PowerStream LEEDing by example again with new Ops Centre

PowerStream’s new South Operations Centre, now one of three company work locations, serves as another example of the utility’s commitment to both environmental stewardship and providing its customers with safe, efficient and reliable electricity distribution services.

The new facility also makes it possible for PowerStream to be more efficient in the delivery of services to customers in York Region. It has allowed the company to consolidate two former operations centres in Vaughan and Markham, thereby streamlining costs which will help reduce the upward pressure on customer distribution rates.

South Operations Centre

Construction of the South Operations Centre (located in Markham at 80 Addiscott Court in the Highway 407 and Woodbine Road area), began in June 2009. The 12-acre site for the new facility was selected because of its close proximity to Highways 407 and 404, which is expected to enhance outage response times due to its easy access to two 400-series highways in the immediate area. The building’s location is also situated just west of a new PowerStream transformer station scheduled to be commissioned in May 2010.

After construction was completed at the end of February 2010, more than 150 employees from Lines, Fleet, Protection & Control (P&C), Station Maintenance, Metering, Stores, Inspections & Locates and Health & Safety moved into the 107, 214 square foot facility. The building is now the home work location for almost one-third of PowerStream’s 500 employees.

The complex comprises a 60,000 square foot indoor parking garage, a 20,000 square foot warehouse and 27,000 square foot of office space. The indoor parking garage has room for 45 large trucks. Outdoor parking can accommodate another 270 vehicles.

Some of the building’s LEED® features include a white rooftop that provides a high Solar Reflective Index (SRI) to keep the facility cooler during the summer and warmer during the winter months, an array of 16 kW solar panels on the south-facing wall, high-efficiency fluorescent lighting systems that are controlled with motion sensors and an air conditioning system which is free of harmful gases such as freon.

Head Office

Similar to the new South Operations Centre, PowerStream’s head office facility (located in Vaughan at 161 Cityview Blvd. in the Highway 400 and Major Mackenzie Drive area) has also helped the company to gain efficiencies through consolidation by enabling the head office operations of four predecessor utilities to be brought together under one roof.

Following nearly two years of construction, PowerStream took occupancy of what eventually became a LEED® gold certified building in February 2008. The 92,000 square foot facility has many energy-efficient and sustainable features, including high-efficiency heating, cooling and plumbing systems, solar panels, a wind turbine and a storm drainage pond that is used for irrigating the surrounding landscape.

The head office facility is home for the majority of PowerStream’s employees who work within the company’s administrative departments including Engineering Services, Customer Service, Finance and Corporate Services.

North Office/Operations Centre

The North Office/Operations Centre, (located in Barrie at 55 Patterson Road in the Highway 400 and Essa Road area), provides not only a “local presence” for the utility within the City of Barrie but also a highly-efficient and effective facility from which PowerStream serves its customers throughout Simcoe County.

The building currently has a solar thermal water system in place and will soon have an array of rooftop solar panels to generate electricity for the provincial grid as part of the Ontario Government’s new renewable energy Feed-in Tariff program.

The North Office/Operations Centre has staff representation from Customer Service, General Administration and Field Operations.

What is LEED®?

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System™ encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.

LEED® is a third-party certification program and an internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

It provides building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance.

• sustainable site development
• water efficiency
• energy efficiency
• materials selection
• indoor environmental quality

There are now over 1,800 LEED® projects registered or certified with the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC), a clear indication of the Canadian market’s interest in advancing, and demonstrating, the environmental performance of buildings.

About PowerStream Inc.

PowerStream Inc. is the third largest local electricity distribution company in Ontario, providing service to more than 237,000 residential and business customers in the municipalities of Aurora, Markham, Richmond Hill and Vaughan.  It is an incorporated entity, jointly owned by the City of Vaughan and the Town of Markham.

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