ISSA Hygieia launches new community for female professionals

ISSA Hygieia Network, an ISSA Charities signature program dedicated to the advancement and retention of women in the cleaning industry, has launched a regional community for cleaning industry professionals in Canada.

The latest of eight regional communities, professionals living or working in Canada are invited to join the regional group on LinkedIn to connect and network with local peers.

“The sanitary maintenance and supply industry in Canada has certainly seen the number of inspirational, professional women increase significantly over the years,” said ISSA Canada Executive Director Mike Nosko. “We’re so excited to now be able to provide them with a space to connect and network with peers through the Hygieia Network. I am confident this community will definitely be embraced by women across the country.”

ISSA Hygieia Network launched the regional community groups in 2021 to facilitate networking and sharing of resources between cleaning industry professionals via LinkedIn, and in-person programs and events. In addition to ISSA Hygieia Network Canada Region, communities are available for the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, New England, Southwest, Pacific West, Rocky Mountain, and Southern regions of the United States.

“There is no better time to be a part of this amazing industry,” said Shannon Hall, Vice President of Sales at Dustbane, and captain of ISSA Hygieia Network Canada Region. “We are proud to help women in Canada have a voice, and be part of continuing to grow and develop within the sanitation and hygiene community through the Hygieia Network. I am looking forward to helping support Hygieia in Canada, and growing our membership in the regional community.”

Professionals can join the regions for free to share resources and discuss topics related to the cleaning industry and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Members can also attend “Meet & Greet” events hosted virtually and in person throughout the year.

Join your regional community or, to become an ISSA Hygieia Network member, visit www.issa-canada.com/hygieianetwork.

Renter incentives still prevalent in rental listings

Even as the pandemic subsides, residential landlords are still offering renter incentives to fill vacant units in most large Canadian cities. During the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, promotions devised to lure tenants flourished, but many landlords anticipated the need to discount would be long over by now.

This is not the case according to new data compiled by Rentals.ca, Rentfaster.ca, RentBoard.ca and Louer.ca. An abundance of renter incentives and promotions can still be found in rental listings running through March and April, primarily by landlords and property managers based in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg. Vancouver is one of the few exceptions given the city’s low vacancy rates and high housing demand.

While incentives are no longer as creative or varied as they were during the initial lockdown period, numerous listings continue to offer one- or two-months’ free rent with signed leases, gift cards, cash bonuses, or free cable and/or Internet service for a prescribed period.

Older or newly renovated buildings make up the bulk of buildings still offering renter incentives compared to new, purpose-built developments. Examples of promotions currently offered in Toronto include a $2,500 Visa gift card, a year-long Altea Active gym membership, and up to two months’ free rent.

In Calgary and Edmonton, prospective tenants can still find a good deal of incentives in rental advertisements given the higher vacancy rates that continue to impact these markets. Aside from cash bonuses, gift cards, and discounts on services, common incentives include student, senior, military and first responder rentla discounts, as well as complimentary or discounted cable and internet.

“Rent today and save up to one month plus receive a $200 Energy Savings Credit with the most exclusive rates on TELUS Optik TV and high-speed Internet. Students receive a $300 move-in bonus,” offers one Calgary-based property manager.

For more examples of renter incentives currently on offer in Canada, click here.

Site preparation starts on Harry Jerome Centre

Construction of the new Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre (HJCRC) will begin in March with site preparation and excavation. Foundation work is expected to start in May with completion in 2025.

Located on the north side of 23^rd Street East between Lonsdale Avenue and St. Georges Avenue, the existing HJCRC will stay open and operating during construction.

“We are moving forward and preparing the site of the new Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre for construction,” said Mayor Linda Buchanan. “People have waited a long time for the project to reach this exciting new phase. Council and City staff have been steadfast in advancing this state-of-the-art facility that will promote and sustain healthy living. I’m proud we are delivering this long-awaited community amenity and I look forward to breaking ground shortly.”

The new centre will provide a vibrant and social heart to the community and will include an arena with a 500-spectator capacity, more aquatic space, indoor and outdoor fitness amenities, new skate park, preschool and youth spaces and a new facility for Silver Harbour Seniors’ Activity Centre. Underground parking will maximize the site’s buildable space.

“We’ve been working closely with our design and construction partners to make sure the project reflects what we’ve heard from users and residents, and to try to minimize the impacts of construction as much as possible,” noted Barbara Pearce, the City’s Deputy Chief Administrative Officer and Project Lead. “We’re looking forward to delivering a new facility that addresses the needs of our community.”

Toronto is Canada’s hotspot for bed bugs

Bed bugs can be a serious issue for facility managers, tenants, and residents.

The pests have a flat, broad, oval-shaped body and dark brown colouring and while very small (4-5 mm long), they are still visible to the naked eye. Bed bugs, as you might imagine, are nocturnal pests and are most active between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. But they’re also not too picky about timing and will seek a food source during the day if they get hungry.

In a time of heightened awareness around infection control, getting any bed bug infestations under control is vital. Research from the University of Cincinnati has shown that bed bugs can carry almost 50 pathogens, which they leave behind in fecal matter. Fortunately, transmission of these pathogens to humans remains undocumented. However, the population of bed bugs can double about once every 16 days.

They get around all over Canada, too.

Orkin Canada recently released last year’s annual list of the top bed buggiest cities in Canada. The rankings show that the overall number of bed bug sightings nationwide remained similar to the year prior, and remains below pre-pandemic levels.

