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LED Conversions Drive Savings

Oxford’s Hotels team set their sights on reducing energy consumption through LED retrofits, and the results are impressive.

The InterContinental Hotel, located in downtown Toronto, completed its conversion to 100% LED lighting in early 2019. The five-year project started with converting meeting rooms and the lobby, with the back of house area and guest rooms following. This drove a 20% reduction in electricity and $270,000 (CAD) in annual cost savings.

The other hotels in Oxford’s portfolio, namely, Chateau Whistler, Chateau Lake Louise, Jasper Park Lodge and the Banff Springs, including the Canmore laundry facility also achieved their goals to convert lighting to 100% LED by the end of 2019 and were able to redeem over $145,000 (CAD) in incentives in the process.

Park Hyatt, currently under development, is also expected to be fully fitted with LED fixtures.

The project also included an all-inclusive upgrade to the dimming systems across the hotels’ meeting spaces and is on track to be completed by the summer of 2020.

Through these projects a total of over 58,000 bulbs were installed across 3.8M sq.ft.

New Energy Systems = Big Savings

In 2019, our multi-residential team completed an Ontario-wide energy system upgrade across eight properties. To align with their broader carbon reduction targets, the goal of the project was to upgrade the existing building automation systems (BAS) to one that provided increased visibility and controls. Each building is now equipped with the capability of up to 500 control points, giving the operations team the control they need to manage their mechanical equipment.

What sounded like an easy fix required significant planning to get it right. In addition to finding a partner to help execute on the initiative, the team also saw an opportunity to tap into local energy efficiency incentives from two utilities, Toronto Hydro and Enbridge. Once the equipment was installed, operational data was reviewed daily for several weeks to ensure all settings met performance objectives.

With this effort came great reward. The project achieved an annual energy savings of approximately 345,811 kWh and the overall annual cost savings amounts to $92,000 (CAD).

Continual Improvement in Energy

Innovation, continual improvement and planning for the future – this is what the property team epitomizes day-in and day-out at 1101 New York Avenue, a 12-story office building located in downtown NW Washington D.C. The building was the City’s first LEED Core and Shell Gold certified office building in 2007 and in 2019, achieved LEED Operations and Maintenance Platinum certification.

The team kick started a 3-year operations plan to improve performance. Some of the implemented measures included: installing sub-meters on major building equipment and real-time metering throughout customer spaces; replacing lights to LEDs in the stairwell; replacing and adjusting setpoints on building equipment; re-commissioning VAVs; and collaborating with customers to reduce weekend HVAC usage.

Moreover, the team is more than half way through a Building Automation System (BAS) upgrade. The new system allows for greater flexibility to monitor HVAC and outdoor air intake, and has more functionality, such as remote accessibility, detailed occupancy schedule adjustments, fault detection and diagnostics, and personal control capabilities.

The result of these efforts represent a year-over-year reduction of ~1,500,000 kWh and over $200K (USD) in annual savings (compared to 2017 baseline). Also notable is the result in significant Energy Star score improvement, jumping over 19 points in 2.5 years, to the current score of 81, and anticipated to rise even more as results from 2019 continue to take effect.

Peak Power Fetches Peak Insight

Our Toronto Office portfolio played their cards right and secured $1.8M (CAD) in energy savings for their customers over the last year. Since 2015, these 12 buildings avoided $8M (CAD) in energy costs.

How did they do it?

The Ontario electricity market has a series of regulatory nuances, one being Global Adjustment (GA) which is the portion of the electricity bill that covers the cost of investment in new electricity infrastructure and maintaining existing resources to ensure balance between provincial growing peak demand and generation capacity. Large buildings such as ours in Toronto can minimize their GA portion of the bill by reducing their energy use during provincial peak hours to lessen stress on the grid.

Since 2015, our Sustainability team, in collaboration with the properties, completed an in-depth energy use and rate analysis to determine the best financial option for GA participation. Regardless of the option selected for the year, sites are advised to curtail power during peak demand days, with the support of a peak notification tool developed in-house.

In addition to the financial benefits, the process of energy curtailment helps the operations team uncover new energy conservation measures that can be applied during normal building operations. For instance, this past year, one of the buildings integrated a new feature on their BAS. With one click, operators can switch to ‘power save mode’ to quickly shed energy load.

Making Operations Plans Count

As part of their Building Operations and Maintenance Plan, the team at 450 Park Avenue set out to tackle the low hanging fruit to optimize energy use and reduce carbon emissions. The Plan aims to identify short- and long-term efficiency measures to implement in the future.

