Mobilizing Building Adaptation and Resilience (MBAR) is a multi-year, multi-stakeholder knowledge and capacity building project led by BC Housing, with participation and contribution from over 30 organizations, including national, provincial, and local agencies; and industry partners.
Building owners, construction experts, and design professionals are invited to join MBAR.
Interested in bringing your current or planned building project to MBAR as a pilot project or offering your expertise to support MBAR pilot projects?
Email mbar@bchousing.org for information or to express your interest.
Project Objectives
Through facilitating and piloting sustainable and resilient design and renovation of buildings, the Mobilizing Building Adaptation and Resilience (MBAR) project aims to stabilize communities in a natural disaster. MBAR will help building owners and occupants better protect their investments and adapt to anticipated climate change stresses (higher precipitation, warmer summers, fire-related air pollution) and climate change shocks (severe flooding, fire, windstorms) such that no one is stressed beyond their ability to cope.
Objective one
To build capacity through piloting integrated adaptive and resilient design solutions into building design and renovation projects, addressing the combined effects and needs of the following:
- Energy efficiency and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and energy security at building and neighbourhood levels
- Climate impact on building energy performance modelling and design parameters
- Climate impact on electricity demand, and mitigating the impact of power outages
- Climate impact on performance and durability of building materials, assemblies and structures
- Changes in the environment (for example pests, trees, topography) that affect buildings and occupants
- Thermal comfort, air quality and air quality events resulting from conditions of wild/interface fires, drought, heat waves, albedo effect, urban microclimates, allergens, vector-borne diseases
- Storms, flooding, wildfires, wind hazard and seismic resilience at building and neighbourhood levels
- Emergency response capacity, and water/food security at building and neighbourhood levels
- Physical, social and mental health and well-being of occupants and their neighbours
Objective two
To create a training curriculum that is informed by real-life application experience based on at least five pilot projects. Pilot building types to include: residential buildings, care facilities, schools (to be confirmed), public/institutional buildings (to be confirmed), and senior, social and Indigenous housing (to be confirmed).
Objective three
To create multiple forms and stages of training to gradually and systematically increase the number of practitioners who are experienced, educated, informed and aware with respect to enhancing climate adaptation and resilience in building design and renovations; and to further equip those who are experienced to become trainers.
Partners
This Project is funded by NRCan, BC Housing, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, the Lower Mainland Health Organizations, and the Province of BC, and is supported by in-kind contributions from the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, the Province of BC, the Lower Mainland Health Organizations, the Island Health Authority, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Engineers & Geoscientists BC, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, University of BC, BC Institute of Technology, SFU Adaptation to Climate Change Team, Fraser Basin Council, Urban Development Institute, Canadian Home Builders’ Association, Tarion Ontario, and the City of Toronto.