For the sixth year in a row, Red River College has been named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers, a designation that recognizes RRC’s environmentally friendly policies and programs that engage staff in their sustainability efforts.

The listing comes courtesy of Mediacorp Canada’s ongoing Top 100 Employers project, and coincides with Earth Day activities and events throughout the globe.

“Red River College continues to be a champion of sustainability,” says RRC President Paul Vogt. “We’re honoured to continue to receive this honour each year for the past six years. This is something every member of our College community can take pride in.”

“There’s a real culture of sustainability at Red River College,” adds Sara MacArthur, RRC’s Manager of Sustainability. “Our staff do more than just ‘know’ about sustainability — they also embrace the values of sustainability in their day-to-day actions.”

Over the years, RRC has taken a lead role in a number of sustainability-related initiatives, including: Read More →

A research partnership with Manitoba Hydro focusing on sustainable building infrastructure and transportation has earned Red River College the top honour from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Presented today at a ceremony at the Governor General’s residence in Ottawa, NSERC’s Synergy Award for Innovation recognizes outstanding research and development partnerships between colleges and industry partners in the fields of natural sciences and engineering. Only one Canadian college receives the award each year.

“This award is the highest level of validation a college can receive for the impact and lasting benefits of its research partnerships efforts,” says RRC President Paul Vogt. “Our partnerships with industry stakeholders like Manitoba Hydro are critical to our mandate for supporting innovation in Manitoba, and providing our graduates with the skills that industry requires.”

Dating back more than a decade, the partnership between RRC and Hydro includes collaboration on such high-profile projects as the award-winning Manitoba Hydro Place and the development of a zero-emissions electric battery transit bus.

“The legacy of the relationship between Manitoba Hydro and RRC will live on in our downtown office tower and zero-emission buses operating within many North American cities for decades to come,” says Lloyd Kuczek, Manitoba Hydro’s vice-president of Customer Care and Energy Conservation.

“These projects provide daily reminders of what we can accomplish through collaborative research and of the importance of leveraging the capabilities of research partners like RRC.”

Read More →

Red River College has been recognized for excellence in building management with a 2015 Earth Award from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Canada.

The award went to RRC’s Heavy Equipment Transportation Centre (HETC), and was presented in conjunction with BOMA’s national conference in Quebec on Sept. 17.

“We have an excellent Facility Management team and this award further demonstrates our hard work and dedication to sustainability,” says Tom Skraba, director of Facility Management at RRC. “I wish to congratulate the team for their tireless efforts.”

BOMA’s Earth Awards recognize excellence in resource preservation and environmentally sound commercial building management. During the selection process, BOMA evaluates a building’s ability to reduce overall environmental risk, provide good indoor air quality, practice green cleaning, recycling, and energy conservation.

HETC is one of the largest industrial training facilities in Manitoba, and one of the province’s most environmentally friendly buildings. Read More →

Red River College has been awarded $1.75 million over five years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), to establish the Centre for Building Envelope Performance (CBEP) at the Notre Dame Campus.

Lawrence Toet, MP for Elmwood-Transcona (shown above, at centre), was on campus yesterday to announce the new funding, which comes in the form of a Technology Access Centres Grant under NSERC’s under College and Community Innovation (CCI) program.

Work on the CBEP will see RRC partnering with the local construction industry to conduct applied research, provide specialized education and training, and support innovation in building envelope design and construction.

“Colleges play a key role in supporting innovation and business, and RRC has been a leader in applied research for more than 10 years,” says Interim RRC President David Rew (above, second from right).

“This grant will help enhance our ability to serve Manitoba’s construction sector with advanced graduates and professional training, as well as foster innovation in a critical component of building design and construction.”

The CBEP is expected to significantly increase access to the College’s facilities, equipment and expertise for Manitoba’s building industry, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises whose products and services directly impact a building’s envelope. Read More →

Red River College was recognized twice last month for excellence in building management and environmental responsibility, picking up a pair of honours at BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) Manitoba’s 2015 Awards of Excellence.

The College’s wins both came in BOMA’s Earth Awards category, with downtown’s Roblin Centre recognized in the Mixed-Use Building division, and the Notre Dame Campus’s Heavy Equipment Transportation Centre (HETC) in the Light Industrial category.

The Roblin Centre’s award celebrates a number of sustainable milestones, including a recent retrocomissioning process that focused on documentation and training to help improve energy efficiency and identify energy-saving opportunities.

BOMA’s Awards of Excellence program is designed to align with program requirements of BOMA Canada and BOMA International.

Last year, RRC’s Paterson GlobalFoods Institute (PGI) was recognized in the Multi-Use Building category. The Roblin Centre, HETC and PGI are all included on BOMA’s BESt (Building Environmental Standards)-Certified Buildings list.

Shown above: Murray Hiebert, Exchange District Campus Maintenance Manager; Tom Skraba, Director, Facility Management; and Dave Wozny, Technical Officer.

