James Douglas Elementary School

James Douglas Elementary School was designed to replace the old heritage school located at 7550 Victoria Drive. Vancouver School Board required highly sustainable design standards while adhering to a tight budget with public funds. The new development represents an impressive educational building that showcases cutting-edge design elements for students, teachers, and parents.

Integral Group was selected to provide mechanical and sustainability consulting services for this state-of-the-art project. The Integral Group team displayed innovation by designing a complete rainwater harvesting system, a non-potable water system, and a geo-exchange heat pump plant. Low-temperature radiant floor heating and demand ventilation console units were designed based on European Demand Ventilation Units.

One of the biggest challenges of this project was designing the new building on the same site as the old one, with the school staying in full operation. Maintaining safe and complete access to the facility was critical during construction. Low energy consumption systems with high comfort levels were essential for this project. James Douglas will be one of the lowest energy intensity elementary schools operated by the Vancouver School Board.