A message from Triovest, a Colliers Company:
One of the most energy-efficient office buildings in Canada is a 43-year-old tower in the heart of downtown Edmonton.
Edmonton's ATCO Centre, a Professionally Managed Property by Triovest, was named Building of the Year in the office category by the 2025 ENERGY STAR Canada Awards on Aug. 22. The awards, run by Natural Resources Canada, recognize organizations that show outstanding commitment to saving energy.
This is ATCO Centre Edmonton's first ENERGY STAR Canada award, which it shares with two office buildings in Ontario, one in Mississauga and the other in Kitchener-Waterloo. It's the latest in a series of accolades granted to the distinctive dark-red tower, which was built in 1982.
"It's a team effort. It's not just the operation team or the project management team or the property management team," said Ashwin Iyer, Senior Building Operator of ATCO Centre Edmonton. "Everyone has to have one vision. Based on that, you can achieve whatever goal you have."
The 21-storey building, owned by Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), has been managed by Triovest since 2009. A series of retrofits followed, which the owners supported with enthusiasm.
"It made it really easy, and it allowed us to be strategic and plan things," said Andrew Tonner, who preceded Iyer as the building operator. "Instead of just, 'Go replace this,' it was, 'What happens if we replace everything behind it?'"
The pension plan recognized the building's leadership in low-energy use in 2015, and ATCO Centre Edmonton caught the eye of the Canada Green Building Council the following year.
In 2017, ATCO Centre Edmonton received a perfect 100 score from the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager program, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The perfect score indicates the building performed better than 100% of similar buildings across Canada. That same year, BOMA Edmonton presented its Earth Award to ATCO Centre Edmonton, recognizing excellence in resource preservation and environmentally sound management.
Watch this space in the coming weeks for more on what makes ATCO Centre Edmonton extraordinary.