The City of Toronto claimed the number one spot for the third year in a row. Vancouver went up to number three from four, St John’s, NL rose to number four from six. Winnipeg, though, dropped substantially, falling to number nine from number five.

The findings by Orkin Canada are based on the number of commercial and residential bed bug treatments carried out by the company in 2021 (January 1 – December 31).

The top 10 bed buggiest cities in Canada in 2021 are:

Toronto
Sudbury
Vancouver
St John’s
Oshawa
Scarborough
Moncton
Saint John
Winnipeg
Edmonton

Travel bans, stay-at-home orders, and a general shift to working remotely have resulted in fewer hitch-hiking opportunities for these critters, notes Orkin, and yet they have found a way to stick around. Bed bugs latch onto people, clothing, and furniture. All it can take is an airplane seat, hotel bed or even an office chair for these pesky bed bugs to invade your space.

As Canadians start to travel, whether to the office or on vacation, so too will bed bugs. So what can be done to stop them?

Concerned Canadians can keep their defence strong through proactive prevention tips such as careful examination of furniture and clothing after guests leave a facility, drying potentially infested bed linens or clothing on the highest heat setting, and sealing cracks in walls, trims, and bed frames. A pest management professional can also help manage problems should they arise.

Think bed bugs only affect hotels? Think again.

These sneaky pests can still hitch a ride into your business through employee or customer clothing, backpacks and luggage (‘tis the season for holiday travel). To keep them out, keep any laundry — including dirty towels used for cleaning — in sealed bags until they are laundered, and remember to vacuum regularly.

In particular, be on the lookout for:

Live or dead bugs (don’t forget the skins left behind during moulting)
Tiny black or brown stains on upholstered furniture
An unpleasant, musty smell—like coriander—produced by bed bug scent glands
In non-hospitality commercial businesses, pay close attention to areas such as locker rooms, changing rooms, lunchrooms, offices and facilities where mechanical vehicles are operated such as forklifts.

Tom Patterson Theatre wins Civic Trust Award

The Tom Patterson Theatre at the Stratford Festival has won a 2022 Civic Trust Award in the United Kingdom. It is the only project from Canada to be recognized in this international awards program.

The new theatre in Stratford, Ontario is designed by Siamak Hariri, co-founder of Hariri Pontarini Architects.

“We are delighted that the Tom Patterson Theatre has received this honour,” said Stratford Festival Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino. “Our dream for this project was to create a shining example of legacy architecture that enhanced the local community and offered opportunities for greater community engagement. Siamak Hariri deeply understood our goals and, as a result, we are now proudly seeing our dream come true.”

The building features a façade of curvilinear glass and bronze that dissolves the line between indoors and out. This sinuous veil shimmers in the reflection of the Avon River awaiting the theatre’s inauguration, delayed two years due to the pandemic. It will now open officially this summer on June 4.

“The moment of entry seems like a tactile embrace, which is a triumph of design and testament to the skill of the designers and contractor’s team,” the jury concluded. “An excellent scheme. Intimacy, but with grandeur.”

The Civic Trust Awards were established in 1959 to recognize outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment and are the longest standing built environment awards scheme in Europe.

Photo by Scott Noseworthy.

Swabbing floors to detect COVID-19 could be useful indicator of spread

The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing COVID-19, over the past two years has been nothing short of devastating. Although widespread vaccination and new antiviral therapies are helping to mitigate the worst outcomes of the disease, the recent evolution of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has only added to the strain on our health-care systems.

Omicron spreads so quickly that it is no longer feasible to use individual testing to track how many people are infected in a population. And that means we no longer have the basic information we need to inform public health mitigation policies.

New strategies for keeping tabs on the virus are needed.

One approach is to look for the virus in the environment rather than people. Infected individuals shed viral particles, either in their stool or by breathing or coughing, and viral particles collect in environmental reservoirs like sewage or surfaces such as furniture or floors.

Sampling wastewater or the built environment allows us to detect trace viral particles, providing a window into the burden and location of infection without having to test individuals directly.

Wastewater testing has been used extensively since the beginning of the pandemic by municipalities worldwide. The viral genome concentration in wastewater has proven to be an accurate predictor of human case burden, providing an early-warning signal for public health officials. Wastewater sampling provides a bulk measure of viral load across a large geographic area, but isn’t as useful at smaller scales, like in rooms within a school or office building. This is where surface testing could be useful.

Floors and surfaces

We started exploring this idea by focusing on a place where we know there are lots of people infected with COVID-19: hospitals. We wanted to know whether we could detect the virus in the built environment where COVID-19 patients normally reside and whether this information revealed anything about the number of infected individuals.

Our approach was simple. We used a sterile swab, which looks like a typical cotton swab you might buy at a local pharmacy, wiped it across the surface in question, and then stored it in a special solution that preserved the sample for transport back to the lab. We then used standard molecular biology techniques to test the sample for the presence of SARS-CoV-2.

After confirming we could recover the virus from acrylic, vinyl and stainless steel surfaces touched regularly in a hospital, we set out to collect samples from two area hospitals. We swabbed surfaces from COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 wards in two Ottawa hospitals over the course of about 10 weeks, collecting close to 1,000 swabs in total. We focused on high-touch objects like door handles, elevator buttons and computer terminals, as well as floors and benches.

