Unlike most cosmopolitan cities in North America, Vancouver doesn’t have a “Design Centre” (you know - the place with all the showrooms of fancy upholstery, furniture, and million-dollar kitchens). This is a shame, because we could really use more parties, and the local design centre is usually host to some of the best ones around…

Even more surprising though, is that until recently, our eco-dense, eco-conscious, tree-hugging, bike riding home town didn’t have much in the way of green building resources either. As it is, we really only have two resource centres, but they do a bang-up job of getting the word out there to consumers and providing access to product suppliers.

Light House Sustainable Building Centre on Granville Island is a well-known non-profit information and education centre.  Look for more on the work they’re doing in this space in the near future…

The for-profit resource in town is a building supply store called Greenworks, not too far from Light House, at 386 West 8th Avenue. These guys (namely, former SFU classmates Pete McGee and Alastair Moore) provide products and information mainly to single-family homeowners who want to improve their home environments. They’ve been in business since spring 2007. 

With the residential focus, the offerings at Greenworks are predictably oriented to interior finish products - with a few exceptions, like cotton batt insulation.  YOLO non-toxic paint and natural fiber carpets figure prominently.  Lots of recycled-content products here too, like glass tiles, countertops and rubber flooring.  They offer a pretty great selection of reclaimed / salvaged wood flooring products, and all those trendy renewable materials like kirei and bamboo, for all sorts of applications.  A selection of books and reference materials provides fodder for the budding sustainable DIY crowd.

One pretty unique product that Greenworks showcases is a living wall system - all the components (except soil and plants) you need to turn that drab expanse of gypsum you’re staring at into a vertical garden. Apparently it’s becoming the rage with local restaurants - where better to grow their parsley and basil than on their own walls, after all?  Someone once told us that one average-sized house plant spaced every 10 feet would effectively clean and purify the air in an open office environment.  What a great alternative the living wall might be!

To check out the supplies and get advice on offers, you can waltz on over to Greenworks from Monday to Saturday, or call ahead at 1-877-685-3611.