How do you convince your neighbour, your sister, a fellow citizen or even a business or government to change a bad habit? You can tell them once, twice or three times, you can even yell it in their ear, but most of the time people change their habits by imitating the example set by others. For instance, someone who sees their neighbour take out their recycling bin might be inspired to get into the habit of taking out their own bin. Of course, some people will wait until the majority of their neighbours get into this habit before adopting it themselves, and there are always a few stragglers who need to be coerced into changing their habits by means of regulations or penalties.
This being the case, we decided to adopt the most effective approach in order to meet our aim of changing habits in the construction industry: imitation and inspiration. By building the first LEED Platinum certified commercial building in Québec, our goal is to inspire our neighbours to imitate us. And with 65,000 square feet of hope, it’s starting to be a pretty good example! What better way to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of a green and healthy building than by giving people the opportunity to visit, touch and even kick an actual example of one? Our goal is that, 10 years from now, the Centre for Sustainable Development will stand as the gold standard for the renovation and construction of buildings in Québec. Ideally, however, it will remain the most ecological building in the province for as short a time as possible. After all, our greatest hope is that, by showing the way in to sustainable development now, we’ll provide a way out for future generations.