Reassuringly, we rarely detected the virus on high-touch surfaces, presumably because these were being cleaned regularly. The floors, though, were another story.

We recovered the virus from the floors of COVID-19 wards far more frequently than from non-COVID-19 wards. We suspect this is because virus particles released into the air from infected people then settle on the floor where they accumulate steadily over time and the floors are cleaned less frequently than other objects like door handles or computer keyboards.

COVID-19 patients don’t move around much once they enter the hospital, so there is plenty of opportunity for the virus to accumulate in the environment around them. This result tells us that by sampling floors, we can identify sites within a building where infectious individuals are present or not.

Changing case numbers

Cases reported from individual testing declined in the hospital and across Ottawa during our study period. This trend provided us with a good test case for our approach. If there are fewer cases being admitted to the hospital, we should recover the virus less often from the floors of COVID-19 wards and the viral burden in wastewater outflows from the hospital should also decline.

This was exactly what we saw: both surface and wastewater testing indicated a steady drop in viral prevalence over time, mirroring the data we saw from conventional individual testing. Surface testing seems to be a reliable approach to viral surveillance, one that gives a more spatially refined view as to where the virus is, and where it is not, in areas where infected people might gather.

As promising as this approach is, our study was restricted to hospitals where patients and staff are already screened regularly for the virus. The real test of its value is whether it can be useful in settings where individual screening cannot be done on a regular basis, and whether it provides a signal of infection in advance of cases.

We are working to provide answers through a much larger study of long-term care homes, schools and daycares. Preliminary results are promising: floor samples can detect the virus up to a week before cases are reported in some of these facilities. If these results hold up, we will have a new tool to guide us in managing a safe return to life.

Aaron Hinz is a research associate of Evolution and Biodiversity at L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa. Rees Kassen is a Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Alberta to offset winter electricity costs

Alberta’s residential and commercial customers will receive a $150 rebate to offset winter electricity costs that averaged more than 16 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in January and February 2022. Few details are yet available, but provincial government officials indicated yesterday that the rebate will likely take form as a three-month $50 discount on future hydro bills.

Dale Nally, Alberta’s Associate Minister of Natural Gas and Electricity attributes the upward spike in electricity prices to “market conditions” and policies of the federal and former provincial governments. That’s presumably due to a combination of climbing oil and gas prices and the carbon tax, which flow through more noticeably in Alberta’s higher quotient of fossil-fuel-fired electricity generation.

The Alberta Utility Commission’s one-year overview of monthly regulated prices shows rates are 43 to 44 per cent higher for residential and commercial consumers in Edmonton and Calgary in March 2022 compared to March 2021. The province’s two major utilities, EPCORR and ENMAX are charging regulated rates upwards of 10.5 cents/kWh this month versus in the range of 7.4 cents/kWh one year ago.

“As our government works hard to responsibly manage system costs, we are also working tirelessly to increase generation investments to bring new supply on to the market,” Nally pledges.

From a commercial real estate perspective, industry analysts suggest the electricity cost shock could actually herald better times ahead.

“Virtually all of the largest oil sands producers are on a net-zero path at the same time Alberta is expected to lead Canada in the growth in the renewable energy,” Paul Morassutti, vice chair, valuation and advisory services with CBRE Canada, observed in conjunction with the recent release of his firm’s 2022 market outlook report. “When you combine the responsible oil production with $90 oil and a simultaneous pivot to cleantech and renewables, the outlook for Alberta looks much better than it has for years.”

Tallest rental tower in Western Canada unveiled

The tallest all-rental tower in Western Canada has been unveiled by Grosvenor and approved by the City of Burnaby to move forward to consultation. The 60-storey tower is part of Grosvenor’s master plan for a pedestrian-only development that will deliver more than 3,000 homes including approximately 2,000 market rental and 450 below-market rental homes.

The proposed development will transform a 7.9-acre site into a thriving, inclusive, mixed-use community which will include a new urban, multi-storey community centre and approximately 200,000 square feet of commercial space on transit.

As Grosvenor’s largest mixed-use development in North America, the project takes an innovative approach and aims to be a model for future large-scale, pedestrian-focused, transit-oriented developments.

“We are really excited about what this large-scale community will mean for residents and for the general public, for meeting the housing and sustainability challenges facing our region, and for the opportunity to create a genuine sense of community in one of Metro Vancouver’s fastest-growing and most exciting neighbourhoods. These sorts of projects are usually exclusively for residents, but we’ve maintained from the beginning that it has to be for the entire community,” said Marc Josephson, senior vice president, development with Grosvenor.

This will be one of the first projects of this scale to be entirely pedestrian, with all cars accessing the underground from the site’s periphery. The master plan also incorporates an abundance of green space in a public courtyard for both residents and the general public, including landscaped trails for pedestrians and routes for cyclists.

“This is a truly unprecedented development with more than half of the site dedicated to open space including landscaped plazas and courtyards, around which all buildings are focused,” says Ryan Bragg, principal, Perkins & Will. “Typically in this type of development, instead of plazas and courtyards there would be streets and space to support vehicles, but here there will be no cars, just trails and green space. It’s a complete paradigm shift for the region.”

In addition, the environmental impacts of the site were taken into careful consideration and upon completion, the development will embrace the city’s sustainability requirements, as well as achieve Grosvenor’s corporate commitment to net-zero carbon in operational emissions from all directly managed buildings by 2030.

