GTA new home market gained speed in October

October was a relatively active month for new condominium apartment and single-family home sales and openings in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), reports the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).

There were 2,805 condominium apartment sales in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, a decrease of 44 per cent year-over-year, but only one per cent below the 10-year average, according to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence. The month also saw 491 single-family home sales in detached, linked and semi-detached houses and townhouses, breaking even with October 2017, but 64 per cent below the 10-year average.

October 2018 saw 21 condominium apartment projects and 14 single-family home projects open, causing remaining inventory to climb to 16,283 units, comprised of 10,982 condominium units and 5,301 single-family units. Remaining inventory includes units in preconstruction projects, in projects currently under construction and those in completed projects.

“The pickup in interest from builders and home buyers that started to emerge in the GTA new home market in September gained momentum in October,” said Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s executive vice president, data solutions, in a press release. “October was the best month we’ve seen this year not only in terms of sales—for both single-family homes and condominium apartments—but also new project openings. And for both sales and new openings, the increases from last month were stronger than the typical seasonal pattern.”

According to David Wilkes, BILD’s president and CEO, the new home market’s gradual return to more typical sales activity is an encouraging sign. “It’s clear that when we are able to bring on more supply and give new home buyers more product to choose from, they get excited and motivated about making that choice,” he said.

The benchmark price for both condominium apartments and single-family homes fell slightly on a month-over-month basis in October. The benchmark price for condominium units was $775,537, up 14.5 per cent year-over-year. The decrease in the benchmark price of condominium apartments from September can be attributed to the smaller standard size of condominium units available for purchase. The benchmark price for single-family homes fell 8.4 per cent year-over-year to $1,115,284.

Allied REIT set for active development program

Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust has acquired five infill properties and expects to close on a sixth before year-end. A cumulative fourth quarter investment of $125 million will secure sites in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, in keeping with REIT’s portfolio of brick-and-beam office and converted light industrial properties with potential for mixed-use intensification.

Properties include:

668 King Street West, a 17,400-square-foot site currently housing a fully leased two-storey building, at the corner of King and Bathurst Streets in Toronto;
644 Courcelle Street, a four-storey brick-and-beam building with 64 associated surface parking spaces in Montreal’s Saint-Henri neighbourhood;
802 11th Avenue SW, a 7,300-square-foot one-storey building with 19 associated surface parking spaces, which will give Allied REIT contiguous ownership of a half-block in Calgary’s Beltline district; and
Three Vancouver properties, collectively representing 81,500 square feet of leasable space in the Yaletown and Gastown submarkets.

“We’re particularly delighted to have achieved meaningful penetration in urban Vancouver at a time when it’s clearly transforming into a primary Canadian office market,” maintains Michael Emory, Allied REIT’s president and chief executive officer.

Allied’s active development program and acquisition strategy for 2019 will draw on $250 million of upward refinancing on the REIT’s $150 million unsecured term loan, which had been coming due in mid-December. Cecilia Williams, the REIT’s chief financial officer and executive vice president, affirms Allied will begin the new year with room to manoeuvre.

“In addition to funding our acquisitions in the fourth quarter, it will assist us in pursuing our development program over the next four years with financial flexibility and discipline,” she says.

YVR receives RHFAC Gold rating

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has received the Accessibility Certified Gold rating under the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) program. YVR is the first airport to receive the rating and is the highest rated building in the program.

“This year, YVR will welcome a record 25 million passengers and for us it’s very important that every one of these passengers has a seamless and comfortable airport experience,” said Craig Richmond, president & CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority. “Accessibility is one of our top priorities and is a key part of our success as a world-class hub. Gold Certification from the Rick Hansen Foundation is a testament to our ongoing efforts to better serve our passengers, partners and communities.”

Rick Hansen, Founder and CEO of the Rick Hansen Foundation said: “I hope YVR and Craig’s leadership inspires other transport hubs around the world to take steps in becoming more accessible and inclusive for travelers of all ages and abilities.”

The RHFAC is the first program to measure the level of meaningful access beyond building code, and is based upon the holistic user experience of people with varying disabilities affecting their mobility, vision and hearing. To date, more than 1,100 buildings across B.C. are registered to be rated.

In achieving this certification rating, YVR has removed barriers and improved accessibility for employees, passengers and partners — achieving the highest score of any rated building to-date with 93 out of 100 points. YVR has a broad range of accessibility features that led to this score including:

●Universal food and service counters for people using wheeled mobility devices
●Low-resistance carpeting for easier movement and greater stability
●Textured terminal flooring to assist with wayfinding
●Curbside ramps and assistance
●Accessible parking in all lots with accessible bus service to long-term parking
●Universal seating throughout the terminal
●Universally accessible washrooms
●Pet relief areas for individuals travelling with assistance animals
●Adaptive speakers throughout the terminal building
●Clearly marked signage and wayfinding
●Customer care staff trained in accessibility

A closer look at anti-SLAPP legislation

Condominium communities can certainly be a lively forum for negative and destructive comments. Board members and managers are frequently accused of “receiving kickbacks” or “being on the take,” or “acting in bad faith” and engaging in “illegal” methods.

