2010 Venues Receive Major Environmental Award
The greenest Games to date? Nine new construction projects for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games have just been honoured with a one-time award for Excellence in Green Building Practices.
This special, one-time award – given to 15 architectural firms involved in the Olympic facilities – was delivered by two environmental bodies. One is the World Green Building Council, which represents half of the world’s construction activity and whose aim is to accelerate the creation of environmentally sustainable buildings. The second is GLOBE Foundation, another international group dedicated to solutions that benefit both business and the environment.
The new Olympic construction projects are being hailed by these two groups as the largest set of single-project, low-environmental impact facilities ever in the world. Their design and development, with local resources and innovations, has features (such as the ability to store carbon) and materials (such as sustainably harvested B.C. wood) with a low impact on the environment.
Here are the nine “green” 2010 facilities:
Vancouver Olympic Village
Vancouver Olympic Centre
Whistler Olympic Park
Whistler Sliding Centre
Whistler Athletes’ Centre
Richmond Oval
Vancouver Convention Centre
Killarney Ice Rink
Trout Lake Ice Rink
Each of them has multiple traits that underpin its environmental nature. For an impressive list, visit VANOC’s rundown at.
The awards were presented on July 22 at the brand new Trout Lake Ice Rink, where figure skaters can train ahead of the Olympic Winter Games. In addition to the architects, VANOC received an award for its leadership in sustainable building.
The organizers of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games have been committed to sustainability. All venues and villages have been assessed for environmental impact. Wood used to build venues has sustainable forest management certifications. The “green” details of the coming Games are long and in-depth, but overall VANOC has ensured that the effect on local species and habitat special areas is limited and facilities are environmentally-friendly.
