Construction is well underway on six buildings that will offer 36 modern, two-bedroom apartments for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members and their families at CFB Edmonton.
Each three-storey apartment building consists of six two-bedroom, one-bath suites of roughly 920 ft2. The energy efficiency features include an electric heat pump and another heat pump water heater for each suite.
The exterior envelope of each building has a R-50 rating, achieved by thick mineral wool batt insulation in the walls and six inches of rigid mineral wool insulation for the exterior. The attic insulation should attain a rating of at least R-88. R‑values measure a material’s resistance to heat flow—the higher the number, the better the insulation. These values far exceed the national building code minimums for residential construction (typically R-22 for walls and R-50 for attics). A state-of-the-art vapour barrier will reduce the air exchanges that cause energy loss.
“There’s a sizeable waiting list for housing for CAF members in Edmonton, so any additional housing is exciting,” said Chris Langstone, DCC Coordinator, Construction Services, Edmonton.
The contract was initially tendered for two Net-Zero ready apartment buildings with the option to add four more. Just as DCC was awarding the initial contract, the funding for the Canadian Forces Housing Agency (CFHA) increased. This allowed DCC to award general contractor Bird Construction the additional four buildings. The buildings should be completed by spring 2026.
“The DND, CFHA and DCC teams communicate well, and it’s been a pretty friction-less process,” said Chris. “That certainly helped when four more buildings were added.”