SOPREMA Woodstock

In embracing today’s clamant needs for sustainable designs, SOPREMA’s manufacturing facility in Woodstock, Ontario demonstrates how a structure’s industrial vocation does not need to be at odds with the environment, or with having a striking design.

With its leading-edge transdisciplinary design, new standards have been set with the landmark project’s combination of green building leadership in carbon and cost-savings with user comfort and well-being in one comfortable and inspiring industrial work environment. Formed through a combination of architecture, interior design, landscape and engineering, SOPREMA’s state-of-the-art facility for waterproofing materials is one of the few industrial projects in Canada to have obtained LEED v4 certification.

This was achieved through the application of sustainable strategies and features in all of its core spaces—from production, storage, and office areas to its landscaped grounds—to transform the surrounding industrial park by example: Using 40% less water and avoiding the emission of 505 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of removing 153 vehicles from Canadian roads, this 10,015 m2 site’s global warming potential is 12% lower and its carbon footprint is 12% smaller than that of a comparable structure, resulting in 11% less of an environmental impact overall.

With a structure of recycled steel and local materials, the plant’s integrated alternative energies are coupled with natural features such as floor-to-ceiling windows for ample diffusion of natural light and views in its offices and a heat recovery system for its production processes. Outside, the structure features both an inner courtyard and a solar-paneled, hybrid reflective vegetated roof with a terrace and garden components for rest areas. From atop the latter, open vistas onto an extensive landscape can be seen that promotes local biodiversity and reduces heat island effects with two accessible ponds for stormwater management and planted trees.