$251M announced for 15 new Alberta schools

Alberta is investing $251 million over three years in new funding for 15 priority school projects, meeting the need for additional classroom space across the province.

Projects include new schools in Calgary, Edmonton and Camrose; modernizations in Acme, Cochrane, Evansburg and Milk River; design funding for schools in Sherwood Park, Raymond, Manning, Penhold and Valleyview; and a water main repair for a school in Slave Lake.

“As Alberta’s Recovery Plan continues to drive our economic recovery, we know we need a strong education system to equip our next generation with the tools and skills they need to succeed in our modern, diversified economy. These new and upgraded schools will do just that, while creating more jobs and making life better for Alberta families,” said Premier Jason Kenney.

Alberta is strengthening its investment in education infrastructure and planning for the future by maintaining and enhancing existing schools and building new schools. The 2022 Capital Plan invests $2 billion over three years to support these 15 school projects, continue work on previously announced projects, maintain existing schools and support charter school infrastructure, including collegiate programs. This includes $118 million over the next three years to support the continued implementation of the modular program to address the most urgent needs for additional space across the province.

Also included is $209 million over three years to support the maintenance and renewal of existing school buildings through the Capital Maintenance and Renewal Program and $300 million over three years in school authority self-directed capital projects.

“New schools and modernization projects throughout the province are creating vital economic activity in Alberta communities and supporting thousands of jobs related to project planning, design and construction. We’re focused on ensuring students have, as quickly as possible, the top-quality schools they need to help them succeed,” said Prasad Panda, minister of infrastructure.

Eight women changing Canada’s multi-residential market for the better

These eight women are just a few leaders with big ideas for creating an inclusive, climate-resilient future through multi-residential projects. They are developers, architects and designers who are reimagining Canada’s built environment and shaping welcoming living spaces for all.

Frances Martin-DiGiuseppe, founding principal, Q4 Architects Inc. Current Residential Projects: Chappelle Housing (Edmonton), BT Towns (Toronto), 360 Condos (Ottawa), The Cosmopolitan (Oakville).

Representing female leadership in the architecture and design industry is one of my proudest professional accomplishments. Leading my own firm for nearly two decades, I’ve always been passionate about truly understanding the way people live, including single mothers, young families, elderly couples, and more. Over the past two years, it’s become abundantly clear that multi-generational living is a critical housing type that is often overlooked in our housing stock. As we emerge from the pandemic, it’s critical to consider how our housing design reflects changing family dynamics and prioritizes a community-first approach.

We must also recognize that designing homes for multi-generational living cannot be solved in one stroke of a brush. There is action needed at all levels to ensure multigenerational homes are resilient, comfortable, and dignified for everyone who inhabits them. For widespread adoption, we would first need to start at the planning level, which can include a mix of market-driven and government-mandated action, such as flexible zoning regulations.

From an architects’ perspective, there are also a range of design options that need to be considered, such as garden suites and laneway homes, for example. Both of these housing types were incorporated into our Cornell Village project in Markham, and it’s been rewarding to see how these homes—occupied by many multigenerational families—have transformed lives by allowing families to share resources easily and better support one another. Lastly, there are a number of design interventions within the home that can be done to facilitate multigenerational living. This can include, for example, straight-run stairs and a rethink of the conventional kitchen triangle, which better accounts for people’s needs at every life stage.

Stephanie Allen, vice president of strategic business operations and performance at BC Housing. She is a housing development specialist focused on building affordable, equitable communities and is a founding board member of Hogan’s Alley Society.

Hogan’s Alley was the unofficial name for a laneway that ran for several blocks in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood. The area was once a thriving enclave for the city’s Black population before residents were displaced under urban renewal with the construction of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts in the early 1970’s. Urban renewal came at a heavy cost to many racialized communities across Canada, and in Vancouver, it totally displaced the Black community who called the area home.

Today, Stephanie Allen is working with the Hogan’s Alley Society (HAS) which has submitted a proposal to build a non-profit community land trust on the block that was the former epicentre of the community. As a founding board member of HAS, Stephanie and her colleagues have worked with the local Black community to build a vision of inclusive housing, affordable small business spaces, and a cultural centre for the site. The land trust will protect the area from future displacement and help create a neighbourhood where all residents and small businesses can thrive.

“The goal we have is for housing, commercial, office, and cultural spaces that are accessible, beautiful, and inclusive of all walks of life,” she says. “We desperately need affordable family housing in Vancouver, especially for intergenerational, blended, and chosen families. The way we live is evolving and our built environment must consider what people will need to live healthy lives for the next 100 years.”

In 2015, the City of Vancouver approved the policy that will remove the viaducts, but no date has been set on when that will happen, and they have yet to formally adopt the land trust proposal. In the meantime, Stephanie and her colleagues continue talks with the City about ensuring that Black communities, past and present, are honoured in the building out of this important part of Vancouver.

Eunice Wong, senior urban designer at Perkins&Will (they/she).

As an urban designer, I like to say that my work exists right at the intersection of the built environment and the social environment, two things that have to be constantly listening to each other. Just like our cities, as designers, we too have to be flexible, resilient, and responsive. With this comes the challenge and opportunity to plan and design across all scales, from city-wide strategies that manage the fastest growing downtown core in the country like our work on TOcore, which provides guidelines for Toronto’s growth, all the way to a corner of an intersection.

