New Endress+Hauser Build in Burlington will be Net-Zero Carbon/Energy

Last week, I was delighted to attend the ground-breaking event for Endress+Hauser’s expanded business site in Burlington along with many of their employees, leadership team, and fellow local dignitaries. Endress+Hauser has been a part of our city for almost three decades, creating 80 jobs in our community as a global leader in measurement instrumentation, services and solutions.The new Customer Experience Centre and headquarters it is building will create an additional 40 highly-skilled jobs and is a great confirmation of the value the company sees in doing business in Burlington.This build is exactly the type of business development we love to see here in our city. It is a wonderful example of how to use design and materials that help our environment, while still adding a well-scaled and technologically-advanced building to our easily-accessible employment lands near the QEW.Endress+Hauser's new expanded HQ will feature a two-storey, and approximately 47,000 sq. ft., building. While the visual design is gorgeously bright, airy and modern, the best news is that this building endeavors to achieve the LEED Gold certification standard and to function on a net zero carbon and net zero energy basis. That is truly outstanding news and will mean the building will effectively be “off the hydro grid.”It will achieve net-zero energy and emissions through initiatives such as using a reflective roof and solar panels to generate electricity, and maintaining temperature in the building with heat pumps and a geothermal system. Since the new larger site is being built just down the street from its existing site, employees' commutes will go virtually unchanged, meaning no longer drives (or additional emissions).You can read more about the project and see more of the building itself in Endress+Hauser's recent press release.As you may know, the City of Burlington has declared a Climate Emergency and we are developing a Climate Action Plan. Seeing Endress+Hauser’s commitment to green initiatives through its dedication to achieve the LEED Gold certification standard and to function on a net-zero carbon and net-zero energy basis in this new build is inspiring, and we are proud to support them in this commitment.What a great example they are setting for future developments in our city!The Endress+Hauser team has also supported the Red Tape Red Carpet Taskforce, an initiative I launched earlier this year that is dedicated to helping identify the challenges and obstacles facing the growth and relocation of businesses in Burlington and develop actionable solutions to keep Burlington Open for Business.In fact, the City of Burlington is working with Endress+Hauser on a pilot program to leverage their industry leading expertise in Project Management and Lean Management to better understand how the City can support top employers to locate and grow in Burlington.Just recently, Burlington was named Canada’s best community to live in and to raise a family for 2019 by MacLean's magazine. I know that just one of the reasons Burlington ranked No. 1 was because of our access to great local jobs and careers. Endress+Hauser’s choice to stay in Burlington and expand in our community demonstrates the value they see in our city for both its business and employees, many of which we hope will call Burlington home. We are so happy to have them here and look forward to seeing them continue to thrive in the years ahead!