SEPT-ÎLES, June 19, 2015 — BGLA Architecture + Design urbain and Aluminerie Alouette received an award for the Alouette university building on Wednesday, June 17, at the Phi Centre in Montreal. The wooden statuette, presented as part of the Prix Novae de l’entreprise citoyenne (Novae Corporate Citizen Awards) in the Sustainable Building category, confirms the excellence of this Côte-Nord achievement. Yvon Lachance and Maxime Lelièvre, respectively of BGLA and Alouette, attended the gala and were proud to receive the award on behalf of everyone who contributed to the project..
Officially opened in the fall of 2014, the Alouette university building has welcomed students enrolled in programs at the Sept-Îles campus of Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC) since the start of the year. Created with a $10 million investment by Alouette and its shareholders, the sustainable building is part of the Cégep de Sept-Îles higher education complex.
With a floor space of 3,200 square metres, the Alouette building stands out thanks to its modern architecture and use of materials with special meaning for the Côte-Nord region, namely aluminum and wood. It has an array of environmental features designed to minimize its environmental footprint. They include a solar wall, a geothermal system and a rainwater recovery system. The use of parabolic solar collectors to heat and cool the institutional building is an international innovation.
Pierre André Lévesque, the BGLA partner-architect who contributed to the building design, had the following to say: “We are honoured to have been part of such a project, which has now been rewarded for its environmental contribution. We now hope to maximize the use of these new technologies for other projects, for the benefit of our built environment.”
According to Alouette President and CEO Claude Boulanger, “The fact that this sustainable development legacy for future generations and the entire Côte-Nord population has been honoured by a third party in the area confirms the excellence of the entire project.”
The Novae Corporate Citizen Awards are presented annually to organizations in recognition of exceptional sustainable development initiatives. They are an opportunity for the award-winners to raise awareness of their projects’ social, environmental and economic aspects.
*Photo credit : Sylviane Robini Photographe.