In 2019, after researching various new technology, the team decided to install a new HVAC pump system that allows for various automatic speed controls that maintain the correct amount of water to flow through the pumps. This is a major upgrade from the previous manually performed system. Since installation, the team has had no trouble operating the new system, remarking immediate efficiencies. The change is expected to result in 60-70% reduction in electricity, working out to between $10-15K (USD) over a 2-year period.

In addition to developing a plan for the building, the team also met with colleagues across the portfolio to share best practices by reviewing building equipment and Building Automation Controls, revisiting past projects and current practices, and identifying areas for improvement. It was a comprehensive approach that will have long lasting impact.

Overdelivering on a Healthy Promise

Delivering on Australia’s first ever WELL Core & Shell Pre-certification is no easy feat for a 23-story commercial office building. Exceeding expectations and achieving Platinum instead of the intended Gold certification…that’s unparalleled. Completed in 2018 and currently operated by our partner, Investa, Barrack Place proudly claims this title.

Some of the design features that brought Barrack Place up to Platinum include advanced air filtration to provide the highest level of indoor air quality, an ‘Organic Response’ lighting system that supports the body’s circadian rhythm throughout the day, direct access to mass sustainable transit, and achieving the highest Green Star Rating (6 Star) from the Australian Green Building Council.

Certainly, these design features are further paired with a host of operational activities that work to support the health, wellbeing and comfort of the people in the building. Examples include a world-class cleaning program, wellness education and amenities for customers and building staff, such as bicycle storage, fitness facilities, and nutritional offerings and messaging circulated throughout the building.

The WELL certification pushes the commercial building industry toward healthier thinking and investing. And this is what Barrack Place represents – a healthy space for people to thrive in, whether for work or leisure.

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 and continued to work on in 2019. The team studied leading standards (WELL and Fitwel), surveyed our customers and debated a wide range of issues. Here is the 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 conducted a benchmarking study across the global portfolio and uncovered some key findings that serve to help building teams develop capital plans and implement activities focused on health and wellbeing. Highlights include: 98% of our global office and retail portfolio offer fitness amenities, such as gym facilities, classes, and events; 75% of the buildings have secured bike storage facilities; 76% of buildings have daylighting mechanisms in place. Over 70% of buildings have accessible stairwells; and 92% of buildings offer healthy food options to customers.

While these numbers are impressive, we know our buildings have the potential to offer more. Health and wellbeing continues to be a top priority for Oxford.

Wellness Fairs Set the Trend

Given that the average office worker spends 6.5 hours a day sitting and 90% of time indoors, it’s clear that a focus on a healthy environment and programming can have substantial health and productivity benefits. Buildings across our portfolio offer unique wellness events and programs for their customers – from puppy yoga to ergonomic assessments – there is something for everyone.

This is what the team at MidCity Place, in London, England, aims to focus on as part of their annual wellness weeks. Customers can tap into free yoga classes, mini health checks, gym pop up events, free massages, and nutritional workshops and food samples.

Customers rave about the wellness weeks and look forward to their arrival. It is proof that people crave more amenities and programs dedicated to their health and wellbeing no matter where they are working from.

Accessible Water Refilling Stations

A simple solution to increase accessible drinking water while reducing the use of non-reusable bottles.

That’s what the team at MetroCentre, a two-building complex located in Toronto, Canada, achieved by installing water bottle re-filling stations in the building’s common areas.

By creating a place for customers to refill their water bottles, the team took a strong step forward on sustainability and wellbeing. As part of the WELL building standard and Oxford’s internal wellbeing standards, installing accessible filtered drinking water promotes proper hydration and overall health.

And in doing so, the team is also promoting the reduction of plastic water bottles that get sent to landfill.

To celebrate the launch of this initiative, the property team distributed complimentary re-usable water bottles to customers, spreading awareness about the filling stations and getting them started off on the right foot with a branded MetroCentre refillable bottle of their own.

This is a scalable and low-cost way to promote wellbeing among customers throughout our portfolio.

A Quiet Lounge

In 2019, Royal Bank Plaza, an office complex located in Toronto’s financial district, opened their Urban Lounge. This marked the newest concept in providing Royal Bank Plaza customers with catered lounge style amenities aimed to make their work day as enjoyable as possible.

With wellness as the underlying theme, the Lounge offers a dedicated space to escape, relax, meet or work. Guests that visit the space are welcomed with standing desks, seated desks with active stools, an essential oil diffuser, green wall and live plants throughout, and two reclining massage chairs.

