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Manitoba Hydro Place, Winnipeg, ManitobaSynopsisManitoba Hydro Place was designed to provide occupants with a highly supportive environment which is comfortable and productive. It outperforms in almost all areas compared to conventional office buildings of similar type in similar locations. It maximizes energy efficiency with innovative approaches such as geothermal systems, biodynamic double facade, solar tower, multi-storey atria.

Manitoba Hydro Place is located in the heart of downtown Winnipeg. The 22-storey building serves as the head office of Manitoba Hydro, a crown corporation and Canada’s fourth largest energy utility.

In 2012 Manitoba Hydro Place became the first and only large office building in Canada to receive LEED Platinum certification. Innovtative design features were developed using an Integrated Design Process (IDP). The building’s integrated design team established a “Project Charter” that set out the following goals for the building: a supportive workplace, world class energy efficiency, sustainable design, signature architecture, urban regeneration, cost effectiveness, and sound financial investment. The result is a unique climate responsive building that

Design Features

Night view of Manitoba Hydro Place and the surrounding urban fabric.

Site plan showing central galleria. Typical tower floor plan

Building DataBuilding TypeNew Construction

ClimateContinental, hot summers, very cold winters

Age5 years (Built in 2009)

FacilitiesOffice building, public gallery, retail and food outlets.

Net Conditioned Area64,590 m2

Building podium from north-west corner.

The building is intended to be a world class model of energy efficiency and sustainability and, at the same time provide an outstanding workspace for employees and encourage urban regeneration. The building’s passive design features (i.e. south facing winter gardens, natural daylighting, solar chimney and geothermal heating and cooling, biodynamic facade) are combined with an advanced computer based Building Management System to help coordinate and maximize the performance of active systems.

The podium contains retail spaces that include restaurants, cafes, a dentist and a bank. It is carefully scaled to provide optimal height to width ratios of street canyons for pedestrian comfort. The galleria provides a sheltered link from Graham Ave., a major bus transit corridor, to Portage Ave. a historic shopping street.

Home to over 1800 employees, the interior design of the building integrates daylit open plan offices with private meeting rooms located at its core. Office floors are vertically interconnected via atria stairwells to create neighbourhoods of work. During both winter and summer the building is provided with 100% fresh air.

Portage Ave

Edm

onto

n St.

Car

lton

St.

Graham Ave.

Contained SpacesEnclosed SpacesAtriaCore

adapts to Winnipeg’s extreme weather conditions that range from -40°C in the winter to +40°C in the summer.

The distinct architecture of the building is defined by its climate-responsive features including a 115 meter tall solar chimney, three 6-storey atria (known as “winter gardens”), and double wall facades with automated exterior window vents and operable windows.

The building’s A-shaped plan is composed of two 18-storey towers that converge to the north and open to the south to maximize solar gain. The towers, set back on a three storey podium that contains an interior street, the “Galleria”.

Primary Use Area63,287 m2

DesignersKuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects with Architecture 49, and Prairie Architects

Energy ModelTRNSYS

LEED Canada NC v.1.0 (Platinum)

Mechanical Engineer AECOM

Energy EngineerTranssolar

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Summary of Results

The Building Performance Evaluation for Manitoba Hydro Place took place during the summer of 2014. The building was selected for this study because it is one of the premiere green office buildings in Canada. The evalution involved the collection and analysis of design documentation, energy and water meter data, indoor environment measurements, and interviews with members of the integrated design team and facilities manager.

Manitoba Hydro Place, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Actual energy use data for 2012 and 2013 show a very small performance gap relative to the predictions from the energy model.

RED bar indicates typical performance for the region.

kWh/m2/year

kgGHG/m2/year

Building energy use intensity for all operating uses

Greenhouse gas from delivered energy for all

operating end uses

Water

Sub-metering can provide further insight on water usage.

