IDC opens applications for VODA competition

The Interior Designers of Canada (IDC) has opened applications for the Value of Design Award ( VODA) and student competitions.

VODA shines a spotlight on Canadian interior designers by providing a forum to showcase the benefits of design thinking: an empathetic, inventive, and iterative process focused on the human experience within interior spaces.

This award demonstrates the positive human and business impact of design thinking for the people and companies who hire a professional interior designer. By measuring the benefits and outcomes of design, IDC is showcasing the true value of design in Canada and beyond our borders.

The IDC Student Competition provides students with a national platform to demonstrate the value of interior design and illustrate the positive impact design has on the users of the spaces, supported by evidence-based research.

The potential of design to positively change and add value to our lives is the focus of this recognition. As designers, we are trained to use design thinking processes to better understand the people for whom we are designing.

Applications for both competitions are due May 8.

This year, IDC has partnered with Awardify, a new awards platform that will ease the submission process for members and industry partners and modernize the review process for juries, bringing more transparency to IDC’s awards programs. Applicants will need to create an account.

All winners will be honoured at IDC’s Awards celebration this fall.

GTA resale market tightens in March

There was an uptick in March home sales in the Greater Toronto Area, which suggests affordability conditions are improving. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) reported that the resale market has tightened compared to last year.

There were a reported 5,039 home sales last month, an increase of 1.7 per cent compared to March 2025. New listings amounted to 14,442, down by 16.7 per cent year-over-year. The average selling price at $1,017,796, was down by 6.7 per cent.

“Buyers continued to benefit from substantial negotiating power on price across major market segments in the last month,” said TRREB Chief Information Officer Jason Mercer. “This explains why benchmark and average selling prices were down year-over-year. However, if market conditions continue to tighten, as they did in March, selling prices could start levelling off as we move through the remainder of 2026.”

GTA condo sales rose by 1.7 per cent in March, while the average selling price was down 9.1 per cent to $620,479. Semi-detached and townhome sales declined 6.9 per cent and 1.7 per cent, respectively, while higher sales activity was seen in the detached home market at 5.2 per cent. The townhome sale price dipped 6.4 per cent to $850, 266, while detached homes fell by 6.4 per cent as well to $1,342,375.

Overall, the average selling price for a home in the GTA, at $1,017,796, was down by 6.7 per cent compared to March 2025.

Heading into the spring market, TRREB CEO John DiMichele forecasts that housing supply is “in danger of running dry.”

“The federal and provincial governments announcements on HST and development charge relief were important affordability policy initiatives designed to spur new home sales and construction,” he said. “It will be important to ensure that the right types of homes are built, namely ‘missing middle’ home types bridging the gap between condos and traditional single-family homes. This is contemplated in the recent Ontario Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act.”

Condo management struggles with talent crunch

Staffing shortages have long plagued the condo management sector and a tough labour market isn’t entirely to blame. The problem appears to be intricately tied to how the industry attracts and retains talent.

The invisible career path

Property management remains largely invisible to people entering the workforce. University students often can’t describe a condo manager’s responsibilities. While fields servicing the industry, such as law or engineering, more familiar career choices, condo management often draws little recognition.

Many working managers will say their career happened by chance: a receptionist promoted when a position opened, a bookkeeper stepping in after a manager left, or someone referred through a personal connection. So, how can the industry build a more structured and sustainable pipeline of talent?

The condo sector offers positions where skilled managers can earn six figures, oversee million-dollar budgets, and genuinely improve resident’s quality of life. Yet it competes for talent with industries that actively recruit on campus, have clear career paths, and are well-known to young professionals.

The industry needs to make people aware that this career exists. Condo management companies can engage with local colleges, attend job fairs, and create meaningful internship programs. BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) chapters across the country have already started this work, but individual companies also need to invest in building the pipeline.

Looking beyond the usual suspects

An important characteristic of the industry, one that deserves honest discussion, is that a large number of the condo management workforce, especially on-site staff, are newcomers to Canada. For instance, in condo buildings across Calgary and Edmonton, concierges, cleaners, and maintenance workers often speak English as a second language (ESL).

Many of the most reliable, hardworking staff members are immigrants seeking stable work and career opportunities. However, the industry is finding these workers more by chance than by strategy. Many applicants are hired through sites like Indeed, but that’s luck, rather than deliberate recruitment.

What if companies actively built intentional partnerships with organizations that support newcomers settling in Canada? Groups like the Catholic Immigration Society in Alberta are already working with skilled immigrants who need Canadian work experience and opportunities. Many of these individuals have degrees, professional backgrounds, and a strong work ethic—they just need someone to give them a shot.

Smart management companies will begin building relationships with immigrant settlement agencies, offering entry-level positions with clear advancement paths, and creating supportive environments for ESL staff. This might mean being patient with initial language barriers, providing mentorship, or offering English language training support.

If companies do this well, they build loyalty. The individuals who receive a real opportunity when they are new to Canada are often the ones who stay, grow with the company, and become top managers five years down the road.

What should companies be hiring for?

For years, the industry hired condo managers from the residential sector or based on whether they understood reserve fund studies, could read engineering reports, and knew the Condo Act inside and out. Those skills still matter, but they are no longer the factors that determine someone’s success.

The condo managers who thrive today have strong soft skills. They can de-escalate a board meeting that has gone sideways, explain complex building issues without being condescending, and manage the emotional labour of dealing with residents who treat every home problem like an emergency.

A more effective approach is to flip the evaluation criteria. Rather than hiring someone with perfect technical knowledge and hope they can develop people skills, organizations should prioritize individuals with emotional intelligence, strong communication skills, and genuine empathy, and then provide training on the technical aspects. Technical knowledge can be learned; patience and professionalism under pressure are much harder to teach.

Candidates with experience in hospitality, customer service, or other roles requiring professional conflict resolution are often well-suited for condo management. For example, a former hotel manager who handled angry guests at 2 a.m. may be better prepared for condo management than someone with a degree in facilities management who has never had to say ‘no’ directly to a client.

