vancouver-laneway / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Bike lanes in Vancouver
Lifestyle, location and commuting

Vancouver's goal of becoming the Greenest City by 2020

In our previous article we discussed the building trend in Vancouver known as Laneway Housing, where new homes are being created in backyards, accessed by lanes in the centre of city blocks. More densely populated neighbourhoods means more efficient use of city services, and a more vibrant and active local business com...

Vancouver's first laneway house
Tiny house

Vancouver 's laneway house movement is increasing urban density

Vancouver has been fighting the good fight in a battle against urban sprawl that arguably started in the 1960's when citizens stopped a major highway from being built through the city, which would have been similar in scale to the Gardner Expressway in Toronto. Instead of a major artery allowing cars a quick exit from ...

Ottawa Coach Houses with prefab modern tiny house kit homes are available here
Tiny house

Ottawa now allows backyard coach homes & high-end tiny house kits

In the fall of 2015, the City of Ottawa conducted a public-consultation survey to gauge interest in a change of bylaws to allow secondary dwellings (Coach Houses or Tiny Houses) to be constructed on existing residential properties when space allows for it. The result was positive, with 60% of respondents in favour. Thi...

Passive House design Vancouver
Passive House

The city of Vancouver is actively promoting Passive House construction

Vancouver has set a goal of being the greenest city in the world by the year 2020. Some of the policies included in that plan are expanded public transportation, bike lanes, encouraging laneway houses for urban density and requiring all new civic buildings to be zero emissions. The city has also imposed upon itself a m...

The LEED Platinum Beachaus II from Inhaus Development Ltd.
LEED Homes

LEED Platinum Home in British Columbia

A quick update: as of September 13 Beachaus II has officially been awarded LEED Platinum, the highest possible achievement in the LEED for homes rating system. Designed for active living and built to last – this ultra modern 2000 square foot, 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom home includes a large separate office/studio space and ...

The Archipod
Tiny house

Have a backyard home office delivered by truck

I'm sure we can all agree that as the cost and inconvenience of commuting to work continues to escalate, the advances in networking technology are making the possibility of working from home a viable alternative to schlepping ourselves to the office. When we consider eliminating the daily commute, the benefits are clea...

The Fincube tin house
Tiny house

The Fincube off-grid tiny house

The Fincube is a pre-fab multi-purpose dwelling, it's built to operate off-grid, it's portable, and it's beautiful. It's also made in Italy so would hardly be a "green" choice for a North American dweller, but one can't help but be inspired by it just the same.  The most obvious and unusual design feature about the Fin...

LEED Platinum Prefab Home Kits
LEED Homes

LEED Platinum Pre-fab Homes

  Pre-fab homes are a very credible option for high performance home construction. When it comes to high efficiency sustainable housing, until recently prefab homes didn't even show up on the radar. A few companies in recent years have taken huge steps to change that, notably with the recent completion of the Beachaus ...

Permeable interlock pavers & paving stones
Permeable laneways and patios

Water-permeable landscaping surfaces

Permeable Pavers or Paving Stones are best for Driveways and Paths Gaining an understanding of the importance of stormwater management may steer you towards a design and product choice in interlocking paver stones which will help you retain and manage stormwater that falls within your property.  When patios and drivewa...

Multi Unit Passive House design Vancouver Island BC
Passive House

The North Park Passive House on Vancouver Island, BC

Passive House construction on Vancouver Island Building the first certified Passive House on Vancouver Island, a duplex shared with our son Mark’s family, convinced us that the market in Victoria was ready for Passive House market condominiums. To follow through, we built the North Park Passive house, a six-unit urban ...

Rendering of River District Sustainable housing development In Vancouv
Lifestyle, location and commuting

Vancouver developer leads the way to more sustainable communities

While governments have a role in shaping and improving the built environment through zoning, development bylaws and other means, developers also play a large role. They choose where to build, the types of homes or buildings that get built, and many of the details that make up a home, neighbourhood and community.  The b...