Zenon Group appointed for Indigenous Education Centre & Low-Carbon Upgrades at Thompson Rivers University

Thompson Rivers University, serving 15,000 students in Thompson–Nicola Regional District, has undertaken two major steps forward in implementing their Master Plan. These two steps will soon materialize as two new buildings on their main campus in Kamloops.

Inspired by the meeting house structures of the Secwépemc Peoples, the 14,700 square foot Indigenous Education Centre will be a spiritual space for students, faculty staff and community elders while referencing the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc culture. The $22 million investment will feature a community gathering space, outdoor classrooms integrating natural elements and dedicated areas for Elders, ceremonial activities and Indigenous research.

In addition to this, the new Low Carbon District Energy System (LCDES) will provide heat and hot water to the IEC and 12 more campus buildings, extending it’s reach with phased approach, accompanied by existing buildings mechanical system retrofits. It will utilize centralized cascading air-source/water-source heat pump strategy with backup boilers for resiliency, providing heat and hot water to the campus.

The LCDES facility will offset over 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over 30 years, the equivalent to planting a 4,000 acre forest, approximately 16 times the size of TRU’s campus. This will further strengthen University’s leadership as the most sustainable university in Canada and bring TRU one step closer to becoming a carbon-neutral campus or fossil-fuel free by 2030.

We at Zenon Group (Previously CES) are excited to be involved in this project, providing commissioning authority services to the University, ensuring optimal operation of all building systems, but also smooth connection with other major new developments that we will also be working on.