KEY LESSON:

The analysis of water consumption shows a gross water use increase of approximately 125% in comparison to LEED predicted values.

m3/occupant/year

m3/m2/year

Gross water use per occupants

Water use intensity per m2 of

conditioned areaRED bar indicates typical performance for the region.

Water reduction strategies include:• Water efficient features;• Rainwater harvesting;• Condensate capture from fan coil units;• Eliminate water use for irrigation.Measured gross water use, both per occupant (m3/occupant/year) and per m2 of floor area (m3/m2/year) are higher. Predicted water use in the LEED

documentation is based on 2,010 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) hydro employees.

The predicted value does not include water consumption by tenants in the podium level, which include restaurants that require intensive water uses such as dishwashing and cooking. The increased water use is therefore attributed to the tenants, but this is not possible to verify without sub-metering.

Energy and Emissions

Transit stops are located on the southern and northern perimeter of the site.

Two major transit corridors run adjacent to the site, with 95% of public bus routes passing through at least one of the corridors. The consolidation of 2000 employees from 12 suburban offices, and limiting on-site parking to 151 spots, has helped to significantly reduce CO2 emissions related to employee’s daily commute. The green roofs and street level public plaza cover 29.5% of the site are designed to restore natural habitat to the downtown core. These features also help mitigate the Heat Island Effect of the building by 84%. The building’s site design also reduced the need for municipal stormwater management by 16%.

SiteCommissioning activities along with on-going fine tuning contribute to steady improvements in energy performance.

KEY LESSON:

Shoulder Seasons/ Summer Mode air is drawn naturally in through large operable windows

South Gusting Winds abundant in Winnipeg, direct direct air into south wintergardens

Waterfall 24 metre high water feature either humidifies or dehumidifies air as it enters the building

Parkade limited to 200 spots to encourage employees to take public transit, and use parking spaces in city

Winter Mode air is drawn through outer mechanical units and heated by geothermal field

Inner Heating and Cooling Units further condition air as it passes into the raised floor distribution plenum

Wintergarden 6-storey tall atria act as the building’s lungs, drawing freah air in and preconditioning it before it enters the workspace

Solar Chimney115 meter high solarchimney uses stack effect

Shoulder Seasons /Summer Modedraws used air up and exhausts it out of the building

Exposed Ceiling Massuses radiant heating and cooling, warm a rises andis drawn into north atria vianatural pressure differences

100% Fresh Air, 24/7in all office spaces is drawn through the raisedaccess floor

Winter Modechimney closes, fansdrawn warm exhaust airdown, and recirculate it to warm the parkade,Heat exchangers re-captureheat and return it to southwintergardens to preheatincoming air

Geothermal System280 boreholes, 125 metersdeep draw excess heat orcold stored within the soilto condition the building

Electricity and natural gas use.Reference Prediction Actual

Gas Use (eKWh/m2)

Electricity Use (KWh/m2)

200

100

0

300

400

500

600

Outstanding energy performance is achieved through

• Building management system;• High performance building envelope;• Geothermal radiant heating and cooling;• Winter gardens with waterfalls to pre-treat and humidify incoming air; • Solar chimney to draw exhaust air through the building without use of fans;• Eighty-five percent daylighting and high efficiency artificial lighting and controls.

Manitoba Hydro Place is an exceptional example of climate responsive, energy efficient design. It has surpassed its goal of 60% less energy than the Model National Energy Code requirement at the time of construction. The integrated design process ensured optimal systhesis of building form and systems. The building is able to take advantage of passive solar and natural ventilation due to Winnipeg’s high percentage of sunny daylight hours and dominant southerly winds.

The energy use intensity of 96.68 kWh/m2/year remains considerably below a similar bulding of this type in this location, which consumes 375 kWh/ m2/year (Natural Resources Canada, 2014).This is attributed to the IDP process and ongoing commissioning and fine tuning of the building since occupancy. Manitoba Hydro Place relies primarily on electrical energy produced in Manitoba by hydro power and wind sources. Greenhouse gas emissions are therefore well below comparable office buildings.

Actual energy performance has improved over time.