A retention crisis

Often, companies celebrate hiring a capable condo manager, only to see them overwhelmed six months later and gone within eighteen months.

This happens because the industry expects one person to serve as accountant, engineer, mediator, project manager, HR specialist, and therapist—typically for $65,000 to $75,000 a year. Burnout is inevitable, yet it continues to take the industry by surprise.

Condo management companies that are successfully retaining staff are doing a few things differently. First, they’re paying appropriately. In Alberta’s current market, companies aren’t keeping good managers on a base salary below $80,000. In Ontario, a good condo manager is looking for approximately $95,000 to $100,000 minimum because they must be licensed and know they are in demand. While some companies are still advertising salaries as low as $60,000, the average ranges from $70,000 to $90,000 for managers with three years of experience, with some paying up to $110,000 to $115,000 for those with seven years of experience.

Second, successful companies provide real support. This includes administrative help, access to technical experts, scheduling board meetings during working hours, and giving managers the ability to actually manage, rather than only showing up when everything is on fire.

What matters most is that they set realistic expectations with boards. In a 200-unit condo where the board expects the manager to respond to emails at 9 p.m. and attend committee meetings on weekends, the building will continue to churn through managers until it finds someone willing to accept these unreasonable demands; someone with no boundaries or other job options.

What actually needs to change

The staffing crisis in condo management will not be resolved overnight. Progress, however, can begin with an honest assessment of what the role requires, fair compensation, real support, and active recruitment, rather than just posting jobs and hoping for applicants.

Condo management must redefine its reputation as a ghost profession that people stumble into and become a profession that people actively choose. Achieving this will require increased visibility, intentional recruitment strategies, including partnerships with immigrant settlement organizations, clear career pathways, and treating the work as the professional career it truly is.

This industry offers promising career opportunities; it now needs to fulfill that promise through concrete steps to support growth, recognition, and long-term retention.

David Little is the co-founder and director of recruitment for Alberta at Foresight Recruitment Group. foresightrg.com

Reducing the risk of spring slip and fall accidents on your property

Spring has sprung, and that means that rain is in the forecast. With the added precipitation and wetter conditions, comes a greater chance of accumulation and tracking that moisture through your building, increasing the risk of slip and fall accidents on your property.

Canada-wide, approximately 60,000 workers get injured annually due to falls, 22 per cent of slip and fall injuries result in workers missing more than a month of work, and an estimated 85 per cent of fall-related workers’ comp claims result from slips. Along with injury, these extended absences can cause major financial and labour disruptions, especially for employees in physically demanding roles.

Maintenance managers can help keep visitors and staff safe, remain compliant, and reduce the risk of slip and fall accidents by taking a few simple steps to prevent these accidents before they happen.

Outside

Now that the snow has melted, it’s time to plan for upcoming outdoor maintenance.

Start by identifying any uneven surfaces, cracks in the sidewalk, pathways, or parking lots that may have occurred during winter’s freeze-thaw cycle and put a plan in place to repair these areas to reduce the risk of tripping and falling while on your property.
Check outdoor lighting to ensure that all areas are well lit, so visibility is as high as possible when it starts to get dark. This includes areas with matting or steps you have at the building entrance that can be hard to see in dimmer light.
While planning outdoor (and indoor) maintenance, practice safe ladder and roof practices to limit fall risk and keep staff safe.
Provide the proper PPE and safe attire to help minimize risks with proper fitting, slip-resistant boots or shoe covers too better grip slippery or wet surfaces.

Inside

There are some steps managers can take to reduce the risk of slip and fall accidents inside the facility:

Check inside the building for tripping hazards too, like uneven tiles, raised carpeting, or obstacles being stored in the way of traffic. Address these issues promptly.
If you do not have matting inside the entrance, consider adding a mat that will help absorb moisture and keep it from being tracked through the building and causing slippery floors.
Ensure that you have adequate signage available for cleaners or when wet surfaces exist so you can draw attention to the area for staff and guests. While you may already have a policy in place where spills or wet areas are cleaned up immediately, signage can help if there are any delays or the issue is recurring.
This is the time of year when roof leaks can occur, too, as the snow melts and your roof is exposed. Check for interior signs of a rook leak such as stained tiles, peeling paint, the smell of mildew, or mould. These are all signs of moisture in your building, and a roof leak could cause interior damage and water on the floor could present a potential slip and fall accident.
Consider adding non-slip surface coating to high traffic areas that present a risk, such as stairwells, to add grip to the flooring. Many of these are clear and invisible, providing protection without affecting the aesthetic.
Look for areas where electrical cords or cabling might be a tripping hazard and removing or addressing those hazards.

Putting policies in place

Developing procedures to address potential slip and fall risks will help take a proactive approach. Consistency means that staff will know how to address a situation every time, making it safer, simpler, and less risky for staff and guests.

Cleaning and maintenance staff are often the people who will be identifying these issues, so training them on standardized procedures help eliminate any variability.
Creating documented processes to clearly define how floors are cleaned, how moisture is managed, and how areas are verified safe will keep staff effective and occupants safer.
Also, clearly define roles, from cleaning to maintenance, and make it clear whose role involves ensuring that these risk factors are prioritized so they don’t fall through the cracks. Documentation and procedure are the key to a proactive approach.
Consider creating cleaning schedules that allow floors to be mopped at off-peak times, include vigilant monitoring during inclement weather, and practice proactive inspecting the building (inside and out) for on-going potential risks. These steps can help managers stay on top of the condition of the building and keep occupants safer from slip and fall accidents.

Reactive approaches to slip prevention focus can be common, including responding only after incidents occur, conducting investigations, adjusting materials, or increasing signage following a reported injury. While accidents can still happen even with the correct procedures in place and corrective action is necessary, reactive strategies do not address the systemic risk factors. Create a proactive plan to reduce the risk of slip and fall accidents on your property this season.

