UBC Sustainable Sites (Buchanan)

We have completed our CSL project and our final results are as follows!

Credit 3.1 is a required component to pass the SSI water requirement rating. Its aim is to reduce the potable water usage by 50% for irrigation of the area. Following the method of calculations provided by the SSI, the reduction in potable was calculated to be around 30% for peak watering months, and thus did not meet this criterion.

Credit 3.5 focuses on managing stormwater on site. Specifically, it aims at increasing infiltration, and reducing runoff and evapotranspiration.  This is achieved through a reduction in non-permeable area. Calculations were performed using a modified TR-55 method as recommended in the SSI guidelines. Ultimately, there was no reduction in permeable area, thus no credits were awarded for this section.

Credit 3.6 focused on protecting and enhancing on site water quality. Potential pollutants used in exterior construction were identified, and filtration methods were taken into account. According to the guidelines, there were only a small amount of potential pollutants present and filtration was provided by drainage holes as wells as large areas dedicated to soil and vegetation. By the rating criteria, this credit received the full 9 points.

Credit 3.7 aimed to make the water features visible and accessible from the site. Because the two water amenities were 100% visible and accessible, but not available for full human contact, 2 out of a possible 3 credits were awarded.

Credit 3.8 was about maintaining water balance in water features from non-potable sources. This was achieved in full by relying solely on rainwater to fill both water amenities on site. An additional point was awarded by using gravity for all movement and recirculation of water. Thus, 4 out of a possible 4 points were awarded.

Out of a possible 26 points, 15 were awarded for the project. Although due to the requirement that 3.1 is passed, the project didn’t technically meet the guidelines.

Over the reading break, we split up into three groups of two, designating  sections of the Sustainable Sites Initiative to each group.  We also contacted a civil engineer from Stantec who had AutoCAD drawings of the site.  He was able to give us these drawings, which helped up greatly in some of our calculations.  The AutoCAD drawings can be seen below.

Civil Engineer's AutoCAD Drawings

By the end of the reading break, we were able to finish up the specific parts of the SSI.  We found that while working on this project and trying to figure out the needed calculations, a lot of estimations and assumptions had to be made, as we did not have some of the needed expertise and knowledge.  Nonetheless, we completed the needed sections of the SSI to the best of our knowledge and with great help from Dean Gregory.  It was great that he could meet with us two times as we are all sure that he is extremely busy.  Right now, we are just working on compiling all the different pieces of the project into a portfolio, which we will submit on Monday.  In our portfolio, we will be including notes, assumptions, estimations, calculations, construction documents, and all other relative information that we used to come to our conclusions.  Once the portfolio is all put together, I will make a final post regarding the results of the project.  Stay tuned for the results!

We are coming down to the last couple weeks of the CSL project and it has been quite a journey thus far.  We recently met with Dean Gregory again last Friday as we needed a little more clarification on some of the data and information that we need to collect.  He recommended that we try and contact someone who is involved with UBC Building Ops.  The man Dean said we should try and come in contact with is Jeff Nulty.  We have yet to have a conversation with Jeff, but when we do, hopefully the rest of the data that we need can be found.

We have now split into three groups of two, with each group working on either section 3.1, 3.5 or 3.6 of the Sustainable Sites Initiative.  We feel that this will speed up the process of completing each individual task.

In the mean time, I have found a pleasant video about the newly improved Buchanan Courtyards.  It features students and alumni giving their first impressions of the courtyards when they were first opened.  Follow the link below if you have time to check it out.  Keep in mind that in the video, the water catchment pool is operational, but at this current time it is turned off.

http://legacy.arts.ubc.ca/about-arts/buchanan-courtyard-video.html

Several areas of the courtyards

Operational water catchment pool

If you head on over to the “Schedule” tab, you will be able to see a Gantt Chart with the work that we have completed thus far, and also the tasks that we plan to complete with their respective dates.  We are currently in the collecting data section.  We have acquired the necessary information for two of the sections in the SSI (section 3.7 and 3.8) and we just need to find relevant data for the remaining sections (3.1, 3.5 and 3.6).  We are meeting today with Dean Gregory to go over the remaining data that we need for these last few sections of the SSI.

We have made a ton of progress over the last week.  We have gotten a hold of the Sustainable Sites Initiative guidelines and have been thoroughly reviewing them.  The section of the SSI that is relevant to our project is the “Site Water- Design” section.  In this section, there are a list of prerequisites that are basically the guidelines which will determine how “green” the Buchanan Courtyards actually are.  The prerequisites that we need to evaluate for our project are the following:

Basically, the more points that are scored for each prerequisite, the more “green” the Buchanan Courtyards are.  Our job over the next few weeks will be to find all the necessary data required for these prerequisites.  Some of this data includes finding evapotranspiration data, rainfall data, and the area of the courtyards.  We will be working hard to gather this information, so we can see just how “green” the courtyards are!

We were also given some civil engineering drawings of the site, which helped us gain a greater understanding of how the drainage system installed in the courtyards actually worked.

Civil Engineering Drawings of the Courtyards

Since the weather has been pretty horrible this past week, we haven’t been able to get some quality pictures of the Buchanan courtyards.  We were given a document by Dean when we met on Friday, and inside the document there was a computerized picture of the site.  Keep in mind, the document he gave us only included information leading up to the development of the courtyards, but from our tour with Dean, we can safely say that this picture is almost identical to what the courtyards look like.

Buchanan Courtyards

We will be working on getting some of our own photos of the site once the weather makes a turn for the better.

Last Friday (the 13th of January), we met up with our client, Dean Gregory.  Dean is the landscape architect for UBC.  We quickly introduced ourselves, and then Dean gave us a pleasant tour of the new and improved courtyards at Buchanan.  Despite the torrential, we really enjoyed the tour.  Dean seemed extremely excited to have us doing this project for him.  We were already excited ourselves to have the opportunity to work on an engineering related project, but seeing Dean’s enthusiasm made us even more inspired.  Dean showed us all the aspects of the courtyards that were designed in order to maximize sustainability.  He also explained that our main task of this community service project is to compare the work done on the courtyards with the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SSI), and then report back to him with the results.  The results would basically let Dean know how much sustainability the courtyards achieve according to the guidelines of the SSI.  We are in the process of getting all the necessary documents so that we will be able to start our testing!

If you want to check out Dean Gregory’s blog, follow this link!

http://www.planning.ubc.ca/vancouver_home/campus_design_and_public_places/deans_blog.php

Here is another link that has some information about Dean.  Also, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see a short slideshow of some of the projects Dean has worked on, including the Buchanan Courtyards.

http://land8lounge.com/profile/DeanGregory

Yesterday, we also had a short meeting with Brenda Sawada.  Brenda is the founder and coordinator of the UBC SEEDS program!  She will be helping us progress forward in our project, and we are extremely looking forward to working with her!

Brenda Sawada

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.  Head on over to the “Contact Us” page to find a list of our group members with their corresponding email addresses.

Our team is extremely excited to get started on this community service project!  Head over to the “About Us” page if you want to get to know a few fun facts about our team!

Later today, we will be visiting the work site at Buchanan Courtyards.  Stay tuned for updates on our first impressions of the site, a meet and greet with our supervisor Dean Gregory, and some pictures of the site!