For the fifth year in a row, Red River College has been named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers. This annual award acknowledges RRC’s environmentally-friendly policies, and programs that effectively engage staff in their sustainability efforts.

“Red River College continues to be a champion of sustainability in Manitoba, and I congratulate Sara MacArthur, Kristine Koster and Sue Hayduk from our Sustainability team for their efforts in continuing to cultivate a culture of sustainability,” said David Rew, Interim President and CEO, Red River College.

“As the only post-secondary institution in Manitoba to receive this honour each year for the past five years, this is something every member of our College community takes pride in.”

RRC works hard to be designated one of Canada’s Greenest Employers and is proud of the many sustainable initiatives launched by the College, including: Read More →

This week, Red River College joins the growing number of individuals and organizations across Canada taking steps to cut waste and improve the environment.

From Oct. 20-24, RRC will mark Waste Reduction Week with a series of initiatives aimed at encouraging the College community to rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle — whether on campus or at home.

Waste reduction is a year-round effort at RRC, where each month we collect and recycle over nine tonnes of paper, food and beverage containers and cardboard. The diversion rate at RRC is over 50% — an impressive figure, considering Winnipeg’s residential diversion rate is only about 28%.

Here are three ways you can get involved: Read More →

For the fourth year in a row, Red River College has been recognized as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers, an award that acknowledges our environmentally friendly policies and programs that effectively engage staff in sustainability efforts.

“Red River College is leading the way in campus sustainability,” says RRC President Stephanie Forsyth. “This year, RRC is the only post-secondary institution in Manitoba to receive this honour. Sustainability is one of our four strategic priorities; all of our work follows the triple bottom line – people, planet, profits. As a public institution, we believe that we have a responsibility to model and impart sustainability to our students and staff.”

RRC has worked hard to show it’s worthy of such an honour, and the numbers speak for themselves. Last year, the College diverted more than 50% of materials leaving campus from the landfill (35% more than the average Winnipeg household). Thanks to the largest on-site institutional compost program in the city, RRC not only diverts hundreds of pounds of food waste from the campus every day, but also saves more than $1,000 annually in topsoil costs by using the finished compost on campus grounds.

The College is one of only four Winnipeg employers to offer a 60% subsidized EcoPass to its employees. This incentive results in bus ridership rates that exceed 50% for our downtown-based employees – a percentage well beyond the city’s transit ridership rate of 14%.  Read More →

This Saturday, March 29, at 8:30pm, Red River College will be joining millions of individuals and organizations around the globe by switching off the lights for 60 minutes to celebrate its commitment to the planet during Earth Hour.

Now in it’s eighth year, Earth Hour is a grassroots movement that aims to bring awareness to environmental issues and showcases how sustainable practices such as turning off lights and non-essential appliances can have a positive impact on the health of the planet.

Red River College is proud of the steps it has taken to reduce energy consumption on campus – both in new construction and through renovations.

Our newest buildings, the Heavy Equipment Transportation Centre (HETC) and the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute (PGI), are built to LEED standards meaning they have to be at least 25% more energy efficient than comparable buildings of the same size.

In HETC, high efficiency lighting, the use of natural light and photocell-controlled lighting help reduce energy consumption by 41%. At PGI, lighting in public areas is done by occupancy sensors so the lights only turn on when people are in the space.

Find out more about Earth Hour at earthhour.org and learn about RRC’s sustainability practices at Red Goes Green.

Red River College is pleased to announce it has been named one of Manitoba’s Top 25 Employers for the fourth year in a row. 

“It truly is an honour for the College to be recognized as one of Manitoba’s Top Employers once again,” said Stephanie Forsyth, President and CEO, Red River College. “Our most important asset is our people, hence the development of a comprehensive People Plan created to foster a culture in which all 2,500 staff feel connected and supported by the organization. We’re an employer of choice in Manitoba and I am proud to say that we have been one for 75 years.”

This comprehensive human resources strategy has made RRC an employer of choice through a variety of initiatives related to recruitment, retention, professional development, succession, total rewards, labour relations and organizational effectiveness.

RRC provides exceptional benefits, such as: three weeks of vacation for new employees; maternity top-up payments; a defined benefit pension plan; a flexible health care plan; and an on-site daycare. The College was also recognized for its efforts to improve environmental sustainability, which earlier this year earned a designation as one of Canada’s 50 Greenest Employers for 2013.

“Having a positive work environment offers many benefits,” said Forsyth. “It makes us more competitive in recruiting new talent. It reduces staff turnover and it improves productivity because satisfied employees who feel empowered in their roles are a lot more enthusiastic about their work. It also creates an environment in which people know they are a significant and vital part of an organization committed to excellence.”

Red River College has nine campuses and annually sees more than 30,000 enrolments in over 200 full-and part-time degree, diploma, post-degree and certificate programs. Through award-winning instruction and training on state-of-the-art equipment, RRC prepares its students to become leaders in their fields, while partnering with industry to conduct research and ensure curriculum remains up-to-date.

See the full story from the Winnipeg Free Press.