Region gets first net-zero building and it’s a library

Even before the surrounding neighbourhood is completed, the City of Kitchener and the Kitchener Public Library (KPL) will open the first new library branch since 2004.

The Southwest Library will open to the public on March 13, with plans for a grand opening ceremony later in the spring once the finishing touches are completed.

Along with being the first new library build in over twenty years, the Southwest branch will become the Region’s first net zero municipal building and one of the first libraries in the country to achieve a Zero Carbon Building designation from the Canada Green Building Council.

Contributing to the net-zero designation is all electric design, meaning no natural gas will be used in the building. The installation of solar panels, triple-panel windows, a thicker roof and floor installation as well as a Bioswales natural rainwater collection and drainage system.

Funding for the $14 million facility came from the City of Kitchener capital fund with the federal government contributing $5,952,060 through the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program.

The facility was designed in consultation with Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit, the Indigenous Rights Holders for the land.

That collaboration has resulted in Four Directions learning gardens, which represent the four components of the Indigenous medicine wheel. The building also contains space for ceremony and gathering.

Indigenous visual artists Isaac Murdoch and Nyle Miiigizi Johnston provided artwork for the facility.

Even though the building is set to open on March 13, there will be some finishing touches still underway. Once that construction work has fully completed, the KPL and the City of Kitchener will host a grand opening. That’s expected to happen later this spring.