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Due North begins the creation of each housing project with extensive polling of its future occupants. We want to know as much as we can about the life they aspire to. Early on, we give them an opportunity to shape their future home.
This process is revisited after the architects, working with engineers, create the first building form and content. That first version is brought back to the future residents for input and suggestions – and the exercise is repeated several times.
By the time we present the project plan to a City Council, it is as much a product of the community’s input as professional input.
While the need for a special approach to the housing for the North, was apparent to the early settlers of Canada, it is relatively recently that a more holistic approach, beyond the special building materials, was developed.
Due North is a proponent of the Passive House objective. A Passive House is a building standard that is energy efficient, comfortable, affordable and ecological at the same time. Passive House buildings allow for heating and cooling related energy savings of up to 90% compared with typical building stock and over 75% compared with average new builds.
Rising cost of fossil fuels, recent gyrations in Hydro consumer rates, erratic electric power supply in the North, particularly to the smaller communities.
