Last week, sustainable design organization Perennia took the opportunity to launch the first edition of its contest at the inauguration of its offices on Saint-Ambroise Street.

The co-founders of Perennia, Luce Beaulieu, Muriel Kearney and Cédric Sportes, are inviting community organizations and social economy enterprises from SouthWest Montreal to present projects aimed at sustainable development. With this contest, the socially responsible organization is supporting the community sector and sustainable development in SouthWest Montreal in a very concrete manner. A jury, scheduled to meet at the end of June, will select the most beneficial project in terms of design and sustainable development as well as the one that will influence the behaviour of other organizations and of citizens.

Located in a nineteenth-century industrial building, Perennia's offices were designed to be eco responsible. The recycled office furniture comes from Réseau-Bureautique; the fluorescent aluminum light fixtures are from Axis in Montreal; and the Think armchairs by Steelcase, made of 41% recycled materials, were also recovered. The phone system and fridge are both used, and the accessories and accent furniture were recovered at the Éco-centre Eadie (in Pointe Saint-Charles). Perennia also uses earthworm composting to manage organic matter generated by its employees. Finally, all building maintenance supplies are environmentally friendly and come from the Coop la Maison Verte.

Perennia's mission is to help Quebec organizations improve their environmental performance. It offers four types of services: sustainable development, layout design, communication and event-related design. Perennia works for organizations like Équiterre as well as for larger ones like Rona and the City of Montreal. For the latter, it created the design for the exhibition on the city's environment-related projects and commitments, presented among others at the Salon national de l'environnement, from June 13 to 15.