Condo bylaws typically contain a provision entitling directors to be indemnified by the corporation for damage or harm sustained to them in the course of carrying out their duties as directors. Previously, condo corporations have justified proceeding with a defamation action against owners on this basis.

However, since 2015, there have been a flood of court cases where “anti-SLAPP” provisions have been invoked to halt defamation claims at the outset.

In late 2015, the Ontario government passed the Protection of Public Participation Act. Its objective was to provide a mechanism to quickly identify and eliminate “strategic litigation against public participation,” or “SLAPP” for short. The act seeks to preserve an individual’s right to freedom of expression on issues of public interest without the fear of legal action.

SLAPP refers to a court action brought by a well-resourced litigant, such as a corporation, against an individual with the intent to silence or dissuade that individual from voicing an opinion in public. Because of the high costs of defending a lawsuit, the individual may be forced to capitulate and forego expressing their opinion as a result. The overall impact is to discourage or decrease public discourse, debate, and criticism.

One recent case shed light on how these newly available SLAPP provisions may apply in the condo context. Here is what boards of directors and their managers need to know:

How do the anti-SLAPP provisions work?

Section 137.1 of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act permits a defendant to a defamation action to bring a motion to a judge to dismiss the court action “if the person satisfies the judge that the proceeding arises from an expression made by the person that relates to a matter of public interest.” The filing of the motion freezes any further steps in the action until the motion is heard.

The term “expression” is defined to mean “any communication, regardless of whether it is made verbally or nonverbally, whether it is made publicly or privately, and whether or not it is directed at a person or entity.”

The Court of Appeal for Ontario recently clarified the appropriate interpretation of the test for an anti-SLAPP motion.

First, the onus is on the defendant (individual) to establish that the “expression” (whatever he or she said) relates to a matter of public interest. The Court of Appeal called this the “threshold requirement.” If the defendant satisfies the threshold requirement, the onus then shifts to the plaintiff to clear a “merits based hurdle” and a “public interest hurdle.” A failure by the plaintiff to clear both hurdles will result in a dismissal of the action.

The initial threshold requirement

The initial onus is on the defendant to prove that the action arose from an expression made by the defendant that “relates to a matter of public interest.” The term public interest is not statutorily defined. The Court of Appeal confirmed that it must be determined “objectively, having regard to the context in which the expression was made and the entirety of the relevant communication.”

There is no hard or fast rule as to what communications will qualify as being of “public interest.” It may be enough that a segment of the community has a genuine interest in receiving the information. A curiosity interest is not enough.

Recently, in Small Claims Court, a condo owner brought a motion to dismiss a defamation action pursuant to section 137.1. In that case, a director of a condo corporation sent a series of emails to other board members containing false and damaging statements about property management. The board member argued that the management company’s legal action was a SLAPP to prevent him from discussing legitimate and necessary condo matters in the public interest.

In that case (released before the Court of Appeal decisions), the court found that “communications related to matters involving the everyday affairs at the Condo” did not fall within the meaning of public interest as defined by section 137.1(1). It remains to be seen whether this viewpoint will be upheld in the higher courts. The statements at issue in that case appeared to be a personalized attack on management as opposed to broader criticisms about the corporation governance.

Merits based and public interest hurdles

Once the threshold requirement is satisfied, the plaintiff has to then satisfy the judge, on a balance of probabilities, that the action has substantial merit. The judge must look at the evidence filed on the motion and decide if there are reasonable grounds to find that a trial judge could accept the plaintiff’s evidence.

In addition to showing the action has substantial merit, the plaintiff also has to show that there are reasonable grounds to believe that none of the defences asserted by the defendant would succeed.

Finally, the plaintiff must show that the harm suffered by it is sufficiently serious that the public interest of allowing the action to continue outweighs the public interest in protecting the individual’s right of expression. The harm to the plaintiff can be monetary or non-monetary. The plaintiff is not required to “present a fully-developed damage brief.” However, there should be some evidence to reasonably draw a connection between the defamatory statement and the damages claimed. The damage must not be nominal.

In one case where the individual had retracted the defamatory statements immediately thereafter and issued an apology letter, the court dismissed the action because “there is nothing to be gained by proceeding.”

What if the action is dismissed?