As the role of the office continues to evolve, the importance of spaces that foster employee engagement, creativity and building relationships increases. Flexible and dynamic lounge areas offer space to host a variety of uses and amenities to support just this.

Our Natural Materials Masterpiece

Arbora in Montreal, Canada 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.

Swipe Right to Recycle

In 2019, Investa, our property management partner in Australia, launched the real estate industry’s first sustainability waste and recycling engagement tool, Binder. The online and mobile game was developed to improve individual customer and overall building recycling rates and to ultimately, help address the confusion that is often generated from the varied recycling standards across Australia.

The tool is designed in the style of a dating app which encourages users to flick through common office waste, swiping right if an item can be recycled and swiping left if it goes to landfill. Users have three chances to help the animated, yellow recycling bin character find ‘true love’ via correct answers, before they luck out of the game. Binder is integrated with Investa’s online Sustainability Tenant Toolkit and its online and building-wide tenant engagement program, Insite, allowing for an integrated approach to encourage continual improvement and a clear connection to resources.

By gamifying the process, Binder makes the world of recycling light hearted and fun. So far, the tool has proven effective, with rave reviews, particularly from the younger demographics who are used to swiping right or left to get the information they need. With broad usage, it is anticipated that the game will enable customers to reduce landfill waste and contribute to lowering the carbon footprint of the Oxford-Investa buildings.

Developing with Performance & Materials in Mind

St. James’s Market Phase 2 (SJM2) hasn’t missed a beat in developing plans as the next sustainable building in London, England, following Phase 1, which saw the creation of a new destination in the West End hosting a selection of leading shops and restaurants. The project team is working to set ambitious targets informed by WELL, LEED, and BREEAM certifications; and have plans for solar paneling, rainwater harvesting, urban greening and whole life energy and carbon emissions reductions.

The design team is taking an integrated approach, marrying design and operations best practices to create a space that offers the highest standards of sustainability and wellbeing for the people that come to work at and visit the building.

Notably, as part of the Better Buildings Partnership and Design for Performance (DfP) initiative, our partner, The Crown Estate, has signed SJM2 on as one of the first buildings in the UK to form part of a new benchmarking scheme aimed at improving the energy performance of buildings in-use. SJM2 will serve as a prime example to help spur continual improvement and accountability within the sector, surely paving the way for existing buildings to follow suit.

Additionally, the SJM2 team is taking a thorough approach to the materials used to develop the building to reduce carbon emissions across its supply chain. In 2018, the project colleagues were part of Oxford’s global working group to develop a Restricted Materials List that posed a risk to human health. Following a lifecycle assessment of materials to be used on the project, the team have sought to do one better and will adopt a matrix detailing a list of minimum requirements considering four areas – responsibly sourced, healthy and safe, low impact and resource efficient materials. Categorizing in such a manner will help the team choose alternative materials that could result in a potential 5-10% reduction in embodied CO₂e emissions.

SJM2’s integrated approach sets the bar high for development projects within our portfolio and across the industry.

A Dry Take on Organics

In 2019, the team at Chateau Lake Louise set out to find a viable recycling solution for the hotel’s organic waste. The hotel resides deep within Banff National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and while this represents much of the appeal, it also limits its resources and accessibility.

After much research, the team decided to install an on-site organic waste dehydrator which turns leftover food into biomass. This biomass is then used to fuel a set of boilers in the city of Calgary. The hotel’s dehydrator processes 1 tonne of dehydrated organic waste per day, which generates ~165 kWh of energy/day. That’s equivalent to removing 2,000 garbage bags from the landfill in one year.

The dehydrator not only converts the organic waste into a viable energy source, it also reduces the weight of the waste by 5 times, resulting in reduced storage and hauling costs.

With such success, the team is looking to invest in two more dehydrators to service all their organic waste generated and increase their waste diversion from landfill. Furthermore, the team is looking into the opportunity to use the biomass directly on-site, which would close the recycling and reuse loop and off-set their carbon emissions by over 300 tonnes of CO₂e a year.

Offsetting Costs with Paper Waste

Hauling and storing waste and recycling can be expensive, especially when there is a lot of waste that doesn’t weigh very much. Here’s where baling, the idea of compressing and bundling, comes in to help make for more efficient storage and hauling of waste.

The property team at Centennial Place, an office complex located in Calgary, Canada, along with their waste management partners, are using bales to store their paper and cardboard recycling. By baling and storing this type of recycling, the team can significantly reduce their recycling costs.

