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Vancouver – The City of Vancouver has approved a rezoning application, paving the way for construction of the tallest Passive House building in the world. The 60-storey mixed-use residential building will be 178 meters high.

Vancouver city councilors have approved a rezoning application to build the world’s tallest Passive House building in downtown Vancouver. At 178 meters high, it will also be the city’s fourth tallest building.

The mixed-use tower will feature 102 units of social housing on the lower levels, comprising 25 percent of the building’s total floor area, and 50 guaranteed rental units in the upper levels. According to a Daily Hive article, the high level of social housing and guaranteed rental units is made possible by the 328 condominium units in the upper levels of the tower.

The tower will have a total floor area of around 40,000 square meters and a floor space ratio density of 24.7 times the size of the lot it will be built on. To support this high level of density, the building will have eight underground levels for over 300 vehicle parking stalls and more than 1,000 bike parking spaces, the article reports.

According to building consultant firm RDH, which is serving as the energy performance consultant on the project, the Passive House design will vastly reduce the building’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“In practice, most of these apartments will remain warm in winter with no additional heat, while remaining comfortably cool in summer due to a combination of natural ventilation and a very small degree of light cooling,” said Monte Paulsen, RDH’s Passive House Specialist.

Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart said that the Passive House building will be “a model to many across the country and continent”.