If the defendant individual is successful on the motion and the action is ordered by the judge to be dismissed, the individual is presumptively entitled to their full indemnity costs of the motion. This means the plaintiff corporation has to pay all of the individual’s legal costs for the motion, which could be thousands of dollars.

Even if the judge decides not to dismiss the action at this stage, there is a legal presumption that the plaintiff corporation is not entitled to any of its costs of having to defend the SLAPP motion. This means that there are no cost consequences to the individual bringing the SLAPP motion if he or she loses, and the corporation has to foot the bill for its own costs.

In special cases, if the defendant individual convinces the judge that the action was brought by the corporation in bad faith, the judge can also award payment of damages to the individual to effectively penalize the corporation for bringing the action in the first place.

What should boards of directors and managers take away from this?

As a result of section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act and the significant cost consequences to an unsuccessful plaintiff, it’s extremely important that boards of directors consult with legal counsel before embarking on any legal action to address negative or defamatory statements made by an owner or resident.

In deciding whether it’s appropriate to initiate legal action using condo corporation funds, all of the potential consequences will need to be carefully considered. Sometimes, as difficult as it may be, the best course of action might be to take the “slap” in the face, and move on.

Carol Dirks is a partner at Fogler, Rubinoff LLP. Since being called to the bar in 1996, Carol’s legal practice has been focused on all matters related to condominiums, with a focus on condominium related litigation.

Two Quebec libraries to be relocated

The governments of Canada and Quebec each plan to invest over $112,000 to relocate the Sainte-Paule municipal library to the community centre in the region. The municipality will also match the investment to provide a total of nearly $340,000 in funding.

The federal and provincial governments are also investing over $54,000 each to relocate the municipal library in the Luceville sector of Sainte-Luce to a former church that has been converted into a community centre. The municipality will also invest over $54,000, for a total investment of nearly $165,000.

The funding of both these projects comes from the New Building Canada Fund, Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component—Small Communities Fund. Once completed, these relocations will improve the region’s cultural opportunities and make these cultural spaces more accessible to the public.

“In addition to upgrading the municipal building and relocating the library to a multimedia space, these investments will add a human dimension to our library,” said Pierre Dugré, Mayor of Sainte-Paule, in a press release. “ People from the municipality will be able to go to the library to discover, research, take part in activities, learn and make new connections over coffee or in the children’s reading corner.”

Parq design reflects city’s natural environment

Opened in October 2017, Parq is an urban oasis in downtown Vancouver featuring a 72,000 sq. ft. casino, two luxury hotels, eight diverse restaurants, a fitness centre and spa, a 30,000 sq. ft. rooftop park and 60,000 sq. ft. of state-of-the-art meetings and event space.

Embracing the Yaletown and Gastown neighbourhoods, the mixed-use complex designed by ACDF + Architecture49 and IBI Group is a tribute to the city’s diverse natural and cultural environments. Beginning with design elements that embraced the stadium’s emblematic architecture, the team embarked on a journey to create a seamless flow that would extend from BC Place and Parq, to the complex’s adjoining neighbourhoods and majestic landscapes.

“Parq was conceived as the missing link between the active environment of BC Place stadium and the downtown core’s thriving entertainment district,” explains lead design architect Maxime Frappier. “We have put forward a design that not only fulfills that role, but which also captures the essence of the city and its breathtaking natural surroundings.”

Defined by a myriad of lines, shapes, curves and slopes, Parq’s design is comprised of multiple façades paying tribute to different elements of the complex’s surroundings. Its fluid forms and dynamic composition reflect the mountains, valleys, gorges and seascapes that frame the city. A curtain wall adorns the main façade, unveiling copper earth tones with shimmering louvers set in a pattern extracted from pixelated mountain images. As sunlight shines and repositions through the course of the day, the metallic louvers bring the building to life in animated ways, while their reflections ‘dance’ on the nearby waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Life behind the façade

Seamless connections between Parq’s interior and exterior further extend the predominant theme. An abundance of clear glass and oversized windows connect patrons with the vibrant pedestrian flow and bike path traffic of surrounding city streets, while enticing passersby to enter the complex to sample one of eight restaurants and lounges, featuring a wide range of regional and provincial cuisines.

Commercial space drives ground level activity, while abundant natural sunlight greets visitors looking to try their luck at the complex’s 72,000 sq. ft. multi-level casino. Spread across the second and third levels, Parq Vancouver’s casino includes 11 private salons, including four with balconies offering stunning city skyline views.

Getting down to business, Parq Vancouver offers more than 60,000 sq. ft. of multifunctional meeting and event space spread across the fourth floor. The facilities are comprised of boardrooms, flexible meeting spaces and 13 ballrooms, including the 15,604 sq. ft. state-of-the-art Parq Grand Ballroom, now the largest hotel ballroom in Vancouver.