As our city continues to grow at an incredibly rapid rate, integrating the human-factor into all our work is becoming increasingly important. This includes every stage of a project, from engagement to the design process, and even, construction. Often, this work requires bringing our whole intersectional selves to the drawing board every day and getting on-the-ground with community leaders, neighbours, and stakeholders. When we honour and meaningfully incorporate a diverse range of perspectives into our built environment, the end result is a truly inclusive and welcoming space for all. These types of spaces are critical as neighbourhoods experience new transit, development and investments, and there is a real need to create vibrant community hubs to help preserve its special character. Last summer, for example, we transformed a parking lot at the Jane-Finch Mall into a thriving hub, called Corner Commons, which hosted a range of pop-up events and community gatherings. At the end of the day, we’re not just designing buildings and spaces, but places for people, and that is something I will never take for granted.

Renee Gomes, senior vice president of development, Diamond Corp.

Multi-residential living, when delivered successfully, requires us to consider functional, attractive, master-planned communities within the larger context of our evolving cities. Contemporary city building requires a collaborative approach across sectors – and boundless creativity. Within our industry, we are tasked with understanding and responding to constant changes in our economy, environment, and communities, without losing sight of the universal principles that contribute to placemaking. Successful communities support a diversity of lifestyles by allowing for easy access to goods and services, and by providing a range of safe, high-quality spaces for recreation, active transportation, and gathering. They also respond to the existing community context, which is why consultation and engagement are essential components of the planning process.

Considering both the growing population of the GTA and the limitations of the region’s land base and other resources, revitalization of existing areas is essential. Brownfield sites, like the master-planned Brightwater community in Port Credit—developed under the Port Credit West Village Partners consortium as a collaboration between Kilmer Group, Diamond Corp, Dream Unlimited and FRAM + Slokker—give us an incredible opportunity to transform underutilized land into modern, sustainable communities that contribute to the overall fabric of the city in a contemporary way. Brightwater will not only create new homes and jobs; it will also incorporate smart transit options and draw visitors to experience the arts, culture, and stunning natural features of the area. Our planned Sherway Gardens revitalization with Cadillac Fairview will leverage existing space by transforming peripheral parking lands into a vibrant, complete community while retaining one of Canada’s most successful shopping centres. And in our upcoming project, Birchley Park, a Diamond Kilmer development, a 19-acre community will continue to deliver on our commitment to modern city-building by incorporating learnings from our thorough consultation process, offering new homes, retail, and park space.

Taya Cook, director of development, Urban Capital and Sherry Larjani, president of Spotlight Developments.

Multi-residential living is more important than ever as our communities grow and expand. Smart density, walkable communities with transit integration, and the availability of retail, restaurants, services, and jobs all make sense for life today. Still, despite these many positive benefits to multi-residential living, shifting away from the single-family home dream still feels difficult for some.

But what if multi-residential living could offer a better experience, leading to diverse and inclusive communities where neighbours build authentic connections and families of all different types can thrive? That was our vision when we embarked on Reina, a project led by a team of women who are at the top of their fields from every discipline that touches development, from architecture and design to construction management and engineering. Not only did we want to encourage more young women to pursue the development field, but we also saw this as an opportunity to do multi-residential living right.

That meant taking a different approach to the ‘traditional’ development process. We made a concerted effort to embark on a year-long community consultation process where we heard from families, young people, couples, singles and more. We also accounted for multigenerational living with live-work suites, knowing that it is important across cultures. No surprise that an all-women team would design spaces for everyone.

Our hope is that we will continue to see diverse perspectives shape our evolving communities and the development process, so we can continue to create more spaces where everyone feels welcome.

Ya’el Santopinto, principal, ERA Architects and director of research and partnerships with the Tower of Renewal Partnership.

I am an architect and director of research, specializing in tower renewal. Through both practice and policy, I work on improving the quality, climate resilience and longevity of aging, affordable apartment housing. Most of my career has been dedicated to advocating for and designing these types of critical improvements to multi-residential housing. Aging apartments—mostly built in the 60s and 70s —provide affordable housing for approximately two million Canadians, but often require critical updates to make them suitable housing for today’s climate and social realities. Right now, many of them are falling into severe disrepair. They are also huge emitters of greenhouse gas emissions. Our recent retrofit of the Ken Soble Tower in Hamilton is one example of how we can improve our affordable housing across the country. The building is now a net-zero ready, climate resilient place to live in that puts that the comfort of residents first, and it can serve as a model for similar buildings across North America. We urgently need to scale a tower renewal approach to tackle our housing and climate crises, giving people safe, secure and healthy places to live into the next generation.

Reetu Gupta, ambassadress and principal at The Gupta Group.

I am proud to have had the opportunity to follow in my family’s footsteps working in the real estate and development sector as CEO (now ambassadress and principal), leading one of the largest private development and hotel firms. With five million square feet of residential and commercial properties in development across Canada, we create much-needed housing inventory and jobs which stimulate our economy. From a residential standpoint, we recognize that innovative offerings will be imperative for catering to an increasingly dense city like Toronto. For example, our recent Rosedale on Bloor project will not only have 508 suites soaring 55 storeys but will also house Canada’s first-ever Canopy by Hilton Hotel with a rooftop terrace that will become a major neighbourhood attraction.