EUI

(KW

h/m

2 150

100

50

0Sep-10

Model = 88.1 kWh/m2

Sep-11 Sep-12

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Summary of Results

The central galleria hosts two fountains and entrances to some of the ground floor restaurants.

Interior office space showing daylight penetration.

Overall Manitoba Hydro Place’s innovative design is able to harness passive solar, wind and geothermal energy to achieve a remarkable level of 75% measured reduction in energy use. At the same time, every effort was made to ensure that employees would be provided with a high quality indoor environment. In addition, the building has contributed to downtown revitalization by selecting an underused site and to reduce green house gas emissions by consolidating its 2000 employees into one location well-served by the city’s transit system.

Manitoba Hydro Place, Winnipeg, Manitoba

The building outperforms in almost all key performance indicators when compared against conventional office buildings of similar type and location. The success of the building is due in part to an integrated design process (IDP) that supported a collaborative effort to address the complex synthesis of form, site, materials, systems, climate and place. Once occupied, this process was followed by an equally rigorous of operations and maintenance team committed to process of on-going commissioning and performance optimization.

Increases in weekly operating hours were balanced by a slight decrease in daily occupancy. Although the actual and predicted occupancy figures are based on office employees, the building contains two restaurants and other facilities in the first 2 stories. These facilities are open to the public and thus contribute to the building’s energy and water consumption.

Occupancy Factors

Occupancy figures show how the building is being used by slightly fewer occupants than its design capacity, but for more hours than predicted.

All occupants including visitors and tenants can significantly affect a buildings’ performance.

KEY LESSON:

Typical daily occupancy during normal operating

conditions

Typical weekly operating hours of building

People

Hours

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)

The floor plates of Manitoba Hydro Place were designed to allow as much solar penetration as possible into the open plan areas and enclosed spaces alike.

Passive systems can provide comfortable environments in extreme climates.

KEY LESSON:

Temperature measurements mapped onto ASHRAE 55 thermal comfort zones (red - summer, blue - winter)

Dry Bulb Temperature (°C)

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15 20

Relative Humidity

Satu

ratio

n Te

mpe

ratu

re (°

C)

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

A major goal for Manitoba Hydro Place was a highly supportive, comfortable, and healthy workplace. Strategies used include;• 100% fresh air 24/7;• Natural daylight and view for 80% of workspaces;• High level of control of personal environments (operable windows, shade devices, task lighting, and floor ventilation grills);• Interconnected stairways to promote teamwork and collaboration• T5 - high output lighting with occupancy and light sensors• Sound masking system

IEQ spot measurements were taken at various locations through the office towers. For thermal comfort 82% of the spaces measured fell within the acceptable range for ASHRAE 55 standard for

thermal comfort. Temperature stratification (+/- 1°C) was noted between foot and head temperatures in 86% of the locations measured, likely due to the displacement ventilation air that is used to temper the office areas during summer months. Spot measurement of C02 levels in the building ranged from 360-698 ppm and therefore were all within the acceptable range. Levels of particulate concentration (PM2.5) were also 100% in compliance with US Environmental Protection Agency standards. In contrast to conventional buildings that use recirculated air, the 100% fresh air provided ventilation system provides noticeably improved air quality. Luminous measurements ranged widely between 130-3110 lux, with 59% of spaces within the acceptable range set by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North

America. Of locations outside the range, 29% of vertical and 33% of horizontal surfaces in the workplace were overlit. The majority of the overlighting is due to natural light, which does not negatively impact on energy use and can be controlled by manually operable louvres.The acoustic measurements indicate that the building is not within the reference ranges for Noise Criterion Balance (NCB) targets set by ANSI212.2-1995. The results show that 64% of open plan office areas and 17% of meeting rooms measured were within acceptable range. All locations exceeded the maximum value, confirming challenges of low partitions (for daylighting), and absence of acoustical ceiling tile (obstructing radiant ceiling). Occupant surveys were unavailable to determine level of IEQ satisfaction.