Green buildings and sustainabilityGreen buildings play a critical role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improving energy efficiency, and supporting climate resilience. They minimize environmental impacts through smarter resource use, healthier indoor environments, and innovative design solutions that adapt to changing climate conditions. Ultimately, green buildings contribute not only to a more sustainable built environment but also to developing stronger, more resilient communities.
CIMA+’s experience in sustainable design brings a deeper level of insight and responsibility to every engineering project. Our work shapes how buildings perform, how people experience them, and how communities grow. By integrating sustainability principles early in the design process, we enhance project performance, reduce operational costs, and create resilient, future-ready buildings. This depth of experience allows us to view projects holistically, balancing technical excellence with environmental stewardship, and serves as a true differentiator in today’s market.
Strategic support for your sustainable projects
Many organizations want to reduce their carbon footprint but are unsure of where to begin. They are faced with the challenge of balancing cost, performance, and sustainability amid evolving standards, limited budgets, and complex data. CIMA+ is a trusted, strategic partner with vision who is adept at outlining clear strategies: transforming data and design intent into actionable insights for practical, measurable progress toward climate and performance goals.
Our multi-disciplinary team can support your project from a variety of perspectives. Our in-house sustainability team collaborates with experts across CIMA+’s range of disciplines and other experts in facilitation, design, engineering, building science, building simulations, quantity surveying, commissioning, airtightness, and even art and psychology to create comfortable, flexible spaces, both inside and out.
The breadth of our experience is extensive: from LEED project application reviews for the Canada Green Building Council to educating the next generation of sustainable design engineers at prominent universities like BCIT and UBC, our experts possess an in-depth knowledge of what’s required for a successfully integrated green building design, as well as LEED, Zero Carbon Building, WELL, Fitwel, BOMA BEST as well as Envision certification for infrastructures.
At CIMA+, our role is to navigate this complex landscape for our clients, enabling them to achieve sustainability objectives through clear guidance, data-driven insights, and integrated design. We test scenarios, evaluate lifecycle impacts, and track performance data, providing a clear picture of what matters most, where to act, when and how.
By aligning strategy, engineering, and analytics, we identify high-impact, practical solutions for efficient, low-carbon, and resilient buildings designed to deliver lasting value and measurable outcomes for the communities that surround them. Most importantly, we communicate in clear, practical terms, empowering clients to make confident, informed decisions that balance cost, performance, and sustainability.
In every project we undertake at CIMA+, we bring together expert strategy, thoughtful design, and precise data to inform the creation of buildings that are efficient, resilient, adapted to their environment and built to last.
Our expertise: facts and figures
CIMA+’s achievements span more than 30 years and speak for themselves.
Our specialized services
Rely on our multidisciplinary professionals to meet your requirements and expectations. We offer a full range of engineering services to successfully deliver your project, from start to finish.
Passive House
As Certified Passive House consultants, we can explore the feasibility of Passive House for your project as well as full-service certification. We have experience working on a wide range of Passive House projects, from single-family homes to large-scale residential, mixed-use, and institutional buildings.
LEED
Our team includes some of Canada’s top experts in LEED including LEED Fellow Jason Packer who serves on the Canada LEED Advisory Committee. We facilitate and manage the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification process in a proactive, strategic, and systemized manner. Our experience with over 400 LEED projects covers all rating systems, including LEED-NC, LEED-CI, LEED-CS, LEED-EB:O&M, LEED-ND, and LEED for Homes.
WELL and Fitwel
Human health and wellbeing are an important part of built-environment sustainability. We offer a wide range of health and wellness consulting services, including WELL and Fitwel certification, to improve the indoor environmental quality of buildings, through: air, water, light, fitness, comfort and peace of mind.
Feasibility studies
Prior to embarking on a project seeking green building certification, we can provide a cost-effective study of the likelihood of certification, along with design impacts, estimated costs, and next steps.
Zero Carbon Building Standard
Our expert green building strategists will help your project achieve zero carbon emissions through Canada Green Building Council’s (CAGBC) Zero Carbon Building Standard. It is Canada’s first green building program to make carbon emissions the key indicator for building performance. This reinforces the importance of energy efficiency, while also considering the types of energy we use and encouraging more renewable energy generation both on and off the building site. We perform a zero-carbon analysis for your project and provide a work plan to meet the Zero Carbon Building Standard.
Embodied carbon and LCA
We are proficient in conducting embodied carbon analysis and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and provide practical and cost-effective solutions to reduce the embodied carbon footprint of buildings and other infrastructure. We have conducted LCA studies for over 150 buildings across Canada. LCA allows teams to identify the environmental impact of various building design options and consider embodied carbon in the decision-making process.
Step Code
We can provide turn-key solutions for getting your project cost-effectively through the BC Energy and Zero Carbon Step Codes
Energy modeling and analysis
More than just a requirement of codes and 3rd party ratings systems, , energy modeling is also a powerful tool in informing building design and the cost and energy effectiveness of various energy conservation strategies. We conduct building simulations to assist design teams in analyzing cost-effective building designs and make recommendations to improve building performance in terms of energy, thermal comfort, daylighting, and natural and mechanical ventilation.
Energy benchmarking
Energy benchmarking is the process of tracking and recording energy performance of a building over time. To manage energy consumption of a building, it must be measured first. The energy performance data can help building owners and property managers identify opportunities to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.
Sustainability workshop
We are known in the industry for our creative, high energy, results-oriented, and fun approach to charrette design and facilitation. Whether for a program, a product, a building, a community, or an experience, our innovative approach brings stakeholders together in a collaborative environment to co-create clever and practical sustainable design solutions with clear next steps.
Climate resilience analysis and modeling
We offer comprehensive services to plan and adapt to climate change, enabling resilience in buildings and communities. We can follow established frameworks such as Mobilizing Building Adaptation and Resilience (MBAR), Integrated Building Adaptation and Mitigation Assessment (IBAMA), or create a custom-made resilience plan for your projects.
Green incentives
Increasingly, governments, utilities, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are introducing incentive funds to encourage more green development. We are aware of these funds and can help you get “free money” for your green developments.
CIMA+: a one-stop solution for all your engineering needs
We are proud of our multidisciplinary approach. By offering you everything under one roof, you benefit from a simplified collaborative approach to deliver projects quickly and on time.
Contact our team!
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