GO Transit's Pickering station building has attained LEED Canada Gold certification, a first for a passenger station building in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The building was rehabilitated and is now complete with a number of passenger amenities and eco-friendly features, including 60% savings in annual energy consumption.

A number of GO Transit's maintenance and operational facilities have been recognized for incorporating more progressive environmental features. GO's Brampton and Oshawa bus facilities are also LEED Gold certified, while the Halton Hills and Streetsville bus facilities have been awarded LEED Silver certification.

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The East Gwillimbury Bus Facility and Burlington GO Station — both now under construction — are also hoping to achieve LEED Silver certification.

Some of the building's eco-friendly features include:

• A ground-source heat pump that uses heat from the ground to warm the building in cooler weather and offsets warmer temperatures.

• A heat recovery unit that extracts heat from the air leaving the building and uses it to heat the air entering the building.

• Low-flow plumbing fixtures that conserve 45% more potable water (equal to over 106,000 gallons of water per year).

• A waste management plan implemented during construction that resulted in diverting 80% of construction waste from landfill.

For a complete list of the building's sustainability features, visit GO Transit's website. Reinders & Rieder Ltd. was GO's consultant on the project, helping the agency achieve the LEED Gold certification.