Month: September 2018

Leadership drives change. Nothing happens in a vacuum and nothing great happens without great leadership.

Over 85 people attended this dinner event which featured speakers highlighting the importance of local leadership and collaboration in getting innovative, sustainable housing built.

This evening’s panel of speakers were:

• the Mayor of East Gwillimbury, Virginia Hackson, who has taken a leadership role in her community to ensure that new homes built are innovative and sustainable and are brought to market in the most direct way.
• There was a panel discussion entitled CLOSING THE GAP that included builders, municipal building officials and planning staff discussing how they can work together in a collaborative way to close the gap in developing innovative, sustainable housing in the most most efficient way possible.
• Panel speakers included leaders from Rosehaven Homes, ICON and Lindvest and the municipal staff included building department staff from Pickering and East Gwillibury.  The moderator, and thought provoker, was John Godden, President of Clearsphere.
• Also featured at this free dinner event were the Builders who have won recognition in the Cross Border Challenge of RESNET/CRESNET. These are the builders that have achieved the LOWEST HERS scores in one of several categories.

Water conservation is becoming increasingly important, even in water-rich Canada. Through water efficiency, like the reuse of greywater, each home contributes to a water-efficient community while reducing infrastructure costs.

A successful evening on September 20th for all involved! Over 80 people attended a dinner where we focused on a case study of one builder’s approach to achieving a total water solution.  Rosehaven Homes has been a leader in working with York Region and East Gwillimbury to exceed the sustainability checklist of East Gwillimbury. City Council is taking note and looking at some of the innovative ways this has been achieved.

The agenda for the evening was:

• A look at a new way of how water efficiency is measured in the US using the HERS H₂O water scale Steve Bade, Executive Director of RESNET
• A look at a specific builder’s achievement of these water objectives and beyond in East Gwillimbury;
• A discussion about how success is achieved and measured, including the new H2O Scale from RESNET
• Looking under the hood at some of the technologies used to achieve a total water solution, including the new Greyter greywater recycling system;

The Sustainable Housing Foundation is generously supported by Enbridge and their Savings by Design program and by the manufacturers of sustainable building products and services that were on display at this event.