ACI launches two-day Spark Summit

The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) has opened registration for the inaugural ACI Spark Summit, a new professional development event designed specifically for early- and mid-career professionals across the cleaning product supply chain. The two-day meeting will take place June 11-12, 2026, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Developed to help strengthen the industry’s future talent pipeline, ACI’s Spark Summit is designed to give rising professionals a stronger foundation in the business of cleaning products, a clearer view of the issues shaping the industry and meaningful opportunities to connect with peers and senior leaders.

“As ACI marks its 100th anniversary this year, we’re also focused on the future of this industry and the people who will help lead it,” said Jennifer Abril, ACI President & CEO. “The Spark Summit is different by design. It’s intentionally targeted, highly interactive, and focused on helping emerging leaders deepen their understanding of the broader industry landscape, make connections across the value chain, and gain practical insights they can carry back into their work and careers.”

The Spark Summit program combines practical industry insight with candid leadership perspectives and applied problem-solving. The event’s agenda includes:

From the CPO’s seat: scaling sustainable solutions across the cleaning products supply chain, presented by Erik Roberts, Chief Purchasing Officer, Procter & Gamble and Vice Chair of the ACI Board of Directors
Making sense of sustainability: What non‑sustainability professionals need to know
Extended producer responsibility: Regulatory and strategic implications
Climbing the ladder: What senior leaders wish they’d known earlier
Thursday evening networking reception, including a ‘give back’ opportunity
Closing keynote: Lessons learned on the way up

Sessions emphasize real-world application and honest dialogue – conversations that connect daily work to the broader industry landscape participants are helping to shape.

Cincinnati marks the first stop in a three-year Spark Summit city rotation, reflecting ACI’s commitment to bringing high-value professional development closer to its member companies and their teams. Space is intentionally limited to preserve the small‑group experience that defines the event.

Registration for the 2026 ACI Spark Summit is now open. Additional details, including program information and registration access, are available at: https://my.cleaninginstitute.org/26SS-Home.

Built Green Canada announces 2026 Maverick Award winners

Built Green Canada, together with title co‑sponsors Jayman BUILT and SkyFire Energy, announced the recipients of this year’s Maverick Awards, celebrating standout leadership in sustainable homebuilding across the country. Submissions spanned from British Columbia to Ontario, with winners recognized in three main categories: Ambassadorship, Innovation, and Transformation.

Ambassador Maverick Award (two-way tie)

Effect Home Builders and Excel Homes shared this year’s Ambassadorship honour. Effect Home Builders is recognized for its long‑standing leadership in sustainable building systems, industry mentorship, and advocacy. Excel Homes, one of Built Green’s original builders with more than 7,000 certifications, is celebrated for its sustained commitment to certification, education, and raising industry expectations.

Innovation Maverick Award

Vancouver-based Carbon Wise earned the Innovation award for its leadership in decarbonizing the built environment. The women‑led organization advances low‑carbon construction through case studies, builder training, policy collaboration, and support for BUILT GREEN projects.

Transformational Maverick Award

Best Builders received the Transformation award for the Phoenix House rebuild in Abbotsford, B.C.—Canada’s first Zero Carbon certified, BUILT GREEN Net Zero Energy Ready+ home. The project sets a new benchmark for resilient, low‑carbon, multi‑generational renovations.

Built Green Canada CEO Jenifer Christenson praised the winners as “luminaries in the built environment,” noting the creativity and leadership they bring to diverse climatic regions across the country.

Rather than a gala, the Maverick Awards are supported through a year‑long marketing and communications initiative that amplifies the winners’ achievements and advances Built Green’s mission to accelerate sustainability in Canada’s housing sector.

Click here for more: Built Green Canada: Maverick Awards

The Door the Smart Lock Couldn’t Handle

Millions of condo units have exterior-facing front doors. Until recently, none of them had a smart deadbolt that could handle the weather.

Not every condo unit sits behind a climate-controlled corridor. Garden-style complexes open directly onto landscaped courtyards. Walk-ups with exterior breezeways expose every landing and doorframe to the sky. Ground-floor units have patio entrances a few steps from the parking lot. Townhome-style stacked condos, bungalow clusters, casita communities, cabin-style resort properties. Across Canada, millions of residential front doors face the reality of harsh weather conditions. Rain hits the lock. Snow and ice freeze on it. Sun bakes it for months at a time.

These buildings are not niche. Garden-style apartments represent one of the fastest growing segments of new multiunit construction, favoured by developers for faster approvals and lower build costs, and by residents for ground-level access and private entries. Walk-up buildings of three and four stories dominate suburban rental corridors from the southeast United States through the Canadian prairies. In resort markets, casita and cabin-style layouts are standard.

What they share is an access control problem the industry has been working around for years.

The Gap at the Building Envelope

Inside these same properties, smart locks are everywhere. Lobbies, amenity rooms, mail centres, fitness areas, parking garages. Cloud-managed platforms issue and revoke credentials remotely, log every access event, and eliminate rekeying costs at turnover. The technology works and residents want it. NMHC reports that 67 per cent of renters now expect keyless entry.

But most electronic deadbolts are engineered for interior conditions. Their temperature ranges assume a heated corridor. Their housings are not sealed against moisture. Install one on a door facing a parking lot in Edmonton or a courtyard in Houston and you are gambling on how long the electronics survive. Property managers who tried it found corroded circuit boards, frozen keypads, and warranty claims that went nowhere because the lock was never rated for outdoor use.

The result has been a split system: electronic credentials inside the building, brass keys outside. Residents carry two forms of access. Management runs two workflows. And the exterior door, often the most vulnerable to forced entry, remains the least monitored point on the property.

Why Outdoor Took So Long

Building a weather-resistant smart lock is not just a matter of adding a rubber gasket. The electronics have to function reliably from minus 35 to plus 60 degrees Celsius, a span that stresses batteries, displays, and wireless radios differently at each extreme. The housing needs an IP55 rating to resist dust and water from any angle. And the lock still has to meet fire door assembly standards, because many exterior-facing unit doors sit on rated openings. ANSI/BHMA Grade AAA certification and a UL 10C fire rating of 180 minutes on metal doors are code requirements in commercial multifamily, not optional upgrades.

