Dec. 26, 2025
Construction is underway at 60 Caledon Ave. where a 262-unit apartment/townhouse complex is being built at a former school site. These buildings will have solar panels.
Cathie Coward/The Hamilton Spectator
Victoria Park Community Homes plans to cut greenhouse emissions and save on energy bills by retrofitting two Hamilton apartment buildings with solar-harvesting cladding.
The pair of 1960s-era midrise blocks are being refurbished with the building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) panels, which the local non-profit says marks a first for the city.
“It costs less to heat the building and we also care about the environment,” Rizwan Zaeem, director of assets, development and acquisitions, said about Victoria Park’s goals through the BIPV project.
The 11,300 square feet of cladding is expected to generate 65 megawatt hours of electricity a year for 831 Queenston Rd., a 126-unit building in Stoney Creek.
And at 1 Hamilton St. S., a 100-unit building in Waterdown, the 7,365 square feet of outside solar panels is calculated to translate into 50 megawatt hours.
“It’s going to help supplement the increased energy usage from our electricity because we’re trying to get rid of gas,” project manager Davin Thornborrow said.
The BIPV panels for 1 Hamilton St. S. cost roughly $900,000 and $1.2 million for 831 Queenston Rd.
The cladding is among a suite of upgrades, including heat pumps, triple-pane windows and energy-recovery ventilators, with each building renovation costing about $16.5 million.
Colourful siding is being applied to the exterior of 831 Queenston Rd. in Stoney Creek. The refurbishment involves solar-generating siding.
Cathie Coward/The Hamilton Spectator
Victoria Park expects the improvements will cut energy use by roughly 70 per cent, save tens of thousands of dollars a year and come close to eliminating greenhouse-gas emissions.
The affordable-housing provider, which operates more than 3,000 units in southern Ontario, is increasingly focused on improving energy efficiency in its stock, Thornborrow said.
“We’re going to look at the advantages of doing so, of course.”
It’s also the strategy of other affordable-housing operators in Hamilton that have tapped into federal funding for green-friendly buildings.
CityHousing, for instance, has recently opened energy-efficient buildings, including 55 units downtown on Bay Street North and 82 units at the Queenston traffic circle.
“We’re trying to build for the future,” development manager Peter Vander Klippe said last month about the benefits of lower energy costs.
Meanwhile, Victoria Park has incorporated roof solar panels into its 261-unit, $146-million project at 60 Caledon Ave., near Upper James Street and Mohawk Road on the Mountain.
Construction of the affordable homes, in apartments and townhouses, is underway and expected to wrap up in February 2027.
Also on the Mountain, Victoria Park plans to build a 107-unit building at its existing townhouse complex at 525 Stone Church Rd. E.
The infill project, which is expected to break ground early next year, involves the demolition of eight of 60 townhouses to make way for the future eight-storey building.
The plan calls for heat pumps in every unit and solar-power-generating balcony railings.
Such features add about 20 per cent to the capital cost, so about $8 million, Zaeem noted.
But throughout its 50-year operation, the energy consumption is cut in half, he added. “That’s a lot.”