One might believe that a Net Zero rating comes at the exclusion of traditional energy sources or that the goal of all green initiatives is to completely cease use of non-renewable energy — but this is not the case. Big Block Construction has partnered with SaskEnergy in order to provide residents with reliable heating through Saskatchewan’s cold winters while still maintaining a focus on responsible energy use. 

In any city, people fall along a housing continuum, from the extreme of homelessness to luxury homes in the top two per cent of the market. Then there’s everything in between. “During your life, you’re moving up and down that continuum,” says Chris Guerette, CEO of Saskatoon & Region Home Builders’ Association. “In any municipality, to have a healthy housing continuum it means you have a variety of options — styles, amenities, price points, locations.” In the Saskatoon neighbourhood of Willowgrove, the Willowview Heights development is one of the only builds of its type.

When someone makes an investment in a new home, they expect the building to last long after they have moved on, especially when it comes to the structure itself. Unfortunately, that does not always happen. Details may be overlooked, and one place that this sometimes happens is with the building envelope of the home. Sun Ridge is a third-party partner on a quality assurance program Saskatchewan New Home Warranty Program is offering builders that focuses specifically on the building envelope.

There are many design considerations to take into account when designing a Net Zero / Net Zero Ready building. We outline five of them in this short video: Insulation, staggered stud framing, windows, furnace/water heater with air source heat pump and a drain water heat recovery coil.

Aug. 20, 2020, Big Block Construction craned the Net Zero / Net Zero Ready modular building at Willowview Heights in the Willowgrove neighbourhood of Saskatoon, Sask. We captured the process from start to finish. It's amazing to watch everyone working together to make it happen.

Seeing a modular build come together is an amazing sight: A building seems to almost magically appear in a day! If only it were as easy as waving a wand — in reality, it takes a community of well-coordinated workers to make it happen.

Stacie Beever with the National Affordable Housing Corporation wants every Canadian to have access to affordable housing. For years, the NAHC’s main focus was on home ownership, but that goal has shifted to more of a focus on rentals. “If the rental market is left to dwindle and no new developments are taken on, vacancy rates continue to fall while the cost to rent skyrockets,” said Beever, who is the chief operation officer for the NAHC.

Residential buildings made up one-quarter of Saskatoon’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 — that’s 913,000 tonnes of CO2. So when the City began to draft its Low Emissions Community Plan in 2019, residential buildings were one of the sectors that could be improved to reduce emissions and slow the effects of global warming.

To the untrained eye, a modularly constructed building looks nearly identical to one built using traditional methods, but Jeff Enns with Grandeur Housing hopes that people will take notice of the role that factory construction played in bringing the Willowview Heights Net Zero project to fruition.

The Canadian Home Builders’ Association has embarked on an exciting mission: to provide healthier homes for Canadians using the fastest and most efficient methods, including Net Zero technologies. Big Block’s Willowview Heights is one of the first multi-unit residential buildings (MURB) qualified under the CHBA Net Zero Home Labelling Program.