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Investing in
the future
Retrofitting, repair and renewal make Alberta’s
urban and rural communities stronger
BY CORY SCHACHTEL
As Alberta’s population booms, municipal leaders are looking for ways
to address increased pressure on existing infrastructure. By focusing
on older, established infrastructure, municipalities can manage assets
effectively and provide upgrades which lead to cost savings in the long term
while meeting the increasing demands of population growth and climate
change. Building up and repairing current infrastructure, rather than building
out, means longevity for our roads, bridges and pipes.
Retrofitting Buildings
In 1964, John Martin and Vern Nord founded MCW Consultants in Winnipeg.
Their first assignment was an HVAC retrofit and modernization of Hotel
Saskatchewan, in Regina. A similar modernization of Toronto’s York Hotel
became the firm’s first official project in Ontario, and it's been sharing its
retrofitting expertise across Canada ever since.
“We started off in 1964 with one retrofit, and we have an entire division
that's just done energy retrofits since 1991,” explains Michael Driedger,
principal at MCW. Clients haven’t always prioritized renovations over rebuilds,
Driedger says, “but now it is appealing to people to talk about net-zero
decarbonation, energy efficiency — property managers and investors are
looking at that, because it can significantly affect their portfolios.”
By Driedger’s estimate, that financial focus is most intense in Alberta. But
with other provinces following suit, and the Canada Green Buildings Strategy
spending billions on private and public building renovations and retrofits, he
says the nation-wide market “is sitting in between a six- and nine-billion-a-year
industry. So $27 million a day is spent on retrofitting buildings in Canada.”
In early 2023, MCW began the process of modeling and upgrading the Calgary
Drop-In and Rehab Centre’s HVAC system, which helped the charity sign its
second 25-year lease, allowing it to operate in the same space in Calgary’s
core until 2050. In 2024, the company retrofitted a seniors’ building for the
Alberta Social Housing Corporation. In each case, Driedger says, it was more
environmentally and economically efficient to renovate rather than rebuild.
“In Red Deer, for example, we ran a study that showed the cost to rebuild was
about $40 million, but to renovate and bring its energy use down by 70 per cent
was only $18 million,” he says, highlighting the economic value of investing in
and revitalizing infrastructure in established, mature neighbourhoods.
Retrofits are often cheaper than rebuilds, but Driedger says “developers
want to put their debt capital into growth,” and growing their portfolios means
adding more buildings. Driedger says this creates a “double-headed problem”
for utility providers in growing cities, because if a city’s existing buildings
aren't retrofitted, its energy profile continues to grow. “That basically makes it
so that you can't really add more buildings, because you don't have the power
capacity. If you can save money with the existing buildings, then you can
continue to grow out.
CONSULTING ENGINEERS OF ALBERTA CONSULTING ENGINEERS OF ALBERTA
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