Located in the heart of Canada’s largest city, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) is a renowned destination and premier choice for event planners worldwide. Since first opening in 1984, more than 22,000 events have been held within the MTCC’s 442,000 square feet of exhibit space, 77 meeting rooms, multi-purpose ballrooms and state-of-the-art theatre. Tourism generated by MTCC events have contributed billions of dollars towards the region’s economic growth and prosperity.
In addition to offering a full suite of services to sustain long-term business success, the MTCC has long taken pride in promoting ethical, ecological and philanthropic practices that benefit society and the environment. Other sustainability initiatives include sourcing food and beverage from local farms and suppliers, a Chef’s Garden and beehive on the roof of the South Building and donating leftover food and other items to food rescue organizations in Toronto. The facility also engages in recycling, waste diversion and offers a range of sustainable meeting solutions.
In keeping with its commitment to environmental stewardship, the MTCC also embraces the use of energy-efficient products and systems throughout its facility. Since completing an extensive lighting upgrade involving high-performing LEDs throughout two exhibit halls in collaboration with leading LED manufacturer LEDVANCE and electrical distributor partner Green Bird Electric Solutions Inc., the MTCC is now poised to enjoy the benefits of high-quality lighting, significant energy and cost savings, maintenance-free operations and enhanced sustainability for years to come.
According to Hijaz Mohamed, manager of engineering at the MTCC, the Convention Centre (comprised of a North building constructed in 1984 and a South building constructed in 1997) had undergone different energy-efficient upgrades over the years, but a lighting upgrade remained the last piece of the puzzle.
“We started thinking about a LED upgrade in 2018 or 2019, but then the pandemic hit,” Mohamed says. “We made our lighting upgrade a priority and began planning for it in late 2022 to early 2023.”
Mohamed said that many issues prompted the need to upgrade the 1,431 350-450-Watt metal halide fixtures that had illuminated their exhibit halls for years.
“In addition to taking a long time to warm up when they were switched on, the lights suffered from lumen depreciation and color shifting over time, which caused them to have different yellow and blue tints, cast shadows, and lack uniformity,” says Mohamed.
Mohamed noted that the fixtures were also costly and time-consuming to maintain.
“Because they ran very hot, the lights created socket issues, brittle wire and often burned out,” Mohamed says. “Every time an outage occurred, we’d have to get maintenance crew members out on a boom lift because clients rent out these exhibit floors and don’t want their actual products or pictures of their products to be diminished by poor lighting.”
After researching products, reviewing previous consultants’ lighting studies and securing buy-in from their stakeholders, the MTCC received approval to pursue an LED upgrade and immediately reached out to various distributor partners including Green Bird Electric Solutions Inc., who worked with MTCC closely with different samples and solutions to figure out an ideal selection of products to be installed.
“We selected LEDVANCE’s 200-Watt UFO High Bay, a sleek, high-performing and energy-efficient LED solution that’s ideal for illuminating warehouses, gymnasiums and other high-ceiling, industrial applications like the Convention Centre,” says Ahmed Baig, vice president of Toronto-based Green Bird Electric Solutions Inc.
“Though the MTCC was initially seeking LED replacements for their existing HID fixtures, we discussed this approach with our colleagues at Green Bird Electric and determined that the cost of doing that wasn’t necessarily lower and wouldn’t deliver the desired lumens to the floor,” says Yasmin Navid, LEDVANCE’s Mississagua-based senior sales representative.
Overseen by the MTCC’s in-house electricians, installation of the new LEDVANCE fixtures began in December 2023, was completed in both the North and South buildings by Spring 2024, and the full team couldn’t be happier with the results.
“Thanks to their high-efficiency, long-lasting new LEDs, the MTCC will enjoy nearly $142,000 in energy cost savings and $682,000 in maintenance cost savings every year,” says Baig. “At the same time, the availability of a $178,000 rebate from local utility/ Government program to offset 50 percent of the project cost, which brought their payback period to under three years – an attractive return on investment by any measure.”
As for the new lighting itself? The MTCC and its project partners are equally thrilled with the results of the upgrade.
“The new lighting looks crisp and beautiful, makes the exhibit halls look fresh and more inviting, truly spotlights the products being featured, and upgraded the look and feel of the space from more of a warehouse to a showroom,” Baig says.
“When you have the right partners in place and the incentives are out there, these projects are very manageable and we only wish we’d done it sooner,” says Mohamed. “As the biggest convention centre in Canada, this lighting upgrade reflects our desire to continue leading the way in sustainability and creating inviting, engaging and environmentally friendly experiences for clients and visitors alike.”
