Bannerman Green Housing Co-op

location 
64 Bannerman Ave.
59 Bannerman Ave.
143 Machray Ave.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA.

client 
Bannerman Green Not-for-Profit
Housing Co-operative

consultants 
S / Wolfrom Eng. Ltd
M / Epp Siepman Engineering
E / SMS Eng. Ltd
L / HTFC
C / JR Cousin Consultants

contractor 
M Builds 

area 
64 Bannerman: 13,850 sf
59 Bannerman: 4,780 sf
143 Machray: 5,210 sf

cost 
$10 Million

status
On hold

The Bannerman Green Not-for-Profit Housing Cooperative (BGHC) project is a scattered co-op, with a number of sites in an existing older urban neighbourhood in the North End of Winnipeg. The initial phase of the project consists of 12 units at the main site at 64 Bannerman Avenue along with 10 units in two satellite sites: one located at 59 Bannerman Avenue and another at 143 Machray Avenue.

Notably, the main site is pursuing Passive House Certification, as well as Zero Carbon and Living Building Challenge frameworks. A central objective of the project is to create healthy buildings for residents of the co-op community. It is also to ensure that BGHC provide a leadership role for sustainable mixed-use developments including the deep retrofitting of existing buildings and sites. The intent is to base the design of the project on energy simulations and benchmark metrics that create a healthy building and that optimize energy (including embodied energy), water and material conservation and to deliver net-zero carbon and net-zero energy ready facilities with an emphasis on passive design solutions. BGHC is committed to future-proof this new facility to meet emerging climate change realities and to minimize future operating costs of the new/retrofitted buildings.

Alongside the sustainability goals for the project, a key priority for BGHC is to deliver the most significant long-term affordability to the member users and the wider community. The project is intended to deliver affordability primarily through financing that will be based on a 50-year low-interest CMHC mortgage. In addition, the significantly reduced operating costs for both energy and water will facilitate long-term affordability.  The selection materials, finishes and systems prioritize passive strategies, resiliency and durability, and are modelled in Life Cycle Analysis software, to ensure that decisions made will enhance the lifespan of the buildings. These factors will also help the project to become more affordable over time – as traditional for-profit house prices and operating costs increase, the affordability of the co-op will become progressively more significant in member rents. The placement of the scattered co-op in the centre of a mature urban neighbourhood is intended to stabilize the overall community by ensuring the availability of affordable rents for generations to come.

Resilience is a key factor in the passive design of the co-op in order to ensure a stable and affordable place to live despite the coming climate changes. The project intends to work with local social enterprises to undertake components of the construction in order to ensure a local employment benefit. The innovative building types proposed enable a variety of local training and economic development strategies and technology transfers in the community.

The Project Charter commits the co-op to a mixed and integrated housing that embraces diversity and includes residents of different ages, economic backgrounds, gender, family sizes and cultures. The co-op is committed to a minimum of 40% Affordable Suites or 10 out of 24 units. It also provides universal accessiblity throughout all public areas of all the buildings to provide a safe, dignified and welcoming environment for residents and visitors of all abilities. In addition, all suites will focus on universal design with full visitability and a minimum of 10% of suites will be fully accessible.

64 Bannerman Ave

59 Bannerman Ave

143 Machray