In the summer of 2024, the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, a core partner of Building for Sustainability, engaged Bow Valley building and real estate professionals to gain insights on the knowledge, capacity, and needs are to progress building performance standards locally. This engagement work has helped inform how Building for Sustainability can be of service to the building and real estate industries with the Bow Valley, and further afield.

So what did we find? We identified key barriers, including: costs, knowledge gaps, regulatory uncertainty, and low perceived market demand, all of which hinder the adoption and proliferation of high-performance building standards by industry professionals. This demographic highlighted the need for accessible, specialized training for Bow Valley industry professionals. Our findings indicate that with the right support, the Bow Valley can advance its capacity to meet Canada’s 2030 net-zero goals, transforming the building industry for a sustainable future.