April 19, 2007
State-Of-The-Art Green Building Officially Opened As New Home Of Manitoba's Property Registry Office
– – –Refurbished Heritage Building Part of Downtown Resurgence: Selinger
Individuals and organizations seeking information from the Winnipeg branch of Manitoba’s Property Registry Office now have improved access to services and there is better protection of valuable records as a result of the relocation of the office to Portage Avenue in downtown Winnipeg, Finance Minister Greg Selinger said today.
“We are extremely pleased as the move has resulted in better levels of customer service, improved security for important records and is accomplished at a site that is built to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver standard as a green office building,” said Selinger. “The improved location also adds to the ongoing efforts to revitalize downtown Winnipeg.”
The offices of the Winnipeg Land Titles, Surveys Branch, the Personal Property Registry and the administration of the Property Registry Office held an official opening today after moving from the basement of the Woodsworth Building to the upgraded site in the historic Birks Building at 276 Portage Ave. as part of a long-term lease. There are 118 staff employed at the new site.
The landlord for the Birks Building, A.S.H. Management Group, has created a state-of-the-art green environment while maintaining the special heritage character of the building. Energy conservation innovations include a heat-recovery system as part of a newly-created atrium. As well, rain storage tanks capture water which is then filtered and reused in the waste-water systems of the washrooms in the building.
“It is gratifying to see the revitalization of one of the city’s historic commercial sites within our green buildings policy that ensures new sites funded by Manitoba are among the most environmentally friendly in North America,” said Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Ron Lemieux. “This green policy is expected to reduce energy expenditures in such buildings by one-third and that’s a significant amount.”
LEED is an internationally-accepted green building rating system for certifying healthy, energy-efficient buildings that have fewer environmental impacts. The LEED Canada rating system includes five categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. Other projects along Portage Avenue built to LEED standards include Manitoba Hydro’s new corporate headquarters and the Mountain Equipment Co-op store.
The historic Birks Building was designed by Percy Nobbs of the McGill University School of Architecture and was completed in 1901. It was originally constructed to house Winnipeg’s YMCA and was substantially renovated in 1912 to accommodate the first of the Birks’ company branches in Western Canada.
Property Registry services include registration and searches of titles of land ownership and interests in land such as mortgages and caveats, registration and searches for records of personal property registered as security for loans and land survey plan information.
More details about the Property Registry Office are available at https://www.gov.mb.ca/tpr or by calling 204-945-3123 for personal property registry inquiries or 204-945-2042 for land titles information.
- 30 -