Built to LEED Gold Standards, Parq raises the bar on environmental considerations with its signature 30,000 sq. ft. outdoor, sixth level park. The lush, urban retreat features more than 200 native pines and 15,000 local plants. The rooftop park’s Nordic flora and scenic mountain views provide a ‘disconnection’ within a sea of connections, offering moments of tranquility seemingly worlds away from the hustle and bustle of the streets below.

“The park adds a sustainable element to the project and is a model example of innovative use of green space,” says Frappier. “When you combine that atmosphere with the surrounding scenic views, it transports nature into the heart of an urban environment.”

A room with a view

Rising above the urban garden, Parq is also home to two high-end hotel experiences, including Western Canada’s first JW Marriott. The hotels provide direct access to the casino, while contributing a wide range of complementary amenities including restaurants and lounges, meeting and event spaces, a spa and wellness centre and indoor parking.

The JW Marriott Parq Vancouver occupies the twin towers on the east side of the complex, with 281 guest rooms and 48 luxury suites, including a stunning split-level villa. The hotel also offers invigorating wellness and relaxation courtesy of the Spa by JW, a 17th-floor oasis featuring a steam room, a state-of-the-art fitness centre and personalized signature treatments using Aromatherapy Associate products.

Meanwhile, the Douglas offers a seamless connection to the magnificent natural surroundings of the Parq complex. The 188-room property includes seven luxurious suites and three two-story lofts. Guest rooms are appointed with warm woods and task lighting, while in-room amenities include purely natural Aesop products and detoxifying charcoal water.

Nature abounds in the elegant surroundings of the sixth-floor lobby, which connects to the complex’s rooftop park. A living green wall and 25-foot Douglas fir replica greet arriving guests, while the adjacent D/6 Bar & Lounge serves up a collection of signature handcrafted cocktails, including Douglas fir-infused gin.

The facility is a tribute to the City of Vancouver and its abundant natural attributes, while reflecting a respectful architectural vision that considers and complements adjoining developments in the surrounding area.

Photos: Ema Peter

New community and cultural centre set for Digby

The governments of Canada and Nova Scotia are providing $5.5 million in joint funding towards building a new community and cultural centre in the municipality of Digby.

The Jordantown-Acaciaville-Conway Betterment Association Community Centre will span over 14,000 square feet, and will feature designated areas for a pre-school, youth and adult learning, as well as cultural and recreational programming.

The federal government will provide over $1.6 million towards this project, while Nova Scotia will contribute over $3.7 million. The Municipality of the District of Digby is set to provide the balance of project costs, with the Town of Digby providing donations in kind.

“This is another step towards building a more inclusive, welcoming and equitable province for all Nova Scotians,” said the Honourable Tony Ince, Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs, in a press release. “This new centre will be the hub for the community offering educational, recreational and cultural programing for generations to come.”

The government of Canada says the construction of this community centre will bring a renewed sense of community to the region, providing new opportunities for residents and visitors to connect and share experiences.

Climate change first responders speak out

Engineers and physicians have become climate change first responders as they deal with the fallout from extreme weather events and strategize how to prepare for the next one. In recent separate but complementary presentations, they underscored some of the most worrisome vulnerabilities they see — framed through the lens of their professional concerns and responsibilities for public health and safety.

“My whole interest in this process is to make buildings more durable,” Gerald Genge, an engineer and building science expert who is leading the task of converting CSA S478 Guideline on Durability in Buildings into a standard to be referenced in Canada’s 2020 National Building Code, told attendees of The Buildings Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in late November. “The loads aren’t constant anymore. With that sort of scenario, it becomes obvious we have to start thinking about designing, not for yesterday, but maybe for tomorrow.”

A coalition of health care practitioners gathering at Toronto’s York University for the release of a 2018 international report and Canada-specific recommendations made a similar case. The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change tracks 43 different indicators — many with crossover insight into the built environment’s performance and use of resources and the productivity of the labour force it houses — drawing myriad links between environmental stress and acute, chronic and indirect health repercussions.

“As physicians, we’re mostly dealing with the downstream problems. That’s what turns a lot of us on to advocacy,” observed Dr. Sandy Buchman, president-elect of the Canadian Medical Association. “We’ve got to get the message out that climate change isn’t just something that happens elsewhere. It’s the public health issue of our time.”

Data is central to climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies to support predictive analytics, monitor progress on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and identify where more attention is needed. So, too, are professional alliances, across disciplines and beyond partisanship.

“This is a big umbrella and it invites a visionary and also a very practical approach to problem solving,” submitted Dr. James Orbinski, director of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research at York University and a Nobel Prize winner as the former president of Médicins sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders.

