Welcome to our first blog of 2016. Truth be told, this is our first blog posting, period! But all great journeys start with a first step and because 2016 has all the makings of a special year, we want to share the excitement. On behalf of the Board of Sustainable Buildings Canada, I invite you read on and see what we are planning this year.
Even if you know us just a little, you probably know that we are an organization committed to improving the environmental performance of the built environment. We undertake training, education and programming initiatives to accomplish this mission, and work with government, utilities, and agencies to shape and implement policy through innovative programming. Our Board members, staff, volunteers and scholarship recipients are involved in many different areas of the building industry and we do not receive core funding, but rather operate on a fee-for-services basis to fund our activities.
Our most high profile public event is the annual Green Building Festival (GBF), now in its 11th season. And while 2015 was our most successful Festival ever, sold out with 300 attendees, our 2016 conference will be on a whole new level. In fact, this year we are going international!
Sustainable Buildings Canada has joined forces with Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) to participate in a global network of conferences in 2016 with a decidedly climate change theme. Our conference, SBE16Toronto, will be the exclusive SBE conference for the Americas (north, south, and central) and will take place September 19 & 20. We are expecting some 500 international environmental stakeholders from industry, academia and government at the Toronto Downtown Eaton Centre Marriott Hotel, to exploring strategies, projects and best practices in the conference theme, “Regenerative and Resilient Urban Environments”.
What’s different is what will make this our biggest and best event ever. SBE16Toronto is part technical conference: We received more than 70 research and technical presentation submissions, the best 40 of which will generate half of the conference panels. And the other half of the content is the high caliber, carefully curated programming that has brought delegates back to our annual Green Building Festival year after year, including provocative presenters, engaging panel discussions and interactive workshops.
What else is new? Our partners this year include iiSBE Canada, the United Nations Environment Programme Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative (UNEP-SBCI), International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) and the International Council for Building and Construction (CIB), in addition to a range of local, Canadian and Pan-American professional industry associations.
Plus, SBE16Toronto joins 20 global SBE conferences that culminate in the global World Sustainable Built Environment (WSBE) Conference in Hong Kong in 2017, so we are really joining the international discourse on climate change.
SBE16Toronto registration opens next week with budget-friendly Early Bird delegate rates, so make sure to keep in touch! Visit us on social media, subscribe to the SBC newsletter or follow this blog. We’ll be posting announcements and additional information about the rich content, business development opportunities and networking elements that will bring the world to Toronto this fall for SBE16Toronto.
It’s going to be a great 2016. We look forward to sharing it with you.
