The Centre for Excellence is being designed as a highly innovative, two-storey multi-purpose facility that will provide essential trades and technology training and professional development to students in British Columbia, Canada and beyond. The building will support a syllabus with a focus on sustainable building technologies and processes, and the development and application of alternative and renewable energy. Design work and construction will be completed in time for the building to open in April 2011. The Centre for Excellence will also host an incubator organization to provide tenancy space for start-up innovation and research companies specializing in sustainable technologies. This building project is unique from a number of perspectives. It is aimed at attaining the highest standard of sustainable building design, namely the Living Building Challenge. Further, the building itself will become an essential element of the educational programs that will reside there, mainly focused on building trades and engineering technologies. In addition, the Okanagan Research Innovation Centre will be incorporated into the building, providing opportunities for start-up companies to develop and prototype new green technologies in a supportive and synergistic environment. Finally, this building is being constructed in the somewhat challenging climatic regime of the Okanagan region of Canada. The most important element of this project is that is will demonstrate that the Living Building Challenge is achievable at a cost comparable to conventional building design. The paper will focus on how this ambitious goal will be attained along with the numerous unique aspects that have been incorporated into the building design.