Factoring climate change parameters into building durability

The past is no longer a reliable gauge of what buildings will have to withstand in the future so work is in progress to replace building code assumptions based on historical data of typical conditions for rain, snow, wind, freeze-thaw cycles etc. However, looking away from what Genge calls a “50-year rear view mirror” is a complex undertaking, necessitating global coordination of scientists and government agencies.

“We don’t know the answers yet as to what future loads are going to be,” he said, in explaining why predictive data won’t be fully incorporated into the National Building Code until 2025. As an interim step for 2020, the updated S478 durability standard will focus on the building envelope, calling for consideration of eight climate change parameters: temperature; precipitation; snow; wind; wind-driven rain; freeze-thaw cycles; severe ice storms; and UV radiation.

A new urgency to address climate change may have some positive spinoffs in prompting more attention to other aspects of durability related to deterioration of building systems and materials. The existing guideline was incorporated into the Ontario Building Code more than 20 years ago and Genge, currently president of Pretium Engineering Inc., has been a leading researcher on the structural sufficiency of buildings as they age.

“We know the degree of resistance is going to change. We see it happening all the time in every type of building we are looking at,” he said.

That’s a topic of particular interest for building owners and managers, as evidenced by attendance at a subsequent Buildings Show panel discussion and Q&A with three engineers discussing common capital maintenance and repair issues, but, until now, it hasn’t necessarily been a ranking priority at the design stage. There are currently no mandated standards in the building code.

“There’s only the CSA guideline and, sadly, it was largely ignored,” Genge said. “It was done and it was put on the shelf and it was probably one of the best kept secrets out there. Hopefully, we are going to change that.”

Notably, the revised standard will include an obligation for designers to develop durability plans and consider the building in the long term. New tables with values for the service life of building materials and components will guide them.

Thus far, researchers and regulators have the best insight into likely temperature and precipitation trends. They are seeing evidence, but continuing to fill in information gaps in all the climate change parameters.

Canada’s vast land mass and varying climatic zones complicate the task. Generally: there has been a more pronounced increase in winter than summer temperatures; there are more frequent severe rainfalls; and snowfall has lessened in western Canada and increased in the Atlantic provinces where it’s accumulating through severe storm events rather than steady increments.

While more data is needed to underpin modelling of wind and wind-driven rain, some of the readily apparent conclusions have clear repercussions for existing buildings and streetscapes. Genge predicts there will be lucrative new markets for abating pedestrian level wind tunnel effect and window upgrades.

“If we keep designing windows and window wall systems as we do today, they are just going to leak,” he asserted.

Engineers dealing with the existing building stock concur, as they point to the prevalence of issues on the east side of buildings (in south and southwest Ontario) affecting windows, facades and balconies. “That’s tied to our climate — sideways rain in the spring and the fall, rain out of the east — and tied to the fact that a lot of our buildings have face-sealed windows,” Daniel Martis, a principal and project manager with Morrison Hershfield, told Buildings Show attendees.

Researchers will also assess how higher temperatures influence air buoyancy and stack effect and the resulting consequences for ventilation design and fire safety. In addition, ice storms are expected to create heavier physical loads on flat surfaces and hazards if/when they fall, while more UV radiation could damage and speed the deterioration of building components.

“We can’t guess. We need better models,” Genge said.

Health, environment and economic interests overlap

Contributors to and endorsers of the Lancet Countdown similarly acknowledge that there are still many information gaps to fill in its ambitious slate of indicators. These are divided into five key categories, examining: environmental and health impacts; adaptation measures; mitigation actions; financial and investment trends; and public/political engagement.

The newly released 2018 iteration of the Countdown is part of the international medical news and research journal’s planetary health initiative, which has already forged a broad coalition of health practitioners, researchers and policy specialists affiliated with medical and academic institutions, government agencies and non-governmental organizations worldwide. Supporting Canadian groups, including the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Public Health Association and the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, also released affiliated Canada-specific recommendations in tandem with showcasing the findings and recommendations of the global report,

“The Countdown is really about tracking progress,” explained Ian Hamilton, a lecturer and senior researcher at University College London’s Energy Institute and co-investigator with Research Councils UK’s Centre for Energy Epidemiology, who participated in the York University event.

The expansive range of indicators cover many interests that the commercial real estate and facilities management sectors share, such as: carbon intensity of the energy supply; infrastructure resilience; environmentally exposed or detrimental investments; carbon pricing; and corporate engagement in health and climate change. Notably, the report’s eight finance indicators are framed as “four broad themes: the economic costs of climate change; investing in a low-carbon economy; economic benefits of tackling climate change; and pricing greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuels” — a statement that could have been pulled from innumerable recent commercial real estate analyses.

Ironically, Ontario receives a share of the credit for an $11 billion increase in global revenue derived from carbon pricing in 2017, which, in turn, increased the portion of global carbon price revenue directed to reducing emissions.

