Alumni Spotlight: Riya Tolia

After graduating with a degree in architecture, Riya Tolia worked as a consulting architect for the state government of Rajasthan in India, primarily focused on developing detailed project reports for proposed developments at various tourism sites across the state. She also did freelance work for new residential projects and renovated a management school.

She says that throughout these early years in her career, she had a goal of continuing her education outside of India.

“I was interested in pursuing a master’s degree that emphasized sustainability,” she says. Riya researched programs in both Canada and the US, ultimately deciding on UBC’s Master of Engineering Leadership in High Performance Buildings because of its combination of architecture, engineering and business.

Gaining new skills and experience in Canada – while still a student

The High Performance Buildings program includes technical courses that focus on green building design, energy modelling and regenerative development. Riya says a first term course on green building contemporary practice was an excellent introduction to the topic area as well as Canadian practices, standards and policies.

The curriculum also includes two capstone projects. In the first, students propose strategies to make an existing building more energy efficient, and in the second they design an energy performance system for a new building.

These two courses expanded Riya’s knowledge and introduced her to new areas of practice. “Even though I do not work as an energy modeller, these courses were very helpful in enabling me to understand different active and passive design strategies, as well as the crucial role of mechanical systems in determining the overall operational energy requirements and associated carbon emissions,” she says

MEL students are eligible to apply for the competitive UBC Sustainability Scholars Program, which matches UBC graduate students with partner organizations to work on sustainability projects. Riya collaborated with the City of Richmond on a project that evaluated the increase in embodied emissions of single-family houses built at various levels of the BC energy step code. (In the BC Energy Step Code, step 1 is the least energy efficient whereas a step 5 dwelling is net zero.)

Using the Athena Impact Estimator, she explored the relationship between operational emissions and embodied carbon at various levels of the code, with her analysis showing that “the embodied emissions increase by only 5.5% from Step Code 1 to Step Code 5 house, while the operational emissions become almost negligible in a Step 5 house. For a Step 5 house, embodied emissions account for almost 90% of the total emissions which must also be addressed in the most energy-efficient house for it to be truly net-zero.”

During the 12 months of the program she also worked as a green building research assistant with UBC Campus and Community Planning. In this UBC Work Learn position she assisted in the preparation of policy, zoning, and guidelines for the next version UBC’s of Residential Environmental Assessment Program, Green Building Action Plan and Climate Action Plan. She also conducted research as part of various working groups and assisted in policy development for priority areas for green buildings, embodied carbon, climate readiness, the UBC LEED Implementation Guide and resiliency guidelines .

Working as a sustainability analyst

After completing the program at the end of 2020, Riya began working at Introba as a sustainability analyst. Her work included doing project management for a wide range of green building certification projects and conducting life-cycle assessments to assess embodied carbon and show compliance with municipal policies and standards. Her focus was primarily commercial buildings, although she also worked on many industrial, multi-residential and health-care projects across Metro Vancouver. She also worked on non-conventional embodied carbon life-cycle analysis projects that “went beyond the scope of structure and enclosure to include partitions and finishes.”

After four years at Introba, Riya sought new challenges and opportunities. She’s now working at the engineering consulting firm WSP as a project manager in sustainability. In her new role, she is expanding her expertise in delivering sustainable solutions across infrastructure projects and contributing to initiatives throughout Canada.

Her job enables her to make the most of her professional background and training as an architect as well as her more recent development of expertise in sustainability and green engineering

“One of the benefits – and challenges – of working as a sustainability professional is that you need to know a little bit about everything – from mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems to the materiality of the building, such as its structure and different design elements. You end up being a bit of a jack of all trades. The continuous learning opportunities make this field particularly exciting.”