The Reframed Initiative draws expertise from the construction industry, building owners, policy makers, and the financial sector to chart a path to scaling up deep retrofits.
Reframed is an initiative led by the Pembina Institute, Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation, the BC Non-Profit Housing Association, and the City of Vancouver.
Working in partnership with BC Housing, the Pembina Institute hosted the Reframed Lab, a landmark step towards transforming Canada’s retrofit sector. The Lab aimed to transform how designers approach retrofitting multi-unit residential buildings to reduce emissions and energy waste, improve health and safety, and increase resilience to severe weather events.
Our research signals a shift away from business-as-usual upgrades to deep retrofits as the primary pathway to reducing emissions.
The Reframed design teams estimate deep retrofits can cut energy use by up to 90%, which underscores the comprehensive opportunity deep retrofits present for driving down energy demand and cutting utility costs during an affordability crisis.
The design teams also proposed operational carbon emissions reductions ranging between 68% and 99%, a remarkable shift from the standard 3% to 55% reduction achieved when building owners replace systems at end-of-life, further highlighting the transformative potential of deep retrofits.
The Pembina Institute will work with the building owners, their teams, and municipalities to generate case studies for each of the six buildings. The case studies will be standardized to facilitate replicability and highlight replicable aspects even within bespoke solution bundles to streamline future retrofits.
The scope of the scalability of the work that is being undertaken through the Reframed Initiative is significant given that 40% of homes in B.C. and Canada are low-rise MURBs. The schematic designs confirmed that energy savings alone cannot pay for the cost of deep retrofits, so through these case studies the Pembina Institute will continue to identify the non-energy benefits, such as building occupant health and insurance cost savings, to provide alternate financing streams.
In 2020 the Pembina Institute presented the Reframed Tech Series — webinars on evolving deep retrofit solutions.
FortisBC completes deep energy retrofit of Manor House in North Vancouver, the first under Reframed Initiative
Energy Manager Canada
August 2025
From $2,600 to $775: how social housing in Metro Vancouver is changing lives — and fighting climate change
The Narwhal
June 2025
A meta-analysis of the schematic design process of deep retrofit projects
ScienceDirect
December 2024
Floods, fires, hail: Making Canada’s buildings climate-resilient
The Globe and Mail
August 27, 2024
Rising temperatures will require billions to cool aging apartments in Metro Vancouver
Vancouver Sun
August 22, 2024
United to fight the climate emergency
Passive House Accelerator
July 29, 2022
Canada and British Columbia invest in 14 CleanBC infrastructure projects across the province to create cleaner, stronger communities
Government of British Columbia
May 27, 2022
Plotting Retrofit Paths
Passive House Accelerator
May 20, 2022
Reframed Lab picks six design teams for retrofit projects
Journal of Commerce by ConstructConnect
March 28, 2022
Consulting engineering firms join Reframed Lab to retrofit B.C. MURBs
Canadian Consulting Engineer
March 26, 2022
New West apartment to be part of the Reframed Lab initiative
New West Record
March 21, 2022
RJC joins the Reframed Lab – aimed to retrofit multi-unit residential buildings
RJC Engineers
March 21, 2022
Innovative housing retrofits will benefit residents, environment, economy
Government of British Columbia
March 21, 2022
Passive House Accelerator Magazine: The Reframed Initiative
Passive House Accelerator
June, 2021
Canada calling… get involved with the Reframed Lab
Energiesprong
October 15, 2020
Jessica McIlroy
c: 604-992-6462
e: jessicam@pembina.org
Sarah Snowdon (Eastern Time)
c: 416-838-3423
e: sarahs@pembina.org
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