On a quiet street in Mount Pleasant, a 1908 heritage home is proving a point many homeowners still question. You do not need to erase history to build a high-performance, future-ready house. With the right team and early planning, you can keep the home’s character, meet net-zero targets, and dramatically cut carbon and energy use, all at the same time.

This project began with a clear brief from the homeowner. Stay in the neighbourhood; respect the heritage streetscape; deliver a net-zero triplex; restore the main home; add a two-bedroom garden suite; and build a new three-bedroom net-zero infill laneway home. From there, the scope expanded. The team set out to eliminate operational energy use, and also reduce embodied carbon, the emissions tied to extracting, manufacturing and transporting building materials.

“That’s the carbon people don’t see,” says Barb Silverthorne of Capture Energy. “It’s baked into the materials before you even turn the lights on. If we ignore it, we miss half the picture.”

The solution started with deconstruction, not demolition. Instead of crushing the house and sending everything to landfill, the building was carefully taken apart. Windows, flooring and fixtures were catalogued for donation. Old-growth Douglas fir framing was removed piece by piece and preserved for reuse.

“For me, it’s painful to watch a beautiful old home get mulched and dumped,” says builder Todd Best of Best Builders. “That wood has already done a hundred years of work. Why would we throw it away?”

Much of that reclaimed lumber is going straight back into the project. Non-load-bearing walls, backing, feature elements and custom details all benefit from material that is stronger and denser than most modern framing. The team is also testing prefabricated panels built largely from reclaimed wood, pushing reuse even further.

This circular approach does more than reduce waste. It changes the math. Deconstruction creates donation tax receipts, offsets disposal costs and reduces the amount of new lumber required. Planning it at the design stage, not the last minute, made the difference.

“You have to be at the table early,” says Eric Serpas Ventura of Vema Deconstruction. “When salvage is part of the plan from day one, it stops being an afterthought and starts saving real money.”

Performance was the other half of the equation. The house was lifted onto a new carbon-reduced concrete foundation and rebuilt with a tight, highly insulated envelope. Natural materials such as hemp insulation replaced conventional fiberglass, improving indoor air quality while lowering embodied carbon. Mechanical systems shrink as the building performs better, not worse.

To meet net zero and qualify for city of Vancouver incentives, the home generates its own renewable energy through rooftop solar. In fact, it goes a step further, producing slightly more energy than it uses and sending power back to the grid.

Collaboration made this possible. Architects, energy advisors, trades, designers and city staff were brought together at the start in a full design charrette. Goals, costs and trade-offs were discussed before construction began, not halfway through.

“That upfront collaboration avoided surprises later,” says Best. “Compromises were choices, not emergencies.”

The result is a home that feels rooted, not replaced. Original materials reappear as finishes and features. The scale and look fit the street. Performance rivals new construction, and the carbon footprint is far smaller.

Silverthorne sums it up simply. “The goal is resilience. This home should last another hundred years.”

For homeowners considering a major renovation, the lesson is clear. Ask different questions. Bring the right people in early. And do not assume the greenest choice means starting over.

For more detail on the 1908 to net-zero project, including interviews with the full project team, listen to HAVAN’s Measure Twice, Cut Once podcast episodes featuring this home.