Mountain Equipment Co-op® (MEC): Montreal, Canada

Montreal's Retail Example

Mountain Equipment Co-op® (MEC) sells outdoor gear and clothing to its 2.5 million members who are participants in wilderness-oriented recreation, such as hiking and mountaineering. The Canadian retail cooperative builds stores that represent its membership’s concern for the environment. It also tries to improve each store over its predecessor by using sustainable design and materials. An example is the cooperative’s store in Montreal that opened in May 2003. This 45,000 ft² building features a large, two-story, open-space retail area. It includes storage areas (8,500 ft²), offices spaces (2,800 ft²), and space rented to a small coffee shop (1,300 ft²). The design incorporates features matching U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED® for New Construction (NC) 2.0 Gold rating (though it is not actually certified) while obtaining Canada’s C-2000 certification (a first in the province of Quebec). According to Canada’s Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP), the building was the second most efficient in all of Canada at the time of construction. The building also received the 2005 ASHRAE Award of Engineering Excellence, which has been awarded only three times in the last 27 years.