By Shawn Hall, TELUS Media Relations

19/10/2011 10:24:44 AM

TELUS Garden will set new standard for green living and working
Vancouver council endorses TELUS Garden development, Canadas first office tower that will be certified LEED Platinum under new standards Vancouver, B.C. - The City of Vancouver Council endorsed the TELUS Garden redevelopment at a public hearing last night, giving the project the go-ahead to finalize re-zoning requirements. With this major milestone achieved, the project is on schedule to break ground by the end of February 2012, bringing Vancouver its first LEED Platinum building based on the new 2009 LEED standards. The $750 million, one million square foot development will incorporate a LEED Platinum 22-storey signature office tower, a 46-storey residential tower built to the LEED Gold standard and retail space along Robson and Georgia. When completed in 2014, TELUS Garden will use at least 30 per cent less energy than a standard development of its size through the use of innovative technologies and practices. It will transfer excess heat from one building to another as needed, use solar panels to power some infrastructure, and capture rainwater for toilets and garden irrigation. Located adjacent to the Skytrain, there will be facilities for bicycles, and charging stations for electric cars. Our vision is for TELUS Garden to be a green oasis where architectural beauty, leading edge technology, urban living and environmental sustainability merge seamlessly into a vibrant and dynamic community. Indeed, TELUS Garden will be a breathtaking landmark as well as an architectural icon, setting new standards for environmental stewardship, said Darren Entwistle, TELUS President and CEO. Once complete, TELUS Garden will transform an entire city block of downtown Vancouver into one of the most technologically and environmentally advanced properties of commerce, employment and residential living in the world. It will include a 450-unit residential tower and a 22-storey office tower that will be our new corporate home. Bounded by Georgia, Robson, Seymour, and Richards, the development will be home to TELUS national headquarters and open up a half-million square feet of new office space for lease as well as more than 450 green homes.

Construction is scheduled to begin in February 2012 once all approvals are in place. The project will pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy and create three million person-hours of employment. Once occupied, the sites business and residential tenants will contribute an estimated $8 - $10 million in tax revenue to the city annually. Since 2000, TELUS has invested more than $24.5 billion in B.C. technology and operations. TELUS is investing $1.8 billion across Canada this year, including $670 million in B.C., to further enhance Canadians access to what are already among the most advanced broadband and wireless networks anywhere in the world. Since 2000 TELUS team members, retirees, and three B.C. community boards have contributed nearly $92 million and 2.1 million volunteer hours to more than 1,000 charitable and community organizations across the province. TELUS has 15,000 team members and retirees in the province, and is Metro Vancouvers largest private sector employer. Approximately 1,000 TELUS team members will work in the companys new national headquarters once it is complete. About TELUS TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $10.1 billion of annual revenue and 12.4 million customer connections including 7.1 million wireless subscribers, 3.7 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers and more than 400,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees will, by year-end 2011, have contributed $245 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.1 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Eleven TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead TELUS local philanthropic initiatives. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com. About Westbank

Established in 1992 and with over $12 billion of projects completed or under development, Westbank is active across Canada in a diversity of product types from luxury condominiums, rental apartment office, commercial, retail, hotel, non-market housing and industrial. Westbanks primary focus is on large mixed use projects involving highly complex entitlement processes. Westbank is best known for being the leading luxury residential developer in Canada, along with being the owner/developer of the finest hotels in Canada. Some of its best known projects include Shangri-la Vancouver, Shangri-la Toronto, Fairmont Pacific Rim and the Woodwards Redevelopment project. About Henriquez Partners Architects: Founded in 1969, Henriquez Partners Architects has led and completed a number of large-scale projects including the $330M Woodwards Redevelopment and the landmark LEED Gold BC Cancer Research Centre. With a reputation for successfully understanding and marrying the needs of both the client and the community, the Henriquez Partner philosophy is that no project is too small if it contributes to society in a meaningful way. Current work includes a new design for the Dunbar Community Centre and the York Theatre heritage revitalization project. Henriquez Partners has a demonstrated ability to organize and manage projects from design through to construction and the technical expertise to build buildings that stand the test of time.