Pomerleau building Canada’s largest zero-carbon industrial project

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Ontario Construction News staff writer

Canada Post’s new parcel sorting facility in Scarborough will be the largest industrial project in Canada to receive the zero-carbon building designation.

Currently under construction, the $470 million facility is a “leading-edge zero-carbon parcel sorting facility”.

Pomerleau (Toronto) Building Construction is the project contractor and construction is expected to be completed in 2023.

At 585,000 square feet, about the size of six Canadian football fields, the centre will handle more than 60,000 packages per hour, a 50 per cent increase over Canada Post’s current largest parcel plant, the Gateway facility in Mississauga.

Features include:

  • Rooftop solar panels
  • Skylights on the roof and exterior walls to reduce energy needed to light the facility
  • 10 EV chargers
  • All heating, cooling and ventilation equipment installed on the roof to maximize space

The centre was named to honour Albert Jackson, the first Black letter carrier in Canada who overcame racial barriers, including the right to work in the position he was hired for.

Jackson was born into slavery and found freedom in Canada after his mother fled north on the Underground Railroad. In 1882, he was hired as a letter carrier in Toronto, but his colleagues refused to train him and he was instead assigned to a lower position.

The Black community in Toronto rallied, demanding he be allowed to do the job and the government eventually intervened. Jackson held the job for 36 years until his death in 1918.

Members of the Jackson family, including two who work for Canada Post, attended the official opening event recently in front of the new building.

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