“This increase is driven by a combination of increasing carbon pricing coverage in 2017 (with the introduction of the Ontario, Canada, emissions trading system, and carbon taxes in Alberta, Canada, in Chile, and in Colombia), an increase in average prices, and an increasing share of emissions trading system permits bought at auction (rather than distributed for free),” the Lancet Countdown executive summary states. “The most marked change is a shift of approximately 4 per cent of total revenue from revenue recycling to mitigation. This is in part driven by Colombia and particularly Ontario, which have committed to allocate all revenues from their newly introduced instruments to further mitigation action.”

The July 2018 termination of Ontario’s cap-and-trade system will now skew those numbers in a different direction. Nevertheless, adaptation and mitigation proponents suggest the “big umbrella” of health could be an antidote to rising partisanship.

“Health is one of the big motivators that countries can actually get behind,” Hamilton maintained.

“It’s not about pointing the finger. It’s about: How do we change?” agreed Ian Culbert, executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association. “Everyone is going to have the same health impacts.”

Genge points to the Montreal Protocol for the elimination of ozone-depleting substances — an effort launched in 1989 — as a hopeful example of what global commitment and coordination can achieve. “The ozone layer is actually healing,” he noted.

Barbara Carss is editor-in-chief of Canadian Property Management.

Lacombe project wins Alberta’s first Envision Award

The Lacombe Main Street Program has received the Envision Silver Award for sustainable infrastructure, designated by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI). To reach Silver status, a project must demonstrate that it delivers a range of environmental, social, and economic benefits to the local community.

The Lacombe Main Street Program is the first project in the Province of Alberta to earn an Envision Award. The City of Lacombe worked in close collaboration with Stantec and Pidherney’s Inc. to deliver this award-winning sustainable infrastructure project which has also recently been recognized with the American Public Works Association (APWA) Alberta Chapter Project of the Year Award.

“The Lacombe Main Street Program is an excellent example of turning an urgent, negative situation—in this case a degraded sanitary sewer system—into a sustainable, vibrant, community- and business-oriented project,” said ISI president and CEO, John Stanton.

In 2015, the City of Lacombe discovered that the sanitary sewer along 50 Avenue was in urgent need of repair. Less invasive repair alternatives were not available due to the condition of the sewer system, therefore, Main Street through Lacombe’s Historic Downtown would need to be closed during construction to complete an open cut sewer main replacement. To limit future disruption to this critical downtown business area, the City took a proactive approach by having the project team review future infrastructure needs for a growing population and business sector. In addition to the sanitary sewer improvements, a wide variety of community assets were improved or rehabilitated as part of the Main Street Program. The City of Lacombe has focused on delivering infrastructure projects based on the fundamentals of sustainability, asset management, and resiliency.

Key factors contributing to the Main Street Program earning Envision Silver include improved community quality of life; improved site accessibility, safety, and wayfinding; improved infrastructure integration, enhancing public space; and providing for stakeholder involvement.

“We are very excited to celebrate the Envision Silver certification of the Lacombe Main Street project,” says Todd Simenson, vice president, Alberta North & Territories, Stantec. “At Stantec, we are dedicated to serving the communities in central Alberta and this project is a great example of how our creativity, innovative project execution, and partnership with our clients can truly make a positive impact on the places we call home.”

Ontario aims to make rental development easier

At the recent Ontario REALTOR Party Conference, the Ontario Real Estate Association’s annual political affairs conference, Premier Doug Ford made keynote remarks that stated that the government is committed to making it more appealing for developers to build rental housing.

Currently, Ontario has Canada’s second-highest average rental costs, following British Columbia. Yet Ontario’s current rental vacancy rate is at its lowest level in 17 years, sitting at 1.6 per cent.

“It’s almost never been more difficult or expensive to find a home to rent in Ontario,” he said, as noted in an Ontario news release. “I promised the people of Ontario that our government would help create more housing – and more housing people can afford.”

Premier Ford’s Plan for the People includes strategies to help the province’s real estate industry grow, including making it easier to build housing, as well as shortening approval times for proposed developments.

BCIT Joinery wins AWMAC Safety award

The BCIT Joinery Department was awarded the Architectural Woodwork Manufacturers Association of Canada (AWMAC) WorkSafeBC Safety Innovation Award 2018. Faculty and staff worked together on improving the awareness and quality of safe work procedures in the Joinery shop: signage was posted throughout the shop, safe work procedures were placed on all machinery, and a complete Student Orientation Booklet was created.

The Booklet carries all the safe work procedures, pre-operational safety checks, and notes the potential hazards of shop floor machinery. It also includes the safe checklist for each machine that students sign and date to show they have been familiarized on the equipment.

