Toronto identifies eight buildings for Deep Retrofit Challenge
The City of Toronto has identified eight buildings to participate in a pilot project to accelerate greenhouse gas emission reductions and identify pathways to net zero.
Through its Deep Retrofit Challenge (DRC), the city is funding eight projects to a total of $5 million. The grants will offset the incremental design and construction costs required to achieve maximum greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions.
Seven of the buildings are privately owned. Each will receive up to $500,000 for their renovations.
The participating buildings and their owners are:
- 350 Bay St. (Dream Office REIT)
- 723 Bloor St. W. (Dream Unlimited)
- 88 College St. (The Governing Council of the University of Toronto)
- 1-15 Field Sparroway and 2-10 Tree Sparroway (Toronto Community Housing)
- 633 Northcliffe Blvd. (Northcliffe Inc.)
- 177 St. George St. (Dream Unlimited)
- 145 Woodward Ave. (145 Woodward Ave. Inc.)
- 61 Yorkville Ave. (Minto Apartment Limited Partnership)
The retrofits will advance the goals of the TransformTO Net Zero Climate Action Strategy, including the City’s ambitious target to reduce community-wide emissions to net zero by 2040, and serve as a catalyst to accelerate deep energy retrofits in support of the City’s Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy.
“Reducing emissions from buildings across Toronto is a critical piece of the City’s TransformTO Net Zero Strategy and something we must do quickly to address the climate crisis,” said Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie. “Through the Deep Retrofit Challenge, we are accelerating emissions reductions and creating pathways for other buildings to follow. Reducing emissions to net zero will require significant community-wide action and investments by other levels of government.”
Toronto’s community-wide emissions must be cut in half in the next seven years – by 2030 – to reach the trajectory needed to reach net zero by 2040. Buildings are the largest source of GHG emissions in Toronto today, generating approximately 58 per cent of community-wide emissions, primarily from the burning of natural gas for heating and hot water. The city controls only about five per cent of community-wide emissions directly through its own buildings and operations, making a community-wide effort essential to reaching net zero emissions.
DRC participants are currently finalizing their designs. The process includes an integrated design workshop, energy modelling, the final selection of energy conservation measures and payback calculations. To remain eligible for funding, participants must deliver a final design to the city that verifies that their proposed projects will meet all DRC program requirements, including:
- minimum 50 percent reduction in the building’s GHG emissions
- minimum 50 percent reduction in total energy use intensity
- payback period of 20 years or less
Retrofits will be completed by early 2025. Once complete, the city will develop and publicly release comprehensive case studies on completion of the retrofits, including the retrofit designs, utility savings, project costs and lessons learned.
Applications for the DRC were accepted between August 26 and October 31, 2022.
The city received 14 applications and accepted 11 conditionally, with eight building owners now fully committed.