BRIGHTSIDE COMMUNITY HOMES

SIZE: 125,900 SF
VALUE: $45,000,000

Passive House performance is at the heart of Brightside Community Homes’ Harmony and Timbre, two six-storey affordable housing buildings in Vancouver’s Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood. The 157 homes were built to use significantly less energy than a conventional multifamily development while delivering greater comfort, healthier indoor conditions and resilience through extreme weather. Accessible suites, mobility-conscious common areas and a shared landscaped courtyard extend that performance-first thinking into everyday living.

For ETRO, the challenge was translating rigorous Passive House requirements into two full-scale buildings. The team brought envelope trades in early, built a full-size off-site mockup and worked closely with the architect and Passive House specialists to test and refine critical details before installation. That upfront coordination helped turn exacting airtightness and thermal-performance targets into a repeatable construction approach, and a more sustainable model for affordable housing.