// COMPANY DOSSIER
Solterre Design
Halifax-based green architecture and high-performance building firm specializing in LEED certification, Passive House (Passivhaus) design, deep energy retrofits and off-grid residential, commercial, institutional and healthcare projects. It pairs an architecture studio (led by Jennifer Corson) with a green-building/LEED consulting practice (led by Keith Robertson).
📍 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada✓ 80% first-party verified
// CLIPS FROM Solterre Design
“people ask us who's your number one competitor and I say the granite countertop guy down the road”
“they did a test in Toronto using low Teddy buildings and they ran that test for up to two weeks”
“Finance trumps everything isn't just for private this is something you deal with publicly as well”
“the feds put out the program for the green homes right they're going okay we're going to spend this money”
“we had a developer involved locally who was kind of a front-runner and a leader as far as Net Zero”
“I was thinking about a post I seen on LinkedIn this winter I think it was esport properties did a test”
“when the 2020 code went out for public consultation it had mandatory blower door testing in it”
“it was interesting when Roxanne and I started our business we were looking for an opportunity”
“Keith and I did a presentation for public works and that was their piece”
// LESSONS FROM Solterre Design
Sequence net-zero upgrades by demand reduction first: super-insulate, right-size windows, right-size mechanicals, then offset residual load with renewables — in that order.
Splitting capital and operating budgets across different entities (province builds, school board pays bills) is the structural root cause of under-investment in building energy performance.
Developers with tenant-paid utilities have a rational incentive to build to minimum code; removing that misalignment requires either mandatory labelling or split-incentive reform.
BC’s step code — a pre-announced ratchet of air-tightness and insulation targets every 3–5 years — is the most replicable model for driving industry-wide performance improvement without market shock.
Mandatory energy labelling at point-of-sale is the single fastest behaviour-change lever for the existing housing stock, provided it is phased in starting with new construction.
Air-tightness is the highest-ROI first step in any retrofit because it reduces the demand on every downstream system — mechanicals, renewables, and insulation all shrink.
// SELECTED PROJECTS
Korkor's Community Library
CompletedArchitect / builder (Jennifer Corson and Keith Robertson spent ~three months on-site)
Corroborated by Dalhousie Faculty of Architecture and Planning and CBC News. International, not Atlantic Canada, but the strongest independently-verified Solterre project.
Bullard House
CompletedArchitect / designer
Firm states it was the first LEED for Homes Platinum project in Atlantic Canada. Completion year not stated on the project page; left blank rather than estimated.
Concept House (Solterre Passive House Concept Cottage)
CompletedDesigner / project lead
LEED for Homes Platinum (awarded June 2013) and Passive House certified; received a Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor Award of Merit. Corroborated independently by Home Energy Magazine and trade coverage.
Valley Waste Resource Management Authority Offices
CompletedLead architect and LEED consultant
First-party project page; firm describes it as among the first commercial buildings in Canada pursuing the Passive House standard. Exact municipality not pinned on the page (Valley Waste serves the Annapolis Valley); listed as 'LEED Gold' on the firm's consulting index.
// KEY PEOPLE
// NOTABLE
Keith Robertson is described as Nova Scotia's first LEED accredited professional and acted as LEED consultant on Atlantic Canada's first registered LEED green building (CFB Stadacona).
SOURCE ▸Jennifer Corson created and hosted the nationally televised home-renovation program 'The Resourceful Renovator' and ran the architectural-salvage business Renovators Resource Inc.
SOURCE ▸Equilibrium Engineering states it has recently integrated Solterre's sustainable design team and is rebranding as 'EQ Solutions' (combining energy modelling/building-performance engineering with Solterre's LEED/Passive House legacy).
SOURCE ▸