Today it’s just an empty field. Check back in about three years and it will be a state-of-the-art community centre and library fitted with an optimal environmental design.

The city unveiled the $26 million project Friday. Not only will the new facility have a library, swimming pool, gymnasium, indoor track and YMCA child care, it will be the third LEED green certified building in London.

LEED (is stands for leadership in energy and environmental design) is a rating system that awards points based on a building’s ‘greenness’ looking at factors like water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials used to build and indoor environmental quality. The more points, the more environmentally sound the building is.

The city is striving for a gold certification which could provide energy savings of up to 60 per cent. The cost is roughly 10 per cent more to build LEED certified but typical payback for the expense is between five and 10 years. A gold certified LEED building can expect to save around $1.25 per square foot in utility costs annually.

Seventeen buildings in Ontario currently have LEED certification, only seven of them are gold certified (LEED performance ratings are certified, silver, gold and platinum).

Construction on the estimated 80,000 to 100,000 sq. ft. building is slated to begin in 2009 and be completed in late 2010 to early 2011.

“We’re responding to the needs of the community,” said London Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best, who was on hand at the property’s unveiling.

Working together, the city, the London Public Library and the YMCA of London will share in the costs of construction. The YMCA’s portion is $8.5 million with $7.3 million of that raised already.

“We’re looking for partnerships that make sense,” Mayor DeCicco-Best said.

Anne Becker, London Public Library CEO, said, “We’re excited to be a part of this dynamic partnership. This will be a wonderful showcase for London, a flagship building for the city.”

Choosing the site made sense. The growth in north London has been tremendous and ongoing.

“You look at the population base and the services available and identify the gap,” said YCMA CEO Shaun Elliott about the need for such a facility and its location.

Sean Russell, who leads the city's corporate energy management program, said the project will involve many different facets to achieve its gold LEED certification.

“We’ll be using several passive energy saving systems,” he said. For example, the building will use natural daylight to conserve electricity.

“It’s really about building a better workplace,” he said.

An architect has yet to be named but a concept model for the facility has been designed.

Ultimately, the combination library, community centre, child care centre is being designed for the roughly 60,000 people in the area.

Said Ms Becker, “We want people to come here for a lot of different reasons. We want this to be a hub in the community.”