Invizij Architects has announced that 500 James North, the mixed-use project by James North Baptist Church and Indwell is now certified by Passive House International (PHI).

In 2016 the church, formerly Hughson Street Baptist, was planning to replace the historic church building they had outgrown with their North End Hamilton congregation. They had purchased the former plaza at 500 James North anticipating renovating the space as a new ministry centre.

As gentrification gained momentum, their growing concern for displaced neighbours led them to explore how affordable supportive housing could be part of their project. This led to a partnership with Indwell. After some consideration, the church decided to pursue this new dream of including affordable supportive housing, which was named North End Landing, in their new site. ?It was a match made in heaven,? says James North Baptist pastor Dwayne Cline.
The Passive House standard was chosen to help both James North Baptist and Indwell achieve their organizational values of being good stewards of resources, and to help keep utility costs low for future tenants. This was the first new construction Passive House building in Hamilton, and one of the largest in Canada.

The design team led by Invizij built on past experience with high-performance buildings to bring the designs to life. ?There was a learning curve for sure, but it is actually straight forward once key decisions are made together with our design team at Kalo...