Edmonton climate policies drive up city building costs, report shows

Natasha Riebe · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 25, 2025 8:35 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

The City of Edmonton is amending a cardinal clime policy after a study showed building facilities similar occurrence halls and recreation centres successful Edmonton is higher owed to its current standards than it would beryllium if the metropolis followed a basal design.

Last November, metropolis councillors asked medication for a cost-benefit investigation to spot however overmuch metropolis policies were adding to the terms of gathering superior projects, acrophobic that it mostly costs little to physique successful neighbouring jurisdictions similar Leduc. 

The metropolis commissioned a 3rd party, S2 Architecture, to comparison 2 theoretical occurrence presumption models: one designed with the City of Edmonton's bylaws and policies and 1 designed to conscionable lone the minimum codification requirements.

The findings amusement that gathering a occurrence hallway nether the city's existent standards would outgo conscionable implicit $21 million, 58 per cent much than the $13 cardinal estimated to physique a presumption with a basal design.

The lawsuit survey factored successful 4 metropolis policies erstwhile building: the clime resilience policy, the occurrence rescue work transportation policy, City of Edmonton facility construction modular and the Edmonton Design Committee process. 

Council's caller infrastructure committee discussed the report's findings astatine a gathering Wednesday.

"Direct operation costs are accrued by the exertion of metropolis requirements," Pascale Ladouceur, the city's subdivision manager of infrastructure readying and design, told councillors. 

"The biggest outgo operator is the clime resilience policy."

The committee heard from respective speakers, including Lindsay Butterfield with BILD Edmonton Metro, a existent property manufacture association, who asked councillors to reappraisal the policies. 

"Look astatine each the options and marque trade-offs wherever they're indispensable due to the fact that we should beryllium looking to minimize costs arsenic good for the full city's benefit," Butterfield said. 

LISTEN | A fiery statement implicit occurrence hallway costs:

But clime advocates, including Jim Sandercock with the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation, urged councillors to travel the existent clime policy. 

"It's going to beryllium truly costly successful the aboriginal to retrofit buildings that were built to minimum code."

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi introduced a question directing medication to amend the clime argumentation and research options for reducing costs portion inactive gathering the extremity of creating zero emissions. 

Committee agreed to the question and medication is scheduled to contiguous the projected amendments adjacent spring.

"Absolutely, we cannot suffer the intent of these policies," Sohi said. "They are determination for a bully reason, whether they're determination for clime resiliency, whether they're determination for the information and extortion and creating the close conditions for our front-line folks."

'Valid question'

Ladouceur said the findings successful the study are a springboard to reviewing the existent rules. 

"I deliberation it's a valid question for councillors to understand: Have we made decisions successful the past, administration and assembly together, that impacts the outgo of our infrastructure?" Ladouceur said successful an interrogation Tuesday. 

The clime resilience argumentation requires the plan to beryllium emissions-neutral.

The co-chair of the city's vigor modulation and clime resilience committee, Jacob Komar, argues that the study findings are inflated due to the fact that the consultants utilized higher standards successful the lawsuit study examples than what's really needed to make an energy-efficient building. 

"The walls are astir apt to an insulation level that is treble what is needed for a net-zero building," Komar said successful an interrogation with CBC News Tuesday. 

Also an technologist who works connected net-zero emissions projects, Komar said there's a diminishing instrumentality connected insulation — the much you add, the little you get for it. 

"So the walls, the roof, the windows, the doors — there's implicit $2 cardinal of other outgo that they've added." 

Ward sipiwiyiniwak Coun. Sarah Hamilton said the lawsuit survey is an accidental for reviewing and perchance revising policies, not mounting a steadfast way for assembly to take. 

"The authorities has a relation successful presumption of furthering clime resilience. We person a relation successful furthering plan excellence. We person a relation successful furthering, I deliberation adjacent our ain operation standards," Hamilton said. 

"We've heard implicit the decades that Edmontonians don't privation thing disposable. They privation to beryllium arrogant of the buildings that we're gathering with their money."