The building located in downtown Montreal has decided to connect itself to a network district heating and cooling plant to be more efficient, cost effective and ecological. A number of buildings in the neighbourhood are not connected to this plant as most of the Montreal building have independent systems. The central plant serves 15,000,000 SF of building space in the downtown area with heating and district cooling, meaning each building does not need to provide its own boilers, chillers and cooling towers, thereby reducing emissions, environmental risk, maintenance personnel and maintenance costs as well as minimising space required for mechanical equipment thus reducing the building footprint. The central plant is maintained with 24 hour personnel, back up generator and provides its cost effective systems with regular maintenance as well as being exempt of CFC and HCFC. The plant chemical treatment is also mechanized and automated to ensure employee safety and reduce the risk of accidents. The building considers this to be "other environmental performance" and requests approval by USGBC.