Kevric Real Estate Corp. is adding new lustre to the heart of downtown Montreal. Its ambitious retrofit of the former National Bank head office at 600 de la Gauchetière (DLG) W. constitutes a blueprint for future sustainable urban development.
Under the direction of Kevric president Sébastien Hylands, the project is a sweeping transformation of a 40-year-old landmark into a state-of-the-art office tower incorporating the highest standards for energy efficiency and smart technology.
As a result, the building - which will see CN move its headquarters there and occupy 18 of its 28 storeys - is to become a gleaming new carbon-neutral exemplar for the rest of Canada.
Located in the heart of Montreal's downtown business district, a few hundred meters north of Quartier International, Kevric's reimagining of the 600 DLG tower will provide CN with what the developer describes as a "state-of-the-art, performance-focused work environment."
The new CN headquarters will take its place among the offices of other major international organizations and feature the CN logo, marking another important step forward in the renewal of the city's urban core.
Work on the project is also being supported by a green loan provided by the building's former owner and principal occupant, the National Bank.
Seizing the opportunity for sustainable modernization
After National Bank decided to move its headquarters out of 600 DLG, Kevric seized on the opportunity to take on another important urban core development project. Interestingly, the Montreal-based real estate owner, developer and operator has its own head office just down the street at 800 de la Gauchetière.
"We acquired the tower in 2019 because we saw this as an opportunity to modernize the building extensively and bring it back to a new tower standard for downtown Montreal," Hylands said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.
The retrofit consists of extensive changes to both the exterior and interior of the building, which comprises approximately 710,000 square feet of space.
Key renovations include:
- Facade renovation: Over two-thirds of the building’s facade has already been replaced. The new design doubles the glazing, improving building energy performance by 20 per cent. In addition, the retrofit addresses long-standing issues such as water leakage and design flaws that have plagued the building for decades.
- Interior overhaul: The interior is being gutted and redesigned to bring about a new reorientation of the ground floor entrance. The original layout no longer aligns with the neighborhood’s evolution following the subsequent redevelopment of the Square Victoria complex in the early 2000s.
"The way the entrances were organized was kind of upside down with how the neighborhood evolved over time. Therefore, we are redoing the entire ground floor of the building to reconnect it to the new downtown area," Hylands explained.
- Smart building technologies: The retrofit incorporates cutting-edge technologies to create a fully touchless environment. Occupants will use access cards to unlock doors and call elevators, while automated motorized shades will adjust according to sunlight levels, thus optimizing energy efficiency and comfort.
- Sustainability initiatives: One of the most significant achievements Kevric is bringing about is the transformation of 600 DLG into a carbon-neutral building. In addition, the company sought to reduce embodied carbon emissions during construction. Finally, the building will go fully green by relying on hydropower rather than its existing natural gas heating and cooling systems.
"The building, as is the case with a large portion of downtown Montreal buildings, is heated by natural gas through a district energy network. But we are finalizing negotiations to be able to get our district energy provided solely by hydroelectricity rather than natural gas combustion," Hylands said.
"This will substantially reduce carbon emissions related to the ongoing operations of the building. Moreover, we are going to be purchasing high-quality carbon offsets as part of the project in order to essentially offset the emissions that we are emitting (during construction) so that the transformation is essentially 100 per cent carbon-neutral."
A benchmark for sustainable urban development
Kevric has adopted a strategy of revitalizing downtown core buildings, particularly in Montreal where it is headquartered, as part of its commitment to delivering high-quality urban office buildings. It also wants to ensure downtown Montreal will remain a driving economic force for the city.
Kevric’s retrofit of 600 DLG aims to set a new benchmark for sustainable construction and practices. By employing cutting-edge technology to transform an existing urban landmark into a carbon-neutral building, Kevric hopes to demonstrate that older buildings can gain new life as modern, sustainable spaces.
In spearheading Kevric's forward-looking strategy, Hylands has a clear vision of how developers can decarbonize the built environment.
"Our view and our conviction is that building retrofits are more relevant than ever, especially in urban cores. We can't be expanding our downtown cores - so we have to make the most of our existing infrastructure: the transit system, the roads, everything that's been built," he said.
"A big part of that is going to be making sure that office buildings, residential buildings, and all the buildings that are part of downtown cores go through the cycle of reinvestment and modernization . . . That's the next step of rebuilding our cities and (spurring) our industrial and economic development.
"We see great value in that."