Environmental science and policy expert Sylvie Trottier will educate Beaver Barracks tenants on the finer points of green living.
With tenant applications for the new Beaver Barracks affordable housing development recently completed, the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corp. has hired a “green animator” to ensure future occupants of the Metcalfe and Catherine streets complex are getting the most out of environmentally-friendly living.
Sylvie Trottier, an expert in environmental science and policy, was hired in August to educate tenants on how best to use the energy-efficient systems that completely outfit the Barracks.
“It’s not just what the buildings are made of that make them green, it’s what you do inside them,” says Trottier.
Her job will be to familiarize tenants with the extensive list of greener-living strategies the Barracks has to offer – from the geothermal heating and cooling system, Energy Star appliances and rooftop garden, to the recycled-material floors, energy-conserving light bulbs, and low chemical-emitting adhesives and paints.
“Sustainability is definitely a value that is very important to [the CCOC]," Trottier says. "And obviously if you have a staff person dedicated to that, it is a lot easier to put programs in place and make sure the project gets the attention it deserves.”
One such feature of the barracks is the large, organic community garden that will serve as the hub of the complex, run by non-profit gardening organization, Bytowne Urban Gardens (BUGs). BUGs’ co-ordinator Susan Wellisch says the garden will provide tenants with healthy food, a means of exercise, and most importantly, a sense of community.
“When people see things growing, and they see people putting effort into something, it heartens them,” she says. “Housing, plus garden, equals community.”
Alongside all the amenities inside the Beaver Barracks, tenants will also be encouraged to make use of the various green services just outside the complex. That includes VRTUCAR, a car-sharing transportation network established in Ottawa that provides members an alternative to owning and operating their own vehicle.
Wilson Woods, president of VRTUCAR, says two cars will be permanently parked outside the Beaver Barracks once it is completed, giving tenants the option to run errands that require a vehicle, cheaply and efficiently.
“Car sharing is a wonderful way of reducing the environmental impact of a building,” he says. “Because people are thinking about their trip beforehand, they make smart decisions –– they bundle their activities.”
Woods says he believes programs such as VRTUCAR, in co-ordination with the Beaver Barracks project, can eventually lead to a smarter, greener Ottawa.
“The stronger the public transit system, the healthier the city and the smarter the city," says Woods.
Trottier also says she believes the Barracks will change outlooks on greener living.
“Greener solutions are so important because they serve as a model for Ottawa, as well as the rest of Canada, that environmentally-friendly housing can be both affordable and accessible to the community. It can be done.”