Two years ago, Wayne Hand, dean, BCIT School of Construction and the Environment (SOCE) made safety a priority. Dave Dunn, chief instructor, Joinery (now, Associate Dean, Building Design and Construction Trades) rose to the challenge. He started by hiring a retired WorkSafeBC safety officer who completed an in-depth audit of all of the school’s trades programs (Sheet Metal, Joinery, Carpentry, Piping Trades, Welding, Steel Trades and Electrical).

The findings confirmed the programs were doing a good job training, but in terms of safe work procedures, proper documentation was missing (the sign-off between instructor and student). Dunn came up with the orientation booklet based on other examples on work safe procedures and included the individual tasks associated with safe work procedures, program and school policies and health related information.

Hand, Dunn, and Paul Schmid, instructor, Joinery were instrumental on the development of the Student Orientation Booklet. The safety improvements were implemented by giving the students a hard copy and/or an electronic version that is stored on D2L (formerly Desire2Learn, a multimedia-based program) which is accessible 24/7 by both students and faculty. This initiative was a collaborative effort and required everyone on board to make it a success.

RAIC releases Indigenous Architecture report

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has announced that the Highlights Report of the first RAIC International Indigenous Architecture and Design Symposium is now available for download.

The richly illustrated 56-page report summarizes the presentations of more than 20 Indigenous architects, designers, and other professionals as well as students and interns from across Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Jason Surkan and RAIC staff produced the Highlights Report.

The symposium took place on May 27, 2017, at the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health in Ottawa, ON in conjunction with the RAIC annual Festival of Architecture. It was the first project undertaken by the RAIC Indigenous Task Force, whose purpose is to foster and promote Indigenous design and architecture in Canada in rural, Métis and Northern communities, First Nations and urban spaces and to advocate with and on behalf Indigenous communities. The symposium’s theme was Reconciliation, Place-Making, and Identity.

“Too often First Nation, Métis, and Inuit capital projects are designed with minimal community involvement, and ultimately fail to meet community objectives for this reason,” said Dr. Patrick Luugigyoo Stewart, MRAIC, chair of the RAIC Indigenous Task Force.

“We need Indigenous architects, designers, and designs that will create long-term relevance, exemplify a respectful cultural and economic and environmental responsibility to sustainable development, and consider the reciprocal well-being and quality of life of the people. The time has come that First Nations/Metis/Inuit/federal/provincial/ municipal government capital projects not be done for us or without us.”

Presenters spoke about a variety of design and other issues facing Indigenous communities across Canada and internationally. Overarching themes emerged, such as the inclusion of local Indigenous communities in the design process, incorporation of traditional design elements, the preservation of culture, and remembrance of history.

Among the presenters were Vancouver architect Alfred Waugh, MRAIC, a member of the Fond Du Lac (Denesuline) Nation of northern Saskatchewan, who spoke about cultural sensitivity and environmental responsibility.

Wanda Dalla Costa, an architect, scholar and member of the Saddle Lake First Nation in Alberta, focused on how Indigenous design can serve as a means of storytelling and cultural preservation.

The feeling of optimism, energy, and momentum at the symposium inspired members of the RAIC’s Indigenous Task Force, led by Douglas Cardinal, FRAIC, to submit a successful proposal to the Canada Council for the Arts to represent Canada at the 2018 Venice Biennale in Architecture. Their project, titled UNCEDED: Voices of the Land, was on public display from May 26 – November 25, 2018, at the international exhibition.

A full copy of the International Indigenous Architecture and Design Symposium report is available via the RAIC, linked here.

How to maintain sound masking performance

Open-plan space, modular walls, and reflective surfaces such as glass, concrete, and metal are just a few of the design trends making today’s interiors even more dependent on sound masking for speech privacy and noise control. Ensuring this technology continues to function as expected over the course of its life cycle not only involves maintaining the health of the equipment used to generate and broadcast the sound, but also the efficacy of the sound itself.

The system

The components used by modern sound masking systems require little preventative maintenance. In fact, some networked technologies are able to actively monitor for various types of issues and use an alarm (visual or audible) or email to alert the client to a service requirement. If the system does not provide this feature, it is prudent to check the following equipment on a routine basis (e.g. annual), when work is done within the ceiling space, or if an occupant reports a problem:

Power

Most systems use low-voltage DC power supplies. While those of high quality typically last many years, they can eventually fail. Occupants will likely notice a power failure, but it is wise to periodically verify operation. Some sound masking systems offer fail-safe power supplies; in other words, if a power supply fails, a second one takes over to ensure continuous operation of the system.

Cabling

Work done on other elements within the ceiling can inadvertently cause damage to the sound masking system’s cabling or result in the disconnection of its components.