The lock also has to fit. Condo retrofits do not get the luxury of reframing doors. Whatever goes on needs to drop into the existing deadbolt door prep, the standard bore and backset that mechanical deadbolts have used for decades. A product that requires new holes or hardwired power is a non-starter on a property with 80 exterior doors and residents living behind them.

A Lock That Fits the Hole and the Weather

Salto has addressed this challenge with the newly announced DBolt Touch Outdoor, a smart deadbolt built for exterior residential doors. It meets the benchmarks above: IP55, the full temperature range, BHMA AAA, UL 10C. It runs on three AA batteries rated for up to 85,000 operations and fits a standard deadbolt prep with no drilling or door modification. A maintenance tech can swap out a mechanical deadbolt with a screwdriver.

The touchpad accepts RFID cards and fobs, NFC credentials, Bluetooth digital keys, and PIN codes. That credential range ties the outdoor doors back into the rest of the building. A resident with a single card or phone can move from lobby to elevator to fitness room to their exterior-facing front door without carrying a separate key.

Closing the Last Gap

For property managers running garden-style communities, walk-ups, or any site where unit doors face the outdoors, the practical change is simple. The exterior door joins the same managed ecosystem as every other access point. Credential issuance, revocation, and audit logging happen in one platform. Rekeying disappears.

The less obvious change is to the resident experience. A condo owner in a bungalow style complex or a renter in a garden walk-up gets the same keyless convenience that a high-rise corridor resident has had for years. Their front door works the same way as the amenity room door and the lobby door. The fact that theirs faces a snowstorm instead of a hallway no longer matters.

For more information: www.saltosystems.ca

Stantec appoints new infrastructure leader

Stantec has appointed Arliss Szysky as executive vice president of its Infrastructure business in North America.

Szysky brings deep operational expertise and a people‑first leadership approach to the role. Most recently, she served as operations leader for Stantec’s North American Buildings business, where she strengthened business processes, advanced operational excellence, and supported sustained growth. She also played a key role in the successful acquisition and integration of Page, a 1,400‑person architecture and engineering firm, further reinforcing Stantec’s commitment to scale, collaboration, and design excellence.

Infrastructure is Stantec’s largest business in North America, accounting for 26 per cent of regional revenue in 2025 and supported by nearly 4,800 professionals. The business spans a diverse portfolio across transportation and community development, including ports and marine, roadways and bridges, transit and rail, airports, residential and commercial development, and landscape architecture—delivering projects that connect communities and shape resilient, thriving places.

“Arliss brings a rare combination of operational rigor, strategic vision, and genuine care for people,” said Susan Reisbord, chief operating officer for North America. “She champions continuous improvement while creating the conditions for teams to do their best work. I’m looking forward to partnering closely with Arliss as we continue to grow our Infrastructure business and advance our corporate strategic plan.”

Szysky joined Stantec in 2004 as a transportation engineer, contributing to major public and private sector projects across Western Canada. She went on to lead the Alberta South region for six years, guiding a diverse, multidisciplinary team and driving strong performance through collaboration and technical excellence.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time for our Infrastructure business,” said Szysky. “We have powerful opportunities to collaborate across the company, expand our transportation business, strengthen our community development work, and build on our experience delivering projects in some of the world’s most challenging environments, including the Arctic. I’m looking forward to continuing to evolve how we operate—creating a strong, future-ready platform that supports safe, efficient, and high-quality project delivery for our clients and our people.”

A spring roof checklist for maintenance managers

Spring and early summer mean melted snow and increased precipitation, two conditions that can result in roof leaks, interior damage, and work stoppage – if you are unprepared. Start the spring season with a proactive approach to outdoor maintenance, assessing your roof’s condition, identifying any interior or exterior risks, and addressing all concerns before they escalate.

Here is a spring roof checklist for managers looking to stay on top of maintenance this season:

Even as colder weather still persists, look for interior evidence of leaks that may be coming from your roof. This includes stained ceiling tiles, peeling paint, mould, musty odour, or bubbling drywall.
Assess the exterior of your building for signs of any issues, such as overflowing/clogged gutters or downspouts, loose or damaged edge metal visible from ground level, or warped or separated flashing along parapet walls.
Conduct regular seasonal roof maintenance that incudes removing debris from the roof, clearing the drains, cutting down foliage or trees that overhang and may fall onto the roof. These are simple steps that can ensure your drains are doing the job and water does not accumulate on the roof, potentially resulting in a leak, however, ensure that you do not access the roof without proper fall protection and training.
Checking on the roof means simply observing and identifying any potential defects, do not try and complete any repairs, wash the surface, or install patches or caulking. These are jobs for a roofing professional that require specialized expertise and materials – and could also void your warranty if yours is still valid.
After a heavy rainfall or high winds, reassess indoor and outdoor locations and note any changes or areas to investigate as the season progresses to stay ahead.
Document the location and include photos of any issues you find to compare to your next assessment or to provide to a professional, should the need arise.

Your roof is an expensive investment, so including it in your spring maintenance program can help you extend its lifespan, and avoid interior damage, costly repairs, and work stoppage this season.

Class B potential poised for extraction

A new stream of incentives to extract energy saving potential in Class B and C buildings dovetails with projections about their future competitiveness in a recovering office market. For now, elevated vacancy rates continue to plague this subset of the inventory, but some investors are eyeing it as a good bet for future returns given anticipated scarcity of Class A and AAA supply.

“Our development cycles are, generally speaking, at a standstill. Save for a few potential projects, we’re in a position of limited new inventory over the next three to five or potentially seven years. Tenants will be forced to seek alternative opportunities to a very tight AAA and A class market,” says Brendan Sullivan, senior vice president, office leasing, with CBRE Canada. “We’re at a moment in time where it’s very important for landlords of B class office buildings to understand the opportunity that exists today, and, more importantly, will exist in the future.”