This International Women’s Day, I want women in real estate to feel unstoppable and strong in their convictions. As a woman of colour in a male-dominated industry, I have been faced with biases over factors that I can’t control – factors that I was born with and factors that also make me proud of who I am. I have always been underestimated, judged with a framework that is not equitable to others in the same room, and treated differently. Choose to look at these aspects as a challenge, an opportunity to make yourself stronger, better, faster. Choose to make it an advantage.

IDC celebrates 50 years of interior design

Since 1972, Interior Designers of Canada (IDC) has been the national advocacy association for the interior design profession. This year IDC is celebrating its 50^th anniversary and invites members to join in the festivities.

To commemorate the milestone, IDC has created a multi-faceted campaign to celebrate interior design and IDC members. The campaign will focus on honouring designers, storytelling, and showcasing diverse perspectives through the decades – from the early 70s to today, and into the future.

“Our hope is to archive IDC’s history through the collection of stories from those who were engaged in those initial conversations about the possibility of a national association, back in the early 1970s,” says Trevor Kruse, IDC CEO. “We want to preserve memories and pay tribute to those who paved the way for the industry that we all enjoy today and for the future of interior design.”

Throughout the year, IDC will share articles about interior design trailblazers in the early years who have shaped the organization, honour notable designers who created the much-needed changes both within the industry and at IDC, and share ideas about the future of design from members who will carry the legacy.

A 50^th anniversary task force has been formed to help the IDC team gather research, collect quotes, and conduct interviews with members, starting with the IDC founders about their experiences of working as an interior designer and starting up the association.

One of those founders recently interviewed was Saskatchewan-based interior designer, Doris Hasell, who along with many other dedicated volunteers, helped build IDC from the ground up. Unfortunately, some of the original founders have passed on, but those who are still around, like Hasell, have fond memories of those early years.

She says the impetus for her was that the Interior Designers Association of Saskatchewan (IDS) needed the support, contacts, and public relations from a national organization and that IDC, once formed, would need the same from each province. IDS was formed in 1968 by eight interior designers in Saskatoon and was one of the original signatories to the IDC charter in May 1972, thus formalizing IDS with the Saskatchewan government.

“Progress was slow in the beginning, pre-computers and emails; we relied on the post and telephone,” says Hasell. “I think that it took us about three years, and provincial representatives often changed, and agreement of French/English translation of minutes, for example, was always slow and challenging.”

Hasell shares that the practice of interior design in the 70s was different and often challenging because designers had to draw blueprints by hand, write specs on a typewriter, keep a library of numerous resources, run around between clients, architects, engineers, and blue printers.

“I usually sold my design ideas by rendering coloured perspectives,” she says. “All of this took time and was tedious work.”

Fifty years later, Hasell is hopeful that the interior design profession will become more visible, and more designers will become licenced. She believes it will keep the profession going for many more decades to come.

Many others in those early years were instrumental in helping to create the national association, including early presidents, board members, and an army of volunteers – something that’s stayed unchanged at IDC to this day.

Marilyn Donoghue, a dedicated volunteer, who served as IDC’s president from 1974 to 1975, recalls what those first foundational meetings looked like.

She says that in 1971 there was a momentous change in the structure of what was then called Interior Designers of Ontario (IDO), currently the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (ARIDO).

“The younger designers, educated at Ryerson, University of Manitoba and the Ontario College of Art [now the Ontario College of Art and Design University], revamped the organization, and a trio of designers: Ken Thompson, Jack Bell, and Howard Taylor took the reigns for three consecutive years each serving as president,” says Donoghue.

Donoghue has had an illustrious career in interior design, holding positions in government and affecting meaningful change in the industry over the last five decades. She is a Life member of ARIDO and a Fellow of both ARIDO and IDC.

“I see a great future in design particularly along the lines of research including the impact of design in many environments,” she says.

A series of video interviews will be published throughout this year, along with a video presentation that will be shared with members at IDC’s 50^th Annual Meeting this fall. IDC will continue to reach out to members for various articles and research projects.

As the campaign is ongoing through the year, IDC invites all current and past members, industry partners, former clients, and members of the public to send in any interesting stories, images, or anecdotes to the IDC communications team ([email protected]) to share across IDC’s social media channels.

Toronto site sold to Fitzrovia for multi-res development

Slate Asset Management and Carlyle Communities announced they have sold their jointly owned three-acre site at 6 Dawes Road in Toronto to Fitzrovia Real Estate. The site is currently operating as a self-storage facility but has been rezoned for high-rise residential use and will be developed by Fitzrovia into a premier rental community comprised of 1,000 units.

6 Dawes sits at the intersection of Main and Danforth, adjacent to the Danforth GO Train Station and a short walk from the TTC’s Main Street Subway Station. The site offers exceptional access to transit and connectivity to the downtown core, making it uniquely positioned for a residential rental offering.

Slate and Carlyle Communities acquired the site in 2019 and began the entitlement process to rezone it into a high-rise, mixed-use residential development. Through private mediation with the City, neighbouring landowners and other local agencies, a settlement offer was reached with in late 2021 allowing for approximately 1.1 million square feet of buildable density at the site.

“From the outset, we saw 6 Dawes as an exciting city building opportunity, recognizing the site’s potential to become a vibrant residential hub providing a range of housing options, invaluable connectivity and premium amenities,” said Lucas Manuel, Partner at Slate. “We took a creative, partnership approach to a complex project, working in collaboration with various stakeholder groups to bring to bear a truly unique residential development site that will soon provide an entirely new class of rental product.”

