On September 22nd, Collecdev was a proud Prize Sponsor for the Canada Green Building Council’s EGP Design Charrette: Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods at the University of Toronto. At Collecdev, we care about collaboration and that great ideas can come from anywhere. In addition to collaboration, we know that sustainability is something that majority of Torontonians care a lot about and that today’s global environment is top of mind for so many, that’s why this Design Charrette was so important for Collecdev to be a part of.

This event gives teams of 4-5 one day to design and pitch their plan for creating a sustainable urban neighbourhood within a community in Scarborough. Teams worked to meet carbon emissions, waste, and wastewater reduction targets through innovative design and an effective community engagement strategy.

At the end of the day, the teams were given five minutes to pitch their design ideas to a panel of expert judges and the winning teams were awarded awesome prizes.

This year, the first place winner, Ward 43 Team, consisted of team members, Esraa Alzamel, Jacqueline Galang, and Ben McEwen. Ward 43 team presented a well-balanced and thoughtful proposal for the area to make it a sustainable neighbourhood. The project considered technical details and applications as well as innovative community-based ideas, such as the proposal of a community kitchen. Also, the team deliberately explained how the project could achieve net-zero Carbon through ambitious energy goals and waste reduction in ways that could be integrated into the community culture.

In second place, Sustainability Community Management Team included Anthony Yu, Annabelle Yeo, and Janice Cheung. The team delivered a comprehensive vision of the changes proposed to Ward 43 area based on the three pillars of sustainability. Using eye catching visuals, the team shared detailed considerations of social, economic, and environmental aspects especially waste management.

The third place winner, connectivity X Team, consisting of, Steve Ramnath, Gagan Hajatri, and Margo Rooks. The team started off their project with a focus on the big picture of the area. This was represented through the concept of connectivity. The team identified the desired connection between people themselves as well as the surrounding nature to make use of it. The team utilized culturally responsive architecture, and engagement with the community to achieve their goal.

The judges shared positive feedback for the work presented in such short working time and encouraged the participants to work in multidisciplinary teams, to ensure all sustainability measures were included.

Collecdev would like to address all the hard work that was accomplished by all the teams involved in the competition - multiple innovative ideas were presented. Congratulations to the top three teams, you all did an incredible job!