Kudos and Exploratories

Victoria has a dynamic and progressive mayor, Lisa Helps**. In 2019 she named 32 Victoria residents Climate Champions. We were among them. We resolved then and there to record the retrofit journey on our house in an effort to help others save steps and money planning their own green renovations.

We also committed to work with community organizations and our local university (University of Victoria) to make the house available as a subject of study. Working with students and with Professor Cam Owens and Community Outreach Coordinator Rhianna Nagel has been a great experience.

To further spread the message of the benefits of retrofitting old houses we have asked suppliers to tell the story of how their systems contribute to green retrofits. Examples finished or in planning include Mitsubishi (heat pumps), Loewen (windows) , Viridian (solar panels), Part & Whole (local furniture maker). Local media has also featured stories on the house (Spruce, Capital News Daily, Canadian House & Home).

**Mayor Helps is profiled as a Champion Mayor for Progressive Growth by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The Canadian Home Builders Association Named Frontera Homes Winner 2021 - Best Renovation Over $300,000 Vancouver Island for our house.

Academic Inquiry - Meet the Architects

In 2020 we partnered for the first time with The University of Victoria. Cam Owen’s GEOG406 is a course that explores the opportunities and challenges of planning ecologically, socially and environmentally just cities. Aza and Georgia produced this sensitive interview with the architects. Check out more of the projects on this dedicated page.

Local Media Newly Net-Zero Home in Oaklands Has a Little Footprint But a Big Impact

On May 11, 2021 a story on 2654 Fernwood popped up in Capital News Daily - billed as the West Coast’s premier independent news startup. It is a source for proprietary, longform, and investigative stories and analysis. And in what is turning out to be a collegiate pattern ….Kiley Verbowski (a recent grad of U Vic) was assigned to write about the house by the editor Jimmy Thompson (also a U Vic alum). The story focuses on our path to retrofitting and our advocacy.

Local Media - Fernwood’s The Village Vibe Shines a Light on the House

The Village Vibe is Fernwood’s neighbourhood newspaper. It was created by Fernwood NRG staff and volunteers in 2005 to communicate with residents about goings on in our part of the city of Victoria. Published by Fernwood NRG, the Village Vibe is produced bi-monthly by an editorial committee. Articles, stories, poems, photos and original artwork are sourced from resident contributors. The Vibe is mailed out to all Fernwood households and distributed in boxes throughout the neighbourhood and at local cafes and shops. John Ho, sustainability officer for the city reached out to the Village Vibe (this is the April/May 2021 issue) about a story on the house. Students at U Vic in Sarah Humphreys English class on digital communication wrote the piece for the April/May 2021 issue of the paper. just as the house was nearing completion. This is the second U Vic class I have had the chance to work with. Students Tessa Weimer, Devin Fikis, and Kaitlyn Nightingale authored the story here.

Case Study - Viridian Solar Blog and Video Reportage on 2654 Fernwood

Viridian Solar was the first of our supplier partners do a blog post on their role in making our house achieve net zero. Steve Unger handed the project to Sarah Allan (also a U Vic grad) who put together this incredible drone footage of the house along with a Q&A with me about the process. Follow the links to see their story here:

Case Study - Part & Whole on our house and their couch called TOTAL

We discovered Scott & Scott (our architects) thanks to the house they built up the street for Lizzy and Nathan. Nathan Martell is the founder of a furniture manufacturer in Vic West. From the outset we knew when we finished the house the centerpiece of the living room would be his TOTAL couch. Ours was the first to be delivered in Victoria from this new enterprise. Nathan and his business partner came over to take pictures of the couch in situ ad to add their perspective on what’s going on. READ POST HERE

Victoria is a city of Little Libraries. Our book box is a way share information about climate, green build and rebates. Book boxes encourage people to converse, compare notes on projects, and build community.

One Fine Day - We held weekly teleconferences to review progress. These images were taken after the July 23, 2020 session. That week staining of the board & batten and window frames, roofing work, prepping for shingling, finishing up of the soffits, plumbing, electrical was all going on. The hot water heater arrived. University of Victoria student, Bridget and I struggled with the window rebate application and worked on landscape planning. A few calamities were averted. The bid for kitchen cabinets came back.

A closeup of the wall system.