Still, there’s no prediction for a quick, universal or effortless improvement in those landlords’ fortunes. CBRE Canada’s newly released data for the first quarter of 2026 reports a 24.3 per cent national vacancy rate for downtown Class B and C office stock — a drop of 100 basis points (bps) from 12 months earlier, but just 10 bps lower than at the end of Q1 2024 and 160 bps higher than the B/C vacancy rate for the first quarter of 2023. Consistent with Sullivan’s hypothesis, a steeper year-over-year drop in downtown Class A (210 bps) and trophy status (160 pbs) office vacancy illustrates where leasing momentum is currently occurring.

Toronto, which is leading the trend, posted a third consecutive quarter with more than 1 million square feet of positive absorption downtown. A record high tally of 2.1 million square feet of absorption in Q1 2026 includes the completion of the fully pre-leased, 1.4-million-square-foot CIBC Square II tower, leaving just 420,000 square feet of in-progress construction yet to arrive onto the downtown market. The Class A vacancy rate fell 160 bps during the course of the winter to end the quarter at 12.1 per cent, while the total downtown office vacancy rate declined by 110 bps, to 15.9 per cent.

Analysts with Savills interpret the year-over-year 0.4 per cent drop in average net asking rents in Toronto’s central business district as evidence that “lower-tier” inventory now accounts for a larger share of available space. The firm’s newly released stats for Q1 2026 peg those average asking rents at $62.67 per square foot (psf) versus $45.73 psf across the broader Greater Toronto Area. Within the central business district, average asking rents range from $70.10 psf in the financial core to $49.68 psf in midtown and $47 psf in the King/Dufferin node, where more Class B and C office buildings are typically found.

Niche for outsized returns

That’s happening as investment property specialists turn back to asset-specific strategies after an extended run of reaping easy gains from tilting their portfolios toward industrial holdings. Last year, the gaps in performance narrowed significantly among the four main asset categories monitored in the MSCI REALPAC Canada Property Index, which tracks institutionally held assets, and office registered the second best average total return after bottoming out the field for the previous four consecutive years.

“It’s becoming more of a stock picker’s market,” Jim Costello, MSCI’s Chief Economist, Real Assets, told a Toronto audience assembled earlier this winter for the release of the 2025 investment results. “It’s a matter of finding the right properties, understanding those properties and making sure you have the right pieces, at the asset level, to generate income.”

Searchers for potential outsized returns on investment — dubbed “alpha” — zero in on properties valued at a discount relative to the market, which could credibly command higher rents and operate more cost-effectively in the future. Class B buildings, whether newly acquired or long held in a portfolio, almost inherently fit that bill, but typically need intervention to deliver on their promise.

“You create the alpha by running the property efficiently, doing something to the property, really increasing your rents,” Ugo Bizzarri, Chief Executive Officer of Hazelview Investments, observed during a panel discussion occurring alongside the release of the Canada Property Index 2025 results.

That’s not necessarily accomplished solely through the addition of deluxe amenities like the conference centres, fitness facilities and lounges that have been sprouting up in Class A and AAA space in recent years. Joining Bizzarri in the panel discussion, Scott Gordon, Head of Asset Management with Manulife Investment Management, suggested non-trophy office assets and markets beyond Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal offer some of the best possibilities.

“If you’re in a primary market, yes, you’re in a stable economy, but it’s hard to outperform. The almost-primary and secondary markets are where, from an investment perspective, you have to spend a lot of time looking to try to outperform the index,” Gordon said. “If you put alt (alternative asset classes) aside, I think office is actually where you’re going to find alpha right now, and amenitzing your building is different if you’re a C or a B versus an A. I think people who are looking for Class B office are less concerned about amenities and more concerned about economics.”

“There are many things on the margin, from an investment perspective, that can enhance the experience that an occupant will have in an office building,” Sullivan concurs. “Back-of-house things like energy and water efficiency complement front-of-house when we talk about amenitization. It’s not just about what looks good; it’s also about what’s operationally good, and they have to meet together and be symbiotic.”

Game plan for gains

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Canada has targeted that sphere via its Enspire program. Newly launched Retrofit Ready incentives, drawing on funds from Natural Resources Canada’s deep retrofit accelerator initiative, include rebates of:

up to 80 per cent of the eligible costs of recommissioning to assess and, where necessary, adjust mechanical, electrical and/or automation systems to ensure they are operating as intended; and
up to 60 per cent of eligible costs for the professional services required to: set up and configure tracking and monitoring systems; develop the business case for a retrofit involving at least $100,000 worth of upgrades; and/or project manage a retrofit of similar value.

The program reflects the Canadian government’s capacity-building agenda for the deep retrofit accelerator initiative, which is aimed at developing preparedness, delivery models and expertise to conduct deep retrofits on the scale and at the pace necessary to achieve Canada’s targeted reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. (Those are: a 40 to 45 per cent drop below the 2005 level by 2030; and net-zero emissions by 2050.)

BOMA Canada’s piece of the larger national puzzle focuses on Class B and C buildings. Adjacent programs, such as the Purpose Retrofit Accelerator offered in collaboration with the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC), cover off other building types and economic sectors, but also channel federal funds to pre-project planning and preparedness to help owners/managers reap optimal gains from their retrofit spending.

Last year, two fully subscribed BOMA Enspire initiatives — Quick Start Assessment (QSA) and Building Performance Excellence (BPE) — provided support for 838 projects in 735 properties collectively encompassing about 43 million square feet of space. The new Retrofit Ready initiative has a $4 million budget, of which slightly more than two-thirds is earmarked for recommissioning incentives. Program administrators began processing applications on April 1.

Eligibility is restricted to Class B and C commercial and institutional buildings in the range of 10,000 to 250,000 square feet, built prior to 2016. Office, retail, light industrial, restaurants, hotels/lodgings and public sector facilities, excluding those that the federal government owns and operates, can qualify for varying maximum amounts of funding, depending on their size.