Naram Mansour, President at Carlyle Communities added: “Large, under-utilized, transit-oriented sites like this one are increasingly rare in Toronto. Against the backdrop of Ontario’s affordable housing crisis, we knew the best and highest use for this site was as a residential development, and we are very pleased to have reached an agreement with the team at Fitzrovia, who shares our vision of turning 6 Dawes into a premier residential community.”

“We are proud to bring to life another major rental project for the City of Toronto,” said Adrian Rocca, Founder and CEO at Fitzrovia. “This development will directly target young families and downsizers who continue to seek very limited options in the market. We look forward to not only delivering a beautiful product but also leveraging our passion for hospitality and programming to bring an exceptional living experience to the Danforth neighbourhood.”

Fitzrovia will implement a variety of ESG initiatives across the site including a significant public park with enhanced connectivity to the neighbourhood, water re-use and retention programs, lower window-to-wall ratios to reduce energy consumption and will target a minimum of LEED Gold certification.

The transaction closed in February 2022. Fitzrovia expects to complete the development in early 2026.

Blame tactics scapegoat multifamily investors

Policy makers could thwart their own best intentions if they scapegoat multifamily investors for rising housing costs. Commenting during the online launch of CBRE Canada’s annual commercial real estate outlook report, Paul Morassutti, the firm’s vice chair, valuation and advisory services, warned rental housing supply and affordability prospects will worsen if market interventions divert institutional capital elsewhere.

“Debates about affordability and the financialization of housing are taking place in major cities everywhere. The gist of the argument is that homes and apartments should be for people to live in, not financial assets for investors to speculate on,” he recounted. “To be clear, rents are not high because of institutional ownership. Canada has a structural housing shortage.”

For now, some trends bode well for chipping away at that shortage. A recent uptick in purpose-built rental production is linked to strong market fundamentals, including the appeal of Canada’s socioeconomic stability and world-leading pace of immigration for both domestic and foreign investors. For example, it’s predicted that a substantial chunk of Akelius’ €9 billion (CAD $12.5 billion) payout from the recent disposition of European assets will be redeployed in Canada.

Meanwhile, Canada’s strategy for attracting permanent residents and new citizens from its pool of international students enabled it to achieve a target for 400,000 immigrants in 2021 despite the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist with CIBC World Markets, noted that Canada’s immigrant intake was six times greater per capita than in the United States last year, with approximately 70 per cent of the new arrivals already in the country and simply requiring a change in their status from previously holding shorter term visas.

“Basically, you get international students, you educate them and then you provide them with the option to stay in Canada,” he summarized. “This means that they are younger; they are more educated; they speak the language; and they have some job experience. They are more employable and more likely to buy a house, or at least they will do it faster than the regular arrival. That’s very, very important for economic growth.”

However, Morassutti suggests policy makers have failed to pair that immigration strategy with a plan for, or even appropriate signals to prompt, delivery of the housing that a growing population will need. He sees mounting calls for rent control measures and/or moves akin to the recent Berlin referendum endorsing the seizure of 240,000 private housing units for public ownership as an ominous brake on development momentum.

“If there is one concern that we have about multifamily, it is government intervention in a manner that helps neither owners nor renters,” Morassutti affirmed. “Taxing owners more, curbing excessive profits — whatever that means — will only dissuade capital from building more units, and more units are what we desperately need.”

Collaborating on worksite safety

A construction worksite is inherently challenging with many moving pieces. Dozens of workers intersect daily, each focused on their own set of responsibilities, tasks, processes, procedures, and deadlines – and HSE programs and safety cultures.

In this fast paced and dynamic environment, where multiple trades work simultaneously and consecutively in the same site or workspace, collaboration is crucial to safety. Even though there are regular meetings to coordinate things like schedules, access for deliveries, and staging areas, specific safety issues can get missed. And when people don’t work together effectively on safety, they put themselves and others at risk for injury – and we have all seen the tragic results.

When employers and workers fail to collaborate, they put themselves and others at risk for injury and sometimes the outcomes are tragic. In 2010 a worker was fatally injured by a 2800 lb. concrete wall form when it became unstable and tipped over when another worker was climbing it to receive the wall reinforcing. How workers are supervised, conduct themselves and how appropriate their training, programs, plans and procedures, and tools and equipment and personal protective equipment are to their safety is important also to the safety others

Most HSE programs and safety management systems focus on preventing their own workers from being exposed to hazards but often don’t consider how other workers, visitors to the site, or the public could be left unprotected and exposed. For example, concrete remediation workers are protected from respirable silica. While exposure control plans may focus on the source controls like wetting and HVAC controls, many of them also emphasize the use of individual respiratory protection. How can we communicate to others that they are safe from the clouds of concrete dust being generated?

To encourage continuous improvement in safety, all workers on site need to build relationships, collaborate, and work as a cohesive team focused not only on the safety of their own workers, but also the safety of others.

One of the best ways to promote collaboration is to implement a Worksite Safety Committee. When an employer and committee members commit the resources, leadership, vision, and expectations, they set the example and provide guidance for all others to follow.

Work planning must take a proactive role to identify hazards that could affect anyone on site, contain them (using tool/equipment lanyards and control zones, for example), and then communicate these safety risks and mitigation strategies to the other workers.

