Our facility is among Lethbridge's top LEED®-certified facilities, recognized for innovation in design, sustainability, and overall efficiency.

LEED-Gold ranks the Nature Centre at the top of all LEED-certified buildings in the city and marks the first City of Lethbridge owned facility to achieve such status. 

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) is an internationally recognized rating system which marks excellence for green buildings that attain high performance in key areas of human and environmental health.  LEED Canada is nationally administered by the Canadian Green Building Council (CaGBC). 

The Canadian Green Building Council indicates that buildings have a significant impact on the environment. Generating up to 35% of all greenhouse gases, 35% of all landfill waste (from construction and demolition), and consuming up to 70% of municipal water in and around buildings. Therefore making buildings better is in everyone’s best interest.

“Green buildings create a healthier working environment for staff and tenants, through better air ventilation and more natural daylight.  Green buildings reduce waste, conserve energy, decrease water consumption, and drive innovation.” - Canadian Green Building Council (cagbc.org)

The Helen Schuler Nature Centre was designed to provide a local standard of sustainable design and education for our region.  The team of staff and volunteers are able to showcase the building’s notable green features, including:

• photovoltaic panels which provide low impact, renewable energy;

• low-flow water fixtures which conserve water;

• efficient mechanical systems which reduce energy use;

• extensive and intensive living roofs which insulate the building and provide habitat for pollinators and other small wildlife species.

Environmental responsibility and efficient use of resources are primary goals in sustainable building and ecological design. The entire life cycle of the building, its products and systems are taken into account from design and construction through to operations.

The approach in each is slightly different. Sustainable building focuses on minimizing negative impacts. Ecological building aims to increase beneficial interactions. Our building has a little bit of both!

Did you know?

The Nature Centre offers sustainable building tours! This is a great option if you are considering building or retrofitting a building and want to leverage our experience and understanding of sustainability in action.