The first of the new office towers to invigorate Toronto's core in 2010, RBC Centre at 1.2M sf, transformed Wellington Street, west of University Avenue, to a vibrant and dynamic street and provided an important edge to the large public plaza of Metro Hall to the north. RBC and RBC Dexia, lead tenants of the building, required a design that reflected their brand of economic, social and environmental sustainability while reflecting the stature of the Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest banking institution. In collaboration with the developer, Cadillac Fairview, a vision of a high performance office building to improve occupant comfort, space planning flexibility, and higher environmental sustainability standards was developed within the market-driven context of commercial real estate in Canada’s first LEED NC Gold office tower.