The rebate ceiling is set at $125,000 for buildings in the range of 100,001 to 250,000 square feet; $100,000 for buildings in the range of 51,000 to 100,000 square feet; and $75,000 for buildings from 10,000 to 50,000 square feet. Owners/managers would have to undertake whole-building recommissioning and all three of the other designated activities to obtain those maximum amounts. As well, they can claim only to a threshold of $500,000 across their entire portfolio of buildings, including funds previously allocated for Enspire’s QSA and BPE initiatives.

Approved candidates are expected to work with one of BOMA Canada’s registered service providers, comply with all program rules, complete projects by Jan. 29, 2027 and submit required documentation by Feb. 12, 2027. Beyond that, project proponents will have to secure and invest the capital to move forward with their retrofit plans.

Meanwhile, some prospective financiers welcome awareness-building exercises that could steer more loan applicants their way. Speaking at a recent CAGBC seminar, Carla Heim, director of sustainability with the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) acknowledged that the lending institution’s certified green building loan is “not flying off the shelves”.

The preferred-rate loan is available for Canadian entrepreneurs to acquire, build or renovate a building that has or will achieve a sustainability certification, and it comes with what Heim describes as “very simple” conditions. However, many applicants in the small and medium-size enterprise (SME) sector, in particular, are not highly attuned to sustainability as they grapple with other economic and growth-related pressures.

“A lot of times, the building is the last thing on their list (of concerns). Entrepreneurs are coming to us with fully baked projects and they haven’t made any considerations about sustainability in their buildings,” Heim observed. “We really want to get into that conversation a lot earlier. I think they would pursue it because it has a rate reduction for achieving a building certification, and we’ve shied away from complicated reporting requirements that might intimidate them. Once the underlying condition is met, the rate reduction can be done.”

Vancouver rental towers a first for healthcare workers

PC Urban Properties Corp. and Harrison Street Asset Management are partnering on a two tower rental development at 13th and Willow, directly across from Vancouver General Hospital, aimed specifically at healthcare workers.

This is the first development of its kind in Vancouver – and one of the first in Canada – and it will provide 507 high-quality, fully furnished, affordable rental homes designed to meet the needs of hospital employees and healthcare workers.

Construction will be underway this fall with completion estimated for mid-2029.

The two towers will both be 22 storeys and will be coupled with an 11,000-square-foot, two-storey, extended hours child care facility as well as wellness and rooftop amenities.

“What makes this project particularly meaningful is that there wasn’t an existing policy framework for this kind of housing,” said Brent Sawchyn, CEO of PC Urban. “City planning staff worked tirelessly to bring this project to reality, and council were open-minded and collaborative in helping create a path forward; something that could serve as a precedent for future workforce housing in Vancouver.”

The two residential rental buildings have been redesigned to include a mix of studios, one- bedroom, and two-bedroom fully-furnished homes with utilities, Wi-Fi, and other amenities included in the rent.

Amenities will include rooftop indoor and outdoor spaces with gathering areas, dining areas, workout spaces, guest suites for visitors, and children’s play areas. There will also be a large gym, flexible indoor space, and an activated laneway with a small outdoor amenity terrace and a dog run area.

This project prioritizes sustainability and seeks to achieve LEED Gold certification. EV charging stations and spaces for car share will be provided, as well as onsite bicycle facilities such as off-street bicycle lockers/rooms and bike and repair wash facilities.

GTA new home market underperforms despite small gain

New home sales in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) climbed modestly in February 2026, but vastly trail historical averages, according to the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).

There were 531 new home sales in February, which was up 16 per cent from February 2025 but 76 per cent below the 10-year average, according to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence. Historically, new home sales for a typical February in the GTA would be 2,251 units based on the previous 10-year average.

Condominium apartments, including units in low, medium, and high-rise buildings and stacked townhouses, accounted for 171 units sold, down 2 per cent from last February and 88 per cent below the 10-year average.

There were 360 single-family home sales, up 27 per cent but 57 per cent below the 10-year average. Single-family homes include detached, linked, and semi-detached houses and townhouses (excluding stacked townhouses).

“New home sales in February 2026 continued to fall well short of historic norms with only a modest increase from the previous year’s record low for the month,” said Edward Jegg, research manager at Altus Group. “A stable interest rate environment coupled with elevated inventory levels present potential buyers with plenty of opportunity to buy a new home. However, persistent concerns around affordability and geopolitical tensions continue to weigh on buyers’ minds.”

Total new home remaining inventory in the GTA changed little compared to the previous month, at 20,291 for February. This includes 14,291 condominium apartment units and 6,000 single-family dwellings. This represents a combined inventory level of 27 months, based on average sales for the last 12 months.

The benchmark price for new condominium apartments in the GTA held steady at $1,022,063, suggesting a price floor. In contrast, the benchmark for new single-family homes fell 7.4 per cent over the past year to $1,423,219.

BILD anticipates certain conditions will boost sales over the balance of the year, such as the temporary harmonized sales tax cut for all new home buyers.

“The suspension of the harmonized sales tax on new homes under $1 million and further HST reductions on homes from $1 million to $1.85 million, combined with housing prices having moderated over 20% on average since 2022, and unparalleled product choice due to high inventory level – homebuyers have a historic opportunity to enter the market,” said Justin Sherwood, chief operating officer at BILD. “Now really is the time for those wishing to buy a new home to take advantage of current market conditions and the time-bound tax relief.”

Canada’s costliest disaster of 2025 underscores home resiliency

Insured damage from last year’s March ice storm in Ontario and Quebec is now estimated at $466 million, according to the latest figures from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ).

Canada’s costliest disaster of 2025 was initially estimated at $342 million shortly after the event. The storm now ranks as the sixth costliest in Ontario’s history and underscores the importance of building more resilient communities.

“Insured losses from catastrophic weather and wildfires have nearly tripled over the past decade, rising from $14 billion annually to $37 billion, while claims have almost doubled,” said Maximilien Roy, vice-president of strategy, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). “This reality demands a different approach to how we build and plan communities – and investing in resilience now is critical to keeping Canadians safe and insurance available and affordable.”

