The Polaris Project at Yukon University Achieved the First Zero Carbon Building Design Certification for the Region

Stantec designed the science building for Canada’s first university North of the 60th parallel

Yukon University’s Polaris Project has achieved Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) – Design Standard™ certification from the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC), marking a major milestone for low-carbon science and learning infrastructure in Canada’s North. Designed and engineered by Stantec, Polaris is the first building in the Canadian Territories to be certified under the ZCB-Design Standard. 

Located in Whitehorse, Yukon, the school is Canada’s first university North of the 60th parallel, a boundary separating the northern territories from southern provinces. The Stantec team developed the design in collaboration with First Nations partners, students, staff, and university leadership. Inspired by the Yukon River, the design reflects the river’s role in the territory’s cultural, social, and economic life. 

Encompassing 2,300 square metres (24,700 square feet), the new science building features:  four classroom and multipurpose rooms, two wet and two dry research labs, a research and multi-use lab, and a knowledge sharing room, large social space for learning, teaching, dialogue, events, and gatherings, flexible rooms organized by function rather than discipline, and design elements, including the Ceremony Room, that respect and reflect First Nations culture, environment, and ancestors. 

Advancing sustainable design
Designed for a northern climate and the demands of advanced research and teaching, Polaris uses high-performance heat pumps with low-global-warming-potential refrigerants and an innovative heat recovery system that captures waste heat from the campus energy plant to reduce operational carbon while supporting labs, classrooms, and community spaces. Additionally, Polaris’ high performance and airtight envelope strategy uses a Larsen truss wall system combined with a mass timber structure. 

The project embraces net-zero operations, with projected annual savings of C$55,000 in energy costs and 14,100 kilograms of carbon dioxide in emissions. The certification recognizes Polaris’ design for combining energy efficiency, low-carbon materials, comprehensive carbon accounting, and utilization of waste heat from the University’s primary boiler system to heat the new building. The building design aims to reduce site energy use intensity by 60.9 percent and achieve an embodied carbon intensity nearly 20 percent below the ZCB-Design v3 threshold.  

The Stantec project team also completed a life cycle carbon analysis evaluating emissions associated with material production, transportation, replacement, and end-of-life processes over a standardized 60-year building life. 

Learn how Stantec’s innovative architecture and engineering projects worldwide help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support healthier communities.