Trades in shared work areas can review each other’s field hazard assessments, which provides an understanding of each other’s scope of work, hazards, and mitigations. This is more common in industrial construction than commercial construction, where there have often been trades sharing the same workspaces with a very limited understanding of what the other does or how they could be impacting each other.

Everyone on site needs to be actively engaged with their work environment and the people in it in order to keep a strong focus on safety, and develop relationships where workers can collaborate on challenges that may impact the safety and productivity of others.

By engaging with industry associations, consultants and workplace regulators, employers can prepare themselves and their workers to collaborate more effectively when they mobilize on a project. Membership and participation in industry groups promotes common understanding, aligns expectations, and develops and promotes best practices, which brings constancy and uniformity to the industry and safety measures on our job sites.

Collaboration on safety is a shared responsibility. It is about relationships, caring, speaking up and working together for the benefit of everyone on, or visiting, a job site – to send everyone home safely at the end of the day. We build a lot of amazing things in construction and collaborative relationships may well be the most important.

Barry McCarthy is senior manager HS&E – Western Canada at Ledcor Construction.

EIFS Council opens 2022 architectural awards

The EIFS Council of Canada has opened its 2022 Architectural Design Awards Program for submissions. This is the sixth consecutive year that the EIFS Council of Canada has run their prestigious Awards Program. The Program was initiated to honour design professionals and firms which incorporate EIFS products into innovative and creative built projects.

The ECC’s award-winning projects represent the very best of EIFS projects in Canada. Last year’s Grand Prize was awarded to 109 King Avenue by Barry Bryan Associates. This year, the EIFS Council encourages all architects, design professionals, and contractors to submit their recent EIFS projects for the opportunity to be selected as the Grand Prize recipient.

“The EIFS Council of Canada is pleased to continue to recognize and honour projects that have used EIFS in an innovative way,” remarked John M. Garbin, president/ CEO of the EIFS Council of Canada, “We developed this Awards Program with the objective of creating a new benchmark in EIFS construction. The finalists and winners from past years have shown that EIFS helps realize Canada’s national objective of creating resilient, sustainable and aesthetically pleasing buildings.”

The Awards Program is open to all architects, architectural firms, builders or design professionals that have designed and completed a project located in Canada that utilizes EIFS. Eligible projects must be occupied no sooner than January 1st, 2020 and no later than January 31st, 2022. All applicants may submit their projects in one of seven categories: 1) low rise residential, 2) mid-rise residential, 3) high rise residential, 4) commercial/retail, 5) recreational/institutional, 6) hospitality, and 7) renovation.

Registrations and submissions are now open for the architectural awards. Final submission packages must be received no later than April 25th. Award finalists will be announced on May 5^th, 2022.

Yukon budget commits to reforming health system

The Yukon has committed more than $165 million in its 2022-23 budget to transforming the territory’s health system and ramping up mental health and substance-use supports for a population that has grown the most in Canada since 2016.

Funding is slated for a number of initiatives, including $2.6 million for the Bilingual Health and Wellness Centre in Whitehorse. The facility will use a collaborative, team-based model of care and be the first health centre in the Yukon based on recommendations stemming from the health-care reforming Putting People First report.

Another $10 million is slated for a short stay psychiatric unit at the Whitehorse General Hospital. The facility is currently under construction to offer a safe place for patients with a mental health diagnosis to receive medical care.

The Health and Wellness Centre in Old Crow will receive $13 million for bringing mental health, emergency services and home care to the remote community. A further $315,000 will support renovations to the Health and Wellness Centre in Carcross.

This year’s budget also dedicates $11.6 million to manage the ongoing risk of COVID-19, including a a $10 million COVID-19 contingency fund as the territory moves from pandemic to endemic.

Alongside the pandemic, the territory continues to face a substance use crisis. Earlier this year, it was declared an emergency affecting communities due to more overdose related deaths. As such the new budget is committing $5.5 million to enhancing the supervised consumption site to increase access and expanding the safer supply program to rural communities.

Yukon’s total budget contains $1.97 billion in spending, with $1.42 billion earmarked for operating and maintenance expenses and $546.5 million for capital spending.

Six office properties to pad Allied portfolio

Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) has inked a deal to acquire six office properties from Choice Properties REIT. The $794-million transaction will add more than 1.2 million square feet of leasable space in downtown Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver to augment Allied’s existing portfolio of approximately 13.5 million square feet in the three cities.

Slated to close in the second quarter of 2022, Allied will cover the purchase price through the issuance of Class B units and a $200-million promissory note to Choice. The acquisitions align with Allied’s targets for biotech and life sciences facilities and include approximately 505,000 square feet in properties at 525 University Avenue and 175 Bloor Street East, Toronto, in which the Hospital for Sick Children and the life sciences commercialization specialist, Klick Inc., are principle tenants. The other four properties in the deal house education and technology, advertising, media and information (TAMI) uses, in keeping with Allied’s urban workforce focus.

“This is an extraordinary win-win transaction for Choice and Allied. It represents an important and compelling strategic refinement for Choice and a significant expansion of operating capability for Allied,” asserts Michael Emory, president and chief executive officer of Allied Properties REIT.

“Our overriding objective in making this acquisition is to expand our operating capability in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver,” concurs Tom Burns, Allied’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

The six office properties currently range from 81 per cent to 99 per cent occupancy. Five come with BOMA BEST silver or gold ratings, while the sixth boasts LEED gold status for operations and maintenance.

Floors and surfaces

Changing case numbers

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