On June 6, 2011 the first Okanagan College students walked into their classes and shops in the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies & Renewable Energy Conservation. They entered through the doors of one of the world's greenest buildings; a structure that is as much a lesson in itself as it is a place to learn. It's a building that incorporates made-in-B.C. innovation as much as it serves to promote it.

The Centre of Excellence was designed and built as an innovative, sustainable post-secondary facility highly adapted to its site, climate and context. The facility will support a program mix that has a focus on sustainable building technologies and processes, as well as research and development of alternative and renewable sources of energy. The innovative features of the building itself will be used as a teaching tool to help train the next generation of tradespeople in green construction practices.