Habitat for Humanity – Toronto

Maple Reinders undertook a Design-Build contract for Habitat for Humanity’s Toronto facility, which amalgamates the organization’s previous Home Building Factory, training facility, ReStore East York and the administrative office. By integrating these operations into a centralized location, Habitat Toronto functions in a more efficient and coordinated manner, all under one roof.

This facility allows the organization to be able to: receive donated building materials, host training sessions, pre-build components of new Habitat Toronto homes, store and repair tools, divert thousands of tons of material from landfills generated through donations directed for the ReStore and much more.

The construction used a simple design and affordable building materials. The ground floor is composed of 5,000 SF of ReStore retail area, a 5,000 SF area to be leased to cover the building operation cost and 6,750 SF of warehouse/training area. The office space on the second floor is 10,000 SF. All the granular material, concrete and masonry veneer material, and punch windows were donated.

The facility is LEED® Silver certified, having met stringent standards in building environmental sustainability. The HVAC system is controlled and programmed on a central building system control. The interior lights are controlled either on local motion detectors or programmed on the building system’s central control. Maple Reinders diverted 75% of the construction waste from the landfill and additionally used construction material manufactured with 15% of recycled material content and 20% of regional material content. Only low-VOC adhesives, carpet and paints were used.

Maple Reinders created a building that is adaptable to expansion and additional green space. The tool room can one day support a mezzanine, the east wall of the warehouse allows for building expansion and the leased area on the main floor could serve as future office space if required.