New Westminster - New Westminster’s new Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Operations Building and local architect Eric Pattison have won the 2008 Green Building Award in the BC Wood Design category from the Canadian Wood Council.

“This is a great achievement and one that we are very proud of,” said Mayor Wayne Wright. “It underscores the commitment our city has made to start looking at things through a “green” lens, keeping sustainability and the environment front and centre.”

Located on the north bank of the Fraser River, the CSO Operations Building is a 1-storey, 250 square meter structure occupying a previously vacant sawmill site just west of New Westminster’s downtown. The City commissioned the facility in partnership with Metro Vancouver to minimize untreated storm water overflow into the river.

“These facilities are traditionally built out of cinder blocks and appear as a grey, concrete box on the landscape,” said Roger Emanuels, Coordinator of Design & Construction for the City of New Westminster. “We wanted to build something that was “green” and also aesthetically pleasing that wouldn’t interfere with future uses of the land surrounding it.”

While the primary goal of the CSO Operations Building is to protect the Fraser River from untreated wastewater overflows, it will also become a prominent feature of the future Poplar Landing Park, offering public washrooms and a covered plaza for educational displays.

“Our team was very excited to be given a sustainability mandate from our clients for this project,” said Pattison. “We designed the project to showcase sustainability and source predominantly recycled materials to help minimize wastage and overall environmental impact. The end result is a structure that reflects the industrial heritage of this area and connects it to the overall design of the park, making it a better “fit” with its surroundings.”

To minimize environmental impact, construction relied heavily on materials reclaimed from a local deconstructed sawmill. The project also served to reclaim a brown field site for infrastructure and public park use. Other strategies to increase environmental performance include the use of highly reflective, energy efficient metal roofing, reclaimed steel components, high volume fly-ash concrete and a landscaped “green” roof.