Richmond Olympic Oval Awarded Sustainability Star
March 30, 2009
The Richmond Olympic Oval, recognized worldwide as a hallmark of sustainable design and construction unique to a large-scale facility, was awarded a Sustainability Star by the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Organizing Committee (VANOC).
“The Sustainability Star program has been created to recognize our partners who have demonstrated excellence in rising to the challenge of creating projects with positive and measurable social, economic and environmental assets that are new to the Games or Host Region,” said Ann Duffy, VANOC’s corporate sustainability officer. “We’re continuing to work towards improving the sustainability performance of the Olympic and Paralympic Games by leaving a living legacy that continues long after the Games here are done.”
“We are proud to be among the first to receive this mark of excellence in sustainability,” said Mayor Malcolm Brodie. “Richmond has been acknowledged as being committed to sustainable living and the Oval exemplifies that commitment.”
The Sustainability Star program, developed by VANOC, is designed to recognize the innovative efforts Games partners and sponsors are taking to be sustainable. The star logo can used on Games-related programs and advertising to draw global attention to the Oval’s long list of sustainable features, as Richmond prepares to welcome the world in 2010.
The most well-known feature of the Oval is the innovative use of salvaged pine beetle-infested trees in the 6.5 acre roof, demonstrating the value of the wood in structural applications and benefiting the economy of communities in the BC Interior. As well, the roof’s membrane material significantly reduces the heat island effect.
Other green-building features include innovative storm water management, where rain water is re-used in toilets and irrigation, and retained in a landscape pond, which not only improves water quality prior to its return to the ground or the Fraser River, it reduces the possibility of dyke erosion. The Oval features heat exchangers from the ice plant to recover waste heat for heating and cooling, and to heat water; exterior walls of glass and translucent polycarbonate, which reduce the need for artificial lighting; the use of non-toxic materials, floor coverings, sealants and paints, creating minimal off gassing; zero-emission, electric ice resurfacers; and a barrier-free design.
The Oval’s flexible platform will enable the transformation from the premier venue of the 2010 Winter Games to a multi-sport and community wellness facility after 2010. In typical use, the Oval’s main activity level will feature three primary zones offering ice, hardwood for court games and an indoor track area. This will offer a full range of training and competitive opportunities for both summer and winter sports, ranging from developmental and recreational to elite level sport. And, after the Games, the Oval will be the centrepiece of a major new urban waterfront featuring a mix of sustainable residential, commercial and public amenity development.
In addition to the Oval, the first nine projects chosen by a 10-person jury to receive Sustainability Stars are: Whistler’s Olympic and Paralympic Village; BC Hydrogen Highway; RONA Vancouver 2010 Fabrication Shop; BC Hydro’s Green Energy Innovations; Live Smart BC, a program operated by the province of British Columbia; Teck Cominco Ltd.’s Going for Gold employee engagement strategy; Coca-Cola’s carbon footprint and offset program; Nortel and /EDU’s LearniT.
