The Deep Retrofit Discovery Sessions are a series of free public information sessions to help address deep energy retrofits of large, part 3 buildings in Alberta. Located in the community of Rossdale, in Edmonton’s beautiful river valley, the ArtsHub Ortona is a prominent heritage rehabilitation and adaptive reuse project.
Originally constructed in 1914 for the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Ortona Armory has served many purposes throughout its history, including warehouse operations, naval reserve training, military service, and community use. Designated as a Municipal Historic Resource in 2004, the building recently underwent a $16.28 million rehabilitation and modernization project, reopening in fall 2024 as ArtsHub Ortona, a dynamic cultural destination for artists, performers, and non-profit organizations.
SAIT and Alberta Ecotrust, along with project consultants from the City of Edmonton, MBAC, Delnor Construction, and Williams Engineering, will co-host this information session and tour.
The session presentations from the project team will explore how the City of Edmonton successfully balanced the project’s critical objectives:
- The heritage conservation strategy and key restoration decisions
- Energy performance improvements within the constraints of a historic building
- Adaptive reuse principles that transformed the facility into ArtsHub Ortona
- Building codes and regulation challenges and lessons learned when modernizing a century-old structure
- Funding, governance, and project delivery considerations
- The role of heritage rehabilitation in supporting sustainability and embodied carbon conservation
Attendees will also receive a guided tour of the facility, examining how a 110-year-old heritage building was transformed into a modern cultural space while maintaining its historic character. After the tour, light refreshments will be served alongside a cash bar. We invite you to stay and network!Â