The team can bale one MT of paper products in one week. The team decided to purchase five vertical balers, which have the capacity to collect 5 MT of paper waste. This allows for a 2-year payback – the team stores the paper and then sells it back to their waste management partner, ultimately offsetting their future pick-up and hauling costs.

The work involved to capture these savings was minimal – measuring the amount of space they had for the bales, some electrical work and a power jack purchase to help move the bales around.

A ‘solid’ investment with long term benefits.

Inclusion and Diversity Resources

OMERS is committed to supporting an inclusive and diverse workplace that recognizes and values difference, recognizing that employee diversity, the many different and unique things we individually and collectively bring to work each day, contributes to building a stronger workforce and a better company.

To create a workplace where everyone’s views and perspectives are respected, where inclusivity is part of the culture, where all voices are heard, and the unique needs of each employee matters, OMERS offers a variety of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and created the Inclusion and Diversity Council. ERGs are voluntary, employee-led groups that help employees and organizations promote and cultivate a workplace that is diverse and inclusive. Typically, these groups are composed of employees with a shared purpose, interest or background on which they focus.

To date, over eight engaging Employee Resource Groups have been created, including Pride at OMERS, Women at OMERS, Visible Minority, Briefcase Parents, and others focusing on the regions in which we operate and specialized teams.

OMERS has created training, techniques and additional resources focused on unconscious bias and respect in the workplace. We have entered a stage of action where through experimentation and piloting of techniques such as blind resumes and expanding employee resource groups we are moving the needle in a more concrete way.

Green Teams on Foot

Oxford has been engaging with our customers in Boston and Cambridge since 2015. Unique to the region is one meeting, hosting customers across six buildings, representing a cross-building community approach. These meetings provide an opportunity to share best practices across the region while highlighting sustainability initiatives through a broader range of customers.

With low vacancy rates, the availability of meeting room spaces proved to be difficult to find over the last year. Green team members stepped up enthusiastically to host the meetings in their occupied spaces, rotating between buildings for meetings throughout the year.

In tour fashion prior to each meeting, green team members would walk around and hear about the outfitted space from the customer host – highlighting sustainability features such as circadian lighting, sit-stand desks, recycling programs and sustainable materials used to build out the space. Inspiration and ideas for their own spaces would surface and lead into a more engaging meeting as Oxford led the topic of the day in climate and energy, wellbeing or materials and resources.

Salon Bleu for Autism

Oxford’s shopping centres work hard to foster safe and enjoyable spaces.

In May 2019, Quartier DIX30 (in Brossard, QC), the second largest shopping centre in Canada with 9M sq.ft. of land launched Salon Bleu – a permanent cozy space for families living with autism.

In the wake of Autism Month, this initiative was designed in consultation with Autisme Montérégie to meet the needs of families and their children visiting the mall. The space invites families to use as a gathering place to engage in discussions and hold training sessions and committee meetings.

Ensuring that people with autism can fully develop in society is an important cause to Quartier DIX30. This marks one of many initiatives held by Oxford to support families living with autism, such as creating quiet, dimmed events and celebrations for Santa visits and Halloween to name a couple.

The property team held an inauguration event for the opening of Salon Bleu, attended by public officials, community groups and families.

Bikes Without Borders

During a major parking garage renovation at 1101 Bay, a multi-residential building in Toronto, Canada, the property team discovered over 30 abandoned bikes left behind by previous residents.

Instead of throwing them away, the team found Bikes Without Borders, an organization that collects bikes, refurbishes them and then donates them to refugees and families in need.

The team worked with their contractors, who graciously donated their time and truck to transport the bikes to the Central Toronto Academy, where students work to refurbish the donated bikes.

Of the 30 bikes, 10 were refurbished and the others were sent to a recycling facility to melt into metal. The funds received from the recycler were donated back to Bikes Without Borders.

A true collective effort and win-win to bring life back into these abandoned bikes and keeping them out of the landfill.

Reading on the Go

In September 2019, WaterPark Place in Toronto, Canada launched its newest customer amenity – The Short Story Dispenser.

The Short Story Dispenser prints 1, 3- or 5-minute stories on demand, at the push of a button and for free. Customers can take a story to read while having lunch in the food court or can take it with them to read on the commute home.

The Library Platform consists of thousands of titles in an ever-changing cache of short stories to read, written by authors globally. Stories are printed on eco-friendly paper (FSC and BPA free) with no ink or cartridge required. To date, over 12,000 stories have been printed for customers to enjoy.

This new customer amenity adds a digital aspect to the already thriving WaterPark Place Library.