The news from last year was shocking: an entire town in the interior of British Columbia burned to the ground on June 30th. In a matter of hours, the village of Lytton was ashes. And the extreme weather kept coming throughout 2022 - massive rain, flooding, and extreme cold.
Recognizing that climate change is changing our weather patterns, the Kanaka Bar Indian Band is taking action, funding an innovation challenge to help build back better. The plan: source resilient and commercially available building technology products.
The Kanaka Bar Resilient Housing Solutions project is a community-led and community-driven initiative. The project will see the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) leading a collaborative team with participants from Okanagan College, Foresight Canada, and Seko Construction to create foundational options for rebuilding in the Lytton region.
Foresight is leading a Challenge that will identify the latest methods and materials in building science today and help prevent future vulnerability to extreme weather events. The solutions selected through this Challenge will be submitted to testing, and the solution providers will be invited to participate in the construction of 4-8 pilot homes.
“We are delighted to bring together leaders in applied research and innovation to tackle the urgent need to build back our region,” says Chief Patrick Michell, Kanaka Bar Indian Band . We are combining the power of our community with the latest building practices to ensure new housing and its supporting systems, as well as older buildings in the region are made sustainable and climate-resilient.”
Foresight is excited to contribute our experience with industry challenges and connections to our national and international cleantech network to the Kanaka Bar Resilient Housing Solutions Project. Please help us spread the word so that we can bring the best of Canadian cleantech innovation to this important effort.
Challenge Details
The Kanaka Bar Resilient Housing Solutions Challenge is open to Canadian and international ventures with a commercially available solution between Technology Readiness Level 8 and 9.
All building materials and systems must meet or exceed BC Energy Step Code- Step 5.
Find complete information about design details, categories, evaluation criteria, and the application process on our Challenge web page. You can access the Feb. 1 info webinar recording here.
