Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has selected non-profit Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC) to lead two projects aimed at significantly enhancing sustainability within Canada's built environment.

One project focuses on new construction; the other on existing affordable housing.

For new construction, the Codes Acceleration Project will support building officials in accelerating the adoption of higher tier building codes in several regions across the country.

For existing affordable housing, SBC's EnergySPRING program focuses on supporting Ontario's social housing and indigenous communities undertake scalable, deep-energy retrofits within their low-rise multi-unit residential buildings.

These projects will drive meaningful progress in creating a more sustainable and energy-efficient future for all Canadians, says SBC's Executive Director Michael Singleton.

"Codes Acceleration advances eco-system development, awareness, and capacity building on high-performance sustainable national building codes. EnergySPRING scales social & indigenous housing provider's ability and supply-chain capacity to deliver low-carbon deep retrofits."

The Codes Acceleration initiative is a program designed to support regional building officials as they work to implement and support builders to adopt higher tiers of the latest National Energy Codes for both single family homes and commercial buildings.

SBD will host a series of workshops that will demonstrate practical, high-performance solutions that meet the higher code tier energy requirements. The workshops combine Integrated Design Processes, real-world technology applications, and regional considerations.

The initiative, which was made possible by funding from NRCan's Codes Acceleration Fund, aims to facilitate the widespread adoption of the National Building Code (NBC) and National Energy Code for Buildings (NECB) across Canada, ensuring that even the highest energy performance tiers are seen as achievable with current designs and technologies.

Meanwhile, the EnergySPRING Market Transformation Program adapts the global Energiesprong model for an Ontario-specific solution to drive deep-energy retrofits within Ontario's social housing and indigenous communities.

While focused on improving resiliency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and enhancing the overall quality of housing, EnergySPRING projects will address pressing electrification, housing, affordability, extreme weather, and workforce challenges associated with existing low-rise housing in underserved communities.

Through design sessions with municipal social and indigenous housing providers, EnergySPRING will support the transformation of affordable low-rise housing communities to make them energy-efficient, electrified, and adapted for the future.