The two speakers are Graeme Stewart and Ya'el Santopinto who are with ERA Architects www.eraarch.ca, one of Canada's most prominent architectural firms working in the retrofitting of residential "towers" - that is high-rise residential buildings. In this virtual presentation they discuss the work that they did on the Ken Soble tower in Hamilton to retrofit a 1960s building to Passive House standards. This project was recently certified as the largest Passive House retrofit globally. In their presentation, Graeme and Ya'el include a wide number of photos and graphics of the work that was undertaken and they set out precisely the types of products that are missing or difficult to obtain in Canada - most which is available in Europe much more readily.
The promising potential of the region
The Toronto region, which is home to some 8 million people, has over 2,000 residential high-rises that were constructed in the 1960s to 1980s. The large majority of these buildings do not meet modern standards for temperature control in either winter or summer, air quality or safety. In their presentation, the architects go into detail about fenestration, cladding, mechanical systems and other aspects that Swiss companies may be able to provide to this burgeoning market.
