Library
Climate & Energy
LEED Leadership in Toronto
What do you get when you combine a world class developer (Oxford) with a world class pension fund (OMERS) that owns that same developer on an office building project? Exquisite design and double LEED certification.
EY Tower in Toronto achieved LEED® Core & Shell Platinum certification (for construction of the building), and OMERS & Oxford’s head offices within the building achieved LEED® for Commercial Interiors Gold certification (for design and construction of their space).
The project brought Oxford’s commitment of connecting people to exceptional places to life. EY Tower offers best in class customer comfort, striking architecture, and industry leading smart sustainability practices – such as ultra-high efficiency central boiler plant, Enwave Deep Lake Cooling, full building LED lighting, daylight and motion sensors, solar shading through exterior fins, and real-time air quality monitoring.
The building also offers occupants leading wellbeing features, including: shared indoor/outdoor spaces, wellness rooms, automatic sit-stand desks, diverse working areas, complimentary healthy food in kitchenettes, bike lockers, shower facilities, and accessible stairwells with motivational murals to encourage use.
Wellbeing
Oxford Wellbeing Priorities
What are the highest priority wellbeing features for our customers that we should focus on?
That’s the question that a global team of Oxford team members leaned into in 2018. The team studied leading standards (WELL and Fitwel), surveyed our customers and debated a wide range of issues.
So what did they come up with? Here is their list of 7 priority areas – (1) Air Quality, (2) Water Quality, (3) Nutrition & Hydration, (4) Individual Health, (5) Shared Space, (6) Lighting and (7) Biophilic Design.
The team has begun benchmarking our global portfolio in each of these areas and will be recommending coordinated action based on their findings as well as continued dialogue with our customers.
Materials & Resources
Our Natural Materials Masterpiece
Arbora in Montreal, Quebec is one of the most recent additions to our multi-family residential portfolio.
It is one of the first buildings in Québec to be built with local, eco-friendly solid wood frame of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels from the boreal forests of northern Québec. CLT is a proven technology known for its strength and performance in terms of energy efficiency and acoustics.
Arbora was designed to celebrate the natural materials used in its construction. The building features exposed wooden beams and posts, hardwood flooring, and stone surfaces throughout. It also features ample windows providing an abundance of natural light, 9-foot ceilings, and an on-site green space.
Arbora is also Certified LEED® Platinum for Homes – a first for Oxford’s multi-family residential portfolio.
Community
Standing up for Inclusion and Diversity
It was the right thing to do (x2), and our team was proud to do our part.
In March 2018, thirty buildings around the world, including Toronto’s EY Tower, illuminated buildings with giant red female symbols on the eve of International Women’s Day. The bold move was part of the Catalyst Skyline Takeover, a global campaign to push for equality in the workplace.
To continue on these efforts, in celebration of Pride Month Toronto, EY Tower once again prominently displayed the Pride rainbow flag mural on the north facing side of the building in partnership with the building’s largest customers EY, OMERS and TMX. This was a powerful visual representation showing our commitment to diversity and inclusion in our society and in business.
The install of the mural was completed with the help of volunteers from OMERS, EY, and TMX and it lit up the skyline for a week in June, 2018.