In parallel, an evacuation order was issued for Fort Nelson in British Columbia, while fires rage in the Northwest Territories. In the meantime, much of Canada is still facing drought conditions that have persisted over the last year. There are coastal flooding warnings, while the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season is predicted to generate the most named storms on record. These are a mere few accounts of the extreme weather conditions experienced over the last several weeks.

Climate change is causing extreme temperatures and more frequently than in the past, contributing to drought and wildfire risk. And what follows is more intense rainfall, which is predicted to increase urban flood risks, alongside coastal flooding in many areas as the sea level rises.¹ The magnitude of this presents significant risk to the health and safety of Canadians.

With rebuilding already in progress, Built Green Canada is offering support to builders and municipalities who are part of these efforts and want to build back better. Built Green’s programs provide a pathway toward healthier, more durable, sustainably built homes. This requires the incorporation of climate-resilient strategies—a consideration in the organization’s third-party certification programs; meanwhile, one of the most unknown benefits of a sustainably built home is improved durability.

The organization’s programs take a holistic approach to ensure a tight building envelope is balanced with good ventilation and healthier products that contribute to improved indoor air quality. An approach that recognizes the house as a system: an interconnected sum of its parts, which affect each other and contribute to the occupant’s quality of life and environmental impact. The program includes energy and envelope, materials and methods, indoor air quality, ventilation, waste management, water conservation, occupant wellness and business practices.

Whether building new, renovating or restoring builds damaged by natural and mechanical disasters, Built Green is offering financial support to those who want to certify their builds through its programs. All residential builders faced with rebuilding in their community will receive a full waiver on their membership fees, their introductory training course and their first three builds’ certification fees for those going through the BUILT GREEN® Single Family, Renovation or Restoration programs, and this will remain in effect through 2025.*

The BUILT GREEN® Restoration program was developed through a partnership with Hudson Restoration, operating out of Southern Ontario. This boutique, eco-friendly disaster restoration company serves property owners and their insurance providers by offering remediation, restoration and reconstruction services for high-value residential, heritage and commercial properties. Hudson’s pursuit of sustainable options is a step ahead in the restoration space, whose partnership with Built Green produced this new program that enables industry to provide customers with more choice around restoring sustainably.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to continue to do better, while navigating the unpredictability of our work as restorers. Faced with the flooding we’re dealing with, it only makes business sense to choose more climate-resilient practices. The groundwork has already been laid through Built Green’s restoration program, which provides straightforward pathways to restore more responsibly,” says Nick Hudson, President at Hudson Restoration.

“The restoration industry has an important role to play in contributing to a healthier, more sustainable built environment,” says Jenifer Christenson, CEO at Built Green Canada. “We want to highlight all those—restorers, renovators and new builders—who are choosing to build back better, with more climate-resilient buildings, and we encourage homeowners and insurance providers to recognize these leaders choosing to go beyond status quo.”

Resiliency measures are a priority and industry are working through ways to incorporate disaster preparedness solutions into their developments. Built Green’s programs include specific resiliency checklist items that continue to grow and evolve, through new technologies, partnerships and industry whose input is integral in our programs resonating and remaining relevant.

Those facing rebuilding efforts are encouraged to reach out, as Built Green will support through education and discounted fees, with an openness to new ways of doing things, given the local nuances across the country. Meanwhile, Built Green welcomes the opportunity to work with municipalities planning their rebuilding efforts, and offers a Communities program to help guide the process through a more sustainable lens.

Built Green Canada began in 2003, and since then, builders have worked with them to complete 51,670 BUILT GREEN® certified single family, multi-family, and high density projects, as well as two phase-one community certifications, represented in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario (as at June 30, 2024).

* For multi-family and high density projects, membership fees will be waived, while certification fees will be reduced by 30 per cent.

¹ York University