Bees buzz between tomato plants, rows of Swiss chard and flowering zucchinis. Defend Alberta Parks signs dapple the Sundance Cooperative Housing property, between porches with lines of pegged drying laundry. Scaffolding surrounds one faded colourful townhouse and construction workers compare measurements. 

“I’ve been in construction for 50 years and this is my hardest project,” according to Peter Amerongen, managing partner at Butterwick Projects Ltd.

The project in Edmonton’s Riverdale neighbourhood is based on Energiesprong, a program from the Netherlands that retrofits buildings to net-zero standards with a minimum amount of construction waste.

The co-op’s 59 townhouse units will be encased with high-density foam and the existing structures covered with panels that have been pre-fabricated with new windows and doors. Insulation made from recycled newspapers is then blown into spaces between the new panels and the old building. 

The homes will also be powered by solar power and other green energy.

“We’re basically wrapping these buildings in a nice, warm sweater,” Amerongen told CBC Edmonton’s Radio Active in a recent interview.  

Residents continue living in their homes throughout the construction, expected to be complete in 2022.

Amerongen said a similar project was done in Ontario in the last few years but Edmonton’s is bigger and more ambitious.

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