A purpose-built rental building slated for Saanich’s urban core will incorporate the use of solar panels as a means of generating passive energy, Citified has learned.

 

Purdey Group in partnership with Aryze Developments have proposed a 27-unit, four-storey wood-framed structure for 3216-3218 Alder Street (between Tolmie and Cloverdale avenues near Mayfair Shopping Centre) that will be one of the first local developments to incorporate rooftop solar technology.

 

Some 68 panels will be installed on what project developer Luke Mari describes on Citified’s sister website VibrantVictoria as a “dramatic" standing seam metal roof with southern exposure.

 

Mari confirms the project has secured its multi-family zoning with Saanich council expected to vote on a development permit application this summer.

 

Pending a successful municipal approvals process, the proposal is expected to get underway this fall with a late 2018 or early 2019 completion date.

 

The use of solar technology atop multi-family developments in the Capital Region is rare, with only a handful of buildings utilizing small numbers of panels while only one large-scale panel installation has been undertaken atop an older condominium building in the City of Victoria. Approximate payback for such systems is pegged at 15-years. C