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New B.C. Hydro building being built on 256th St.

B.C. Hydro crews will be able to respond to emergencies more quickly and store their material and equipment more easily when a 25,000-sq.-foot building at the north end of 256th Street in Maple Ridge’s industrial area is complete.

Once finished in early 2013, the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building will give Hydro crews a more permanent, spacious building to serve as a base for crews in the area.

Currently, B.C. Hydro uses a temporary building located at its substation on 216th Street and Dewdney Trunk Road.

But space there is limited and the new building will allow more manpower and material, easier access and better response during power emergencies. A few years after the building opens, about 15 to 17 people should be based at the 256th Street location, said regional manager for substations Wayne Martell.

“We need to have this new facility there.”

Some of the green features of the building:

• using rainwater from the roof to use for toilet and urinal flushing;

• solar collectors capture heat from the sun to be used for the radiant heating and domestic hot water;

• green roof, with vegetation to mitigate building heat loss and gain as well as to improve the longevity of the roofing membrane;

• building will last 50-plus years and remain functional following a seismic or other natural disaster event.