Canada’s insurance industry is urging governments of all orders to invest in flood‑defence infrastructure, strengthen land‑use planning to keep development out of flood‑prone areas, expand FireSmart initiatives in communities at high wildfire risk, and implement long‑overdue updates to building codes to better protect homes, businesses and livelihoods.

Last year, following the worst year for catastrophic weather events in Canada’s history, IBC released a new three‑point resilience plan that sets out clear priorities for governments to better protect communities across the country.

The plan calls for governments to: build smarter by keeping new homes out of high‑risk areas and updating building codes for severe weather; strengthen hazard mapping and build public infrastructure to withstand extreme weather; and support risk‑based pricing through public‑private partnerships and avoid harmful market interventions.

“Canada has the opportunity to be a world leader in resilience, but seizing that opportunity will require concerted action,” added Roy. “Insurers and policymakers at all orders of government must work together now to protect Canadians from the growing risks they face in an increasingly volatile world.”

First condos to launch in Calgary’s Taza Park

A mid-rise residential development launching this spring in Calgary’s Taza Park will be the first purpose-built condo project in the emerging 470-acre community on the Tsuut’ina Nation.

Taza Development Corp (TDC) and Crystal Creek Homes announced that Black Birch Heights will introduce 346 condo units across two six-storey towers.

The buildings feature clean architectural lines, generous glazing, and natural materials that draw inspiration from the surrounding landscape. Early concepts envision a connected, pedestrian-oriented environment through walkable streetscapes, and seamless access to retail, dining, cultural spaces, and everyday amenities throughout Taza Park.

“Black Birch Heights reflects Crystal Creek Homes’ continued and meaningful investment in building a complete, vibrant community at Taza Park,” said James Robertson, President, Taza Development. “As a project that honours Tsuut’ina values and contributes to the long-term vision for a connected, mixed-use district, this development represents an important step forward in welcoming the growing number of people who choose to live, work, and gather in Taza.”

Planned suites include one- and two-bedroom layouts with den options, along with parkade and surface parking, bicycle and residential storage, private balconies, and rooftop amenity spaces. Features such as 10-foot ceilings on the top floor and large corner balconies will connect residents to the surrounding landscape.

“Launching our first multi-family condo building at Taza is a milestone moment for our team, and we are honoured to be part of this transformative community,” says Justin Bobier, president of Crystal Creek Homes. “Our partnership with Canderel and Tsuut’ina Nation has been built on respect, collaboration, and a shared commitment to creating meaningful places to live.”

Taza is one of the largest First Nation development projects. It is located on 1,200 acres of Tsuut’ina land and consists of three unique, but related villages: Taza Park, Buffalo Run and The Crossing, Taza is integrated through a comprehensive framework of Tsuut’ina and City of Calgary infrastructure.

Feature photo: a rendering of Black Birch Heights, by Crystal Creek Homes.

Building loyal customer relationships for your cleaning company

Building a business in any industry is a huge endeavour, and it is easy to get bogged down with the day-to-day tasks, making it hard to focus on big-picture aspirations like scaling your company. Developing and building lasting relationships with your customers provides you with reliable income, helps build your brand, and can help you scale your cleaning company.

In a recent edition of ISSA’s Straight Talk!, Jeff Cross chats with Jeff Carmon from Elite BSC, who offers valuable insight on looking long-term with your customers for lifetime value and growing existing relationships, rather than solely prioritizing the next job.

Focusing on “customer lifetime value,” means looking at what your customer is worth over your entire relationship, rather than conducting an analysis of revenue over a set period time. Carmon suggests that this perspective will encourage business owners to look at what it takes to maximize that value – by evaluating the overall revenues and subtracting the acquisition costs over the course of your relationship.

This approach will inevitably change a business’ approach to sales and marketing, too. Rather than creating campaigns that focus on short-term ideas, the goal becomes to acquire customers with the potential to stay long-term and the strategies to make that happen. Carmon suggests when that the quality of leads becomes more important than the quantity of leads, lead generation and messaging tends to shift. “I want to find customers that I believe can create the longest customer lifetime value for us, and that means understanding the sales process, knowing when to add sales staff, managing sales targets, and how much annual recurring revenue is being generated,” he says.

How can cleaning companies encourage that lifetime value? According to Carmon, pursuing price sensitive customers can become an issue, so it’s important to consider how willing your leads are to change vendors “for a few dollars,” before you invest in that pursuit. Additionally, retention is a key priority in this strategy, so having an operational plan to strengthen a new relationship in the first 90 days is important, relying on consistent service, the ability to react to issues when they come up, and being proactive in building that client’s business to add more revenue and lifetime benefit to the customer.

Carmon also makes the point that this strategy means pricing job with less focus on “wining the job today” and more about the total value of the relationship over time. Acquisition costs, size of the account, and likelihood of increasing services or locations, should all be considered when pricing out the contract, and this could mean decreasing margins at the beginning to establish a long-term relationship.

Cleaning companies looking to build a lifetime value strategy need to look at their prospect lists, narrowing the list of names to fit your desired customer profile to include customers you think will lead to a long-term relationship. Also, a focus on retention can really help companies develop these relationships right from the start, so creating a very tight service plan to keep customers for a long period will set companies on the path to success.

Data centres and their impact on facility managers

Many Canadians may be surprised to learn that the country already hosts more than 300 data centres, including some built specifically for artificial intelligence. Microsoft has added to this growth with a major investment that includes four large-scale data centre campuses near Quebec and Ontario, built primarily to support AI workloads.

For facility managers — particularly those overseeing large properties or multi-building campuses — these developments have real operational consequences. Data centres place heavy demands on electrical grids and water supplies, which can affect the infrastructure and resources that other facilities depend on. They also tend to trigger new policies and regulatory changes that managers will need to navigate.

Three areas deserve close attention: electrical demand, water consumption, and the evolving policy landscape. Each is covered in more detail below.

Electrical needs

Data centres are enormous consumers of electricity, often exceeding the power needs of entire surrounding communities. A typical facility draws between 50 and 100 megawatts, enough to power up to 1,000 homes a year.

