Almost 50 people gathered at the North Vancouver Outdoor School on Wednesday (April 20) for the official groundbreaking ceremony held at the minimal-impact construction site of the new North Shore Credit Union Environmental Learning Centre, set to be completed by December.
NVOS supporters shared insights into the value the Environmental Learning Centre (ELC) will provide, not only for the North Vancouver School District and Squamish community, but for British Columbia and the rest of Canada.
"The NVOS predates both Earth Day and Greenpeace," said John Lewis, North Vancouver School District superintendent, in his opening speech. "By the time the United Nations declared that environmental education must be applied as a tool to address environmental problems in 1972, the outdoor school was already three years old.
"Throughout the world, environmental education is now understood as a vital necessity in raising generations of citizens who not only appreciate nature but can contribute solutions to the pressing sustainability challenges of our time," he said.
"The ELC is the first step towards realizing our vision of becoming a national centre for environmental excellence that promotes a community of learning and leadership for outdoor education, investigation and research."
Ian Campbell, Squamish Nation hereditary chief, was invited to share his thoughts on the project, as were Member of Parliament John Weston for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, and MLA Joan McIntyre for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky. All were effusive in their praise for the project.
Campbell was particularly eloquent, incorporating the Squamish Nation traditional language into his comments before sharing a song as a blessing - "one of the top 10 of our potlatch hits," he joked - to honour the connection to the natural rhythm of the land that the ELC would continue to inspire among future generations.
"It's wonderful to gather here and see the continuity and celebration of this part of the Squamish territory," he said. "It's good what you have done - I thank the school district, I want to thank the staff for their hard work for many years of dedication to this."
Weston emphasized the importance of two themes for all Canadians - "protecting our legacy and building our future" - and a long tradition of learning, which he said was epitomized by NVOS.
"The whole world is learning what we Canadians are doing well and doing better all the time and that is looking at our environment as our most vital legacy," Weston said. "This place is way more important than I think you even realize."
Introduced as a champion of the ELC since its inception, McIntyre reflected on being a newly elected MLA and learning about the project for the first time, which she described as "a magnet for environmental learning, not only in this region but for the province and the country."
Concluding remarks were heard by Francie Stratton, chair of the North Vancouver Board of Education, and Doug Smith, North Shore Credit Union vice-president of corporate affairs.
The North Shore Credit Union was a catalyst for the project when it selected NVOS as the recipient of its $1 million Legacy Fund in 2007.
"There was a definite need - all the buildings on the property are pretty much at the end of their useful life. Many have received considerable flood damage over the years," said project lead Mike McGraw.
McFarland Marceau Architects Ltd., a Vancouver-based firm specializing in sustainable design, was contracted to develop an innovative facility that would model the values of environmental stewardship while responding to the sensitive ecology of the site. The project received a Holcim Award for Sustainable Construction in 2008 for its design, which follows a "treehouse" concept - elevated high off the flood plain, putting students and visitors up into the forest canopy.
The $5.8 million centre will replace the existing cafeteria and some of the NVOS administrative and program spaces, and will feature a forest-facing classroom. Because the building is lifted, the space underneath will be used as an assembly space for the campus.
The building will have a stormwater harvesting system and will feature a number of systems to minimize its power use. Wood from other schools de-commissioned in North Vancouver will be re-used in its construction and pre-fabricated cladding sections will minimize the impact on the construction site. The NVSD is going after LEED Platinum certification, said McGraw.
"It's common when you build new school facilities to target LEED Gold. Very few school districts have ever targeted the highest level, which is LEED Platinum," he said. "LEED Platinum is an urban centre standard - it's not really designed for rural settings, particularly the outdoor school area, so to target a LEED Platinum certification is a very, very ambitious innovative goal."
The ELC is just Phase 1 of a $20 million development project that will revitalize the entire campus.
But, said McGraw, the project isn't just about replacing buildings and revitalizing the campus, it's also about turning it into an international centre of excellence for environmental education.
The aim, he said, is for the building to become a demonstration facility with benefits beyond just the outdoor school. McGraw anticipates engaging the community and beginning talks with potential partners to "make this a part of the emerging Squamish."
"There's a lot of interesting opportunities to provide leadership training and environmental education and there are potential partnership opportunities with other institutions like Royal Roads, SFU, etc.," he said. "We've been exploring a number of concepts."
Victor Elderton, principal of NVOS, said the ELC initiative is a perfect example of the "think globally, act locally" mantra.
"If we build really strong local programs, and local initiatives, then [these] can also be things that influence internationally and that's really what this will allow us to do," Elderton said.
