Construction work continues on ETFO's future home in the Upper Jarvis neighbourhood of Toronto. ETFO's new office building is being constructed at the corner of Huntley and Isabella Streets on a site that was once occupied by the Children's Aid Society of Toronto.

The building will stand four storeys tall with one level of underground parking. ETFO’s new home will be green, beautiful, and cost efficient. It is being designed to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification—an internationally recognized benchmark for green building construction and operation.

Construction of ETFO's new headquarters commenced in May 2011 and is due to be completed in March 2013. Learn more about the building project by expanding the sections below. And be sure to visit this page often for construction updates. 

• Detailed Description of the Building & Grounds

  The ETFO headquarters will stand four storeys (20 metres) tall and have one level of underground parking, accessed from Isabella Street on the southeast side of the property. The building will boast several exterior deck areas plus an extensive green roof that will provide insulation as well as storm water management.

   

  The north side of the building has been terraced to minimize shadow impact on nearby homes. The landscaping will include the planting of many new trees to help the new building blend into the neighbourhood. An arborist examined all of the existing trees and determined that some had to be removed; however, the northwest corner of the building was specifically designed to preserve one large black walnut tree. New plantings will far outnumber the trees that had to be removed. 

• Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Certification

  LEED certification recognizes that a building has been constructed to and will be operated on high environmental standards. The new ETFO headquarters is designed to achieve the LEED platinum certification—the highest achievable standard.

   

  The building utilizes proven sustainable building technologies throughout, including automated exterior shading, radiant heating and cooling ceiling systems, underfloor or “displacement” air delivery, geothermal fields, exhaust air heat recovery, rainwater harvesting, natural ventilation, automated lighting systems, and an extensive green roof area.

• The Architects - KPMB

  The architects of ETFO’s new home, Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB), are award winning architects. Among their projects are Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music, the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Canadian Museum of Nature, and the soon-to-be-completed Balsillie Campus at the University of Waterloo.

   

  KPMB also designed Manitoba Hydro Place in Winnipeg, a highly energy-efficient building that has become a must-see destination for visitors to the city. ETFO's building will follow in the footsteps of Manitoba Hydro Place. Although much smaller in size, it will incorporate some of the same desirable green features.

• The Neighbourhood

  The Huntley-Isabella neighbourhood is bounded on three sides by busy downtown thoroughfares: Jarvis Street on the west, Bloor Street on the north, and Sherbourne Street on the east. Isabella runs east-west, linking Jarvis and Sherbourne. Earl Street and Earl Place, to its south, are quiet cul-de-sacs on the east and west sides of Huntley Street, respectively. 

   

  The area is predominantly residential in character, with several highrise and lowrise apartment buildings plus numerous semidetached three-storey homes on tree-lined Selby, Linden and Huntley Streets, as well as on Earl Street and Earl Place. The area also is home to the Casey House HIV/AIDS hospice, the Isabella Hotel & Suites, the Sacré-Coeur Catholic elementary school, a campus of the Msgr. Fraser College adult learning centre, and various offices (the massive Rogers Communications head office building looms large over the neighbourhood from the northwest, while the Greenwin Square office tower, highrise apartment building and shopping centre complex do the same from their location to the north between Bloor and Selby Streets).

Construction Update: January 2012 

At of the beginning of January, the project managers reported that building construction was progressing on schedule with 64% of the concrete structure completed at that point in time. The foundation walls and columns were 100% complete; with the level 1 concrete slab, walls, and columns about 95% complete; and the level 2 slab approximately 30% complete. The concrete structure is slated to be finished this spring.

The project managers continued to anticipate the achievement of LEED Platinum certification for the building. Highlights on this front include 26% regional materials used in construction (20% is required), and diversion from the landfill of greater than 90% of the construction waste generated by the project.

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