Meeting that demand usually requires significant grid upgrades, which may bring with them new rules around peak-load management. This refers to situations where the grid delivers electricity at full capacity.

When this happens, it can mean power limitations at certain times of day and/or time-of-use pricing where electricity costs rise during high-demand windows, such as from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The goal of time-of-use pricing is to encourage reducing electrical demand at certain times of the day, but facility managers may be limited as to how much they can reduce consumption. Constrained energy availability can also delay building upgrades and construction projects.

Water

Data centres consume water at a scale that can rival or exceed neighboring communities, and facility managers should expect increased competition for municipal supply. That pressure tends to push up both water delivery and wastewater treatment costs.

As with electricity, local infrastructure often isn’t built to handle these volumes and because data centres rarely fund the necessary upgrades themselves, existing customers typically absorb the cost through higher rates.

When it comes to water, this situation is accelerating a shift toward more water-efficient fixtures. In most facilities, restrooms are the single largest source of water use, so this is a target area in which to reduce water consumption.

For instance, formerly standard 1.6 gallon-per flush toilets should no longer be installed, they should be replaced with 1.28-gallon models, which are now becoming the industry standard.

Further no-water or waterless urinals are now considered the most efficient option available when it comes to urinals, which use anywhere from one to three gallons of water per flush. Beyond the fact that no-water is necessary for these urinals to operate effectively, installation costs are often considerably less with these urinals, making them more cost effective as well.

Policy and regulatory changes

Not every Canadian municipality will introduce new rules in response to data centre growth, but many will, and facility managers should stay ahead of what’s coming.

Zoning regulations may change to confine data centres to industrial and commercial areas, with buffer zones established to limit their impact on residential neighborhoods. Noise rules and policies are also likely to emerge. Though rarely discussed, data centres can generate up to 105 decibels of noise — comparable to a jet engine — from their cooling systems, generators, and gas turbines.

Water-use restrictions are another possibility. While these are traditionally associated with drought, some municipalities may impose consumption limits by time of day regardless of local rainfall conditions.

What facility managers should do now

The impacts discussed above represent only a portion of the changes that large, resource-intensive data centers can impose on commercial properties and entire communities. Responding effectively will require deliberate planning and a proactive strategy – and that work needs to begin now.

Artificial intelligence, which depends on these data centres, is expanding globally at an extraordinary pace. What was considered “experimental” only a year ago has rapidly become foundational. By 2026, AI is predicted to become a decisive technology embedded in the structure of the global economy. In many cases, national economies and critical operations increasingly depend on it to function.

For facility managers, this shift underscores the urgency of preparing for higher energy and water demands, evolving regulations, and long-term infrastructure constraints. Those who plan early and adapt strategically will be far better positioned to manage risk, control costs, and maintain operational resilience.

Additionally, key steps to take now include the following:

Set benchmarks for your facility’s electricity and water use. If you decide to cut consumption, these benchmarks will help track your progress. Also, consider installing multiple metering systems (electricity and water) in different areas of the facility. This allows managers to identify which areas are improving and where additional efforts are needed.
Connect with local utility companies, government officials, and zoning committees to stay informed about upcoming data centre plans. This ensures managers can protect their facility’s interests and influence community decisions.
What plans and strategies will be implemented in your facility if local utilities impose restrictions of time-of-use electricity pricing, as discussed earlier? Will lighting need to be dimmed or HVAC systems adjusted? These scenarios should be discussed and planned now, making them easier – and likely more cost-effective – to address.
Consider all building mechanical systems (cooling systems, water heaters, lighting, restroom fixtures, and more) to identify where upgrades can reduce both electrical and water use and help adapt to changes driven by data centres.

What this all comes down to is planning. Former president and military leader Dwight Eisenhower is often quoted as saying, “Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.” What Eisenhower meant is that the process of planning for various scenarios helps managers think through challenges, identify risks, clarify priorities, and better understand available resources.

Such planning, sooner than later, will enable managers to more effectively address the AI and data centre challenges sure to come.

Klaus Reichardt, founder and CEO of Waterless Co. LLC in Vista, California, is a recognized authority on water conservation. Since 1991, he has led the company to innovate plumbing products like the Waterless No-Flush urinal, which operates entirely without water.

EllisDon celebrates 75th anniversary

EllisDon is celebrating its 75th anniversary, marking its evolution from a four‑person contracting business in London, Ontario, into a global, 100 per cent employee‑owned construction and building services company.

Over the past seven decades, EllisDon has grown into a diversified, people‑powered enterprise that designs, builds, finances, owns, and operates critical infrastructure across Canada, Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East.

“For 75 years, EllisDon has been proud to serve as a trusted infrastructure delivery partner to federal, provincial, and municipal governments across Canada,” said Kieran Hawe, president and chief executive officer, EllisDon. “Working in close collaboration with public sector clients, we deliver essential projects that support economic growth, strengthen communities, and enhance quality of life for Canadians from coast to coast. As the company marks this milestone anniversary, EllisDon’s commitment to public infrastructure underscores our dedication to fostering resilient, sustainable communities and advancing Canada’s future through innovative construction solutions.”

EllisDon’s story began when the company was awarded its first contract, Northdale Public School, a three-room public school in North London, Ontario. That project marked the beginning of a long-standing commitment to public infrastructure and community building.

Today, EllisDon continues to redefine what’s possible across an increasingly diverse portfolio with projects such as the Rogers Centre, Toronto’s Port Lands redevelopment, energy initiatives like Manitoba’s Keeyask Hydroelectric Generating Station, and complex defence facilities, shipyard infrastructure, and large‑scale data centres. Together, they showcase EllisDon’s ability to deliver innovative solutions that meet today’s needs while shaping tomorrow’s communities.

With more than 10,000 employees worldwide, EllisDon continues to grow careers and strengthen communities delivering complex projects for clients worldwide. From early innovations in construction to a fully integrated, Cradle‑to‑Grave approach, the company has expanded its capabilities across development, construction, technology, capital, operations, and facilities maintenance, as well as the continued commitment to safety, sustainability, diversity and inclusion.