Our Commitment to Energy Efficiency
On September 22 GOHBA won EnerQuality’s Home Builders’ Association of the Year award, which recognizes “outstanding leadership in high-performance home building by promoting and participating in EnerQuality programs and the high-performance homebuilding construction industry.”
GOHBA is the proud voice for excellence in the home building community, and one of the things we’re most proud of is our member’s achievements in high-performance building.
Central to GOHBA’s efforts in the realm of energy efficiency is our Building Innovation Committee and its participating members, which represent all facets of the building community. The Building Innovation Committee’s mission is to provide members with the most up to date information on building products and processes that can – in a cost-effective way – help them improve efficiency, enhance quality or increase sustainability.
A real indication of the success our industry has had in high performance building in Ottawa is the vast number of builder participants in EnerQuality programs. Since 2018, we’ve had 17 builders participate for a combined number of almost 2000 homes. This number represents almost 30% of ground-oriented homes built in this region, which leads the province.
We also are playing our part by working with the City of Ottawa to support its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 100 per cent by 2050.
GOHBA and its volunteer members have long been working with city staff and other stakeholders on the Climate Change Master Plan, the development of Energy Evolution model (which will be considered by Council at the end of the month) and specific programs for existing and new homes – a Residential Building Retrofit Accelerator Program and a High Performance Design Standard. As well, GOHBA volunteers have been working on the Transportation Master Plan and Solid Waste Master Plan, which have a number of overlapping actions with the Climate Change Master Plan.
Ottawa has always had incredible results at the EQ Awards, with 9 finalist nominations, and a total of 5 winning projects in last year’s program. GOHBA has been very well-represented in the finalist and winner’s circles since 2013, with accolades increasing annually.
There is no better example of outstanding leadership in high-performance home building than our current president, Roy Nandram of RND Construction. Constantly breaking new ground, Roy has won an eQ Award every year since 2015. Roy was a founding member of the Green Committee (now Building Innovation), when it first got started back in 2005, now engaging 45+ member companies. He is a champion of the green building community, and it is with his guidance that GOHBA leads the pack and is so honoured to be named the EnerQuality Home Builders’ Association of the Year.