Loudspeakers

Loudspeakers are installed in a grid-like pattern within the ceiling space and deliver the sound, as well as paging and music signals if the system has such capabilities. Some systems continuously monitor loudspeaker performance, eliminating the need to manually enter the ceiling to check each loudspeaker.

At this time, also take the opportunity to review and adjust customized settings related to various ancillary components and functions, such as:

Programmable keypads

Keypads allow occupants of private offices and meeting rooms to modify masking and paging volumes, as well as paging channel selection, as needed (e.g. to accommodate videoconferencing). Their zoning, functions and volume limits should be checked and changed, if desired.

Paging and music

Most sound masking systems also provide overhead paging and background music functions. Zones and volumes should be altered, as needed.

Timer

Some systems allow a schedule to be established that adjusts the masking level to suit expected occupation densities throughout the day, week or year. For example, security personnel might want the volume to lower during the night so that they can hear any disturbances. Zones, scheduling and exception dates (e.g. holidays) should be reviewed and updated to reflected changing requirements.

Security

Some systems provide various levels of password-protected access to the system’s features and settings, depending on an individual’s role. Permissions should be reviewed to ensure they still meet the organization’s needs.

In certain cases, the system’s design might need to be physically modified; for example, when newly constructed walls cross existing zones or major changes are made to ceiling treatments. In this case, contact the vendor so that they can review loudspeaker placement and zoning.

The sound

When properly implemented, a sound masking system is a highly effective contributor to the overall acoustic performance of open plan areas, as well as to the speech privacy levels experienced in closed rooms. However, the system cannot achieve these goals from the moment it is powered on. Regardless of its design or the position of its loudspeakers, the sound it emits interacts with the facility’s layout, finishes and furnishings.

In order to deliver the expected value rather than simply introducing a background noise to the facility, the vendor’s technician or an acoustician must tune the sound to meet a specific masking spectrum or ‘curve.’ This goal should be set by a third party such as the National Research Council (NRC) or an acoustician, rather than by the system’s manufacturer or vendor. The typical range is between 100 to 5,000 hertz (Hz), but it can go as high as 10,000 Hz.

The exact tuning method varies by product, but generally speaking, the technician uses a sound level meter to measure the sound at ear height (i.e. the level at which occupants experience the masking effect), analyzes the results, and adjusts the volume and frequency settings accordingly. They repeat these steps until the curve is met at each tuning location. System designs with small zones (e.g. of one to three loudspeakers) offer the technician more test and adjustment points, allowing them to more accurately achieve the specified spectrum throughout the installation. The more precisely and consistently the curve is met, the better the outcome.

A good guideline is to require a test in each 1,000-square-foot (90-square-metre) open area, as well as within each closed room. Some systems can adjust for smaller areas, but this is an acceptable baseline. Overall volume is typically set to between 40 and 48 A-weighted decibels (dBA), and the results should be consistent within 0.5 dBA. Frequency should also be measured. It’s reasonable to expect a variation of plus or minus two decibels in each third-octave band. At the conclusion of the tuning process, the vendor should provide a written report of the results.

If changes are made to the space (e.g. to furnishings, partitions, ceiling, flooring) or to its occupancy (e.g. relocating call centre functions to an area formerly occupied by accounting staff) in the future, the technician should return to measure the sound and adjust the settings in zones where it no longer meets the specified masking curve or the client’s needs. It is not advisable for clients to handle these changes themselves because specialized training and equipment are needed to ensure they are properly made, measured and documented.

The likelihood that changes will occur during a sound masking system’s 10- to 20-year lifespan is almost certain. Therefore, organizations simply cannot take a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ approach when it comes to the equipment or the sound it delivers within their space.

Niklas Moeller is the vice president of K.R. Moeller Associates, manufacturer of the LogiSon Acoustic Network and MODIO Guestroom Acoustic Control. He has more than 25 years of experience in the sound masking field.

Approval, delivery delays impact affordability: BILD

The recently released Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Land Supply Analysis from the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and Malone Given Parsons Ltd. (MGP) found that the former Government of Ontario’s growth policies from 2006 and 2017 had the unintended consequences of lengthening the land development and approval process in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), which has led to negative effects on housing supply and affordability.

“Growth policies implemented by the former provincial government from 2006 and 2017 have reduced the amount of available land for new housing communities, increased land prices and have caused home prices to skyrocket,” said Dave Wilkes, BILD’s president and CEO, in a press release.

Some observations from the report include:

The percentage of available land that has been approved for new housing communities in the GTHA region is at 4.5 per cent and falling.
Some municipalities in the GTHA have yet to adhere to the 2006 Growth Plan requirements, missing the 2009 target by nearly a decade, leading to less housing being built across GTA municipalities, compared to Growth Plan forecasts.
As land supