Residents of Sherbourne Estates in downtown Toronto are now enjoying upgrades that have made their 17-story and 23-storey rental towers more comfortable, sustainable and energy efficient. The major retrofit started in March 2020 and finished under budget despite pandemic restrictions and supply chain challenges – all without requiring tenants to move from the estates during the upgrade.
To reduce the impact on residents and ensure the project stayed on track, Epic Investment Services worked with a project team that included: our Colliers Project Leaders team as project leader and manager; general contractor Buttcon; Zeidler Architecture; property manager MetCap Living; and engineering consultant Smith + Andersen.
“Our objective was always to minimize the impact on residents. However, when the pandemic hit and with lockdowns, this resulted in more residents being in their home during the day than anticipated,” said Epic senior vice-president of asset management Tony Maduri. “To accommodate our residents, we moved quickly to create a large number of fully furnished suites, as part of a highly organized program, to temporarily move residents as we worked on their units.
Upgrades to the towers included:
- Replacing major mechanical systems to improve air circulation.
- Converting the existing natural gas to electrical heating and cooling, which should reduce energy use by 22 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 35 percent
- Re-cladding the buildings’ exteriors and adding insulation for an estimated 5.4 percent energy savings and six percent greenhouse gas reduction
- Replacing balcony railings
- Replacing single-pane windows and balcony doors with more efficient versions, leading to better air circulation and thermal performance
- Improving the fitness centre and fibre-optic Internet infrastructure
Read the full article in RENX, the Real Estate News EXchange
