Transforming 840 Eglinton is the most ambitious retrofit project undertaken in Toronto Community Housing Corporation’s (TCHC) history. Not only will the updates will save the 40 families who call the building home $47,000 a year in collective utilities costs, they will result in a healthier and more comfortable spaces.

Working from the outside in, the retrofit will touch almost every system from the building envelope to the roof to the fuel used. Radiators and the central boiler will be replaced with air source heat pumps, a technology that does double duty: heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.

Less expensive than redevelopment, retrofitting also has the added bonus of allowing residents to stay in their homes rather than having to relocate. Part of the City of Toronto’s Net Zero Strategy, the project targets a 90% reduction in carbon intensity; all while creating a healthier and more comfortable home for residents.

We’re proud to be a part of this pivotal project and are working closely with the THCH and the Toronto Atmospheric Fund to provide a retrofit blueprint for not only 840 Eglington, but also an additional 2,100 buildings, comprising 59,000 units, across the TCHC portfolio.

We approach this project armed with learnings from similar work that also required creative solutions to big challenges. A response to the dual crisis of housing and climate, the Prototype Laneway Housing project, in collaboration with the University of Toronto, was built on a site within the Huron-Sussex Neighborhood on the St. George Campus.

Designed to be net-zero energy and net-zero carbon using Passive House principles, the Prototype Laneway project also strove to reduce on-site construction waste and landfill through prefabrication, an approach that also enabled building envelope improvements that greatly increased air tightness – and ultimately resident comfort.

Learn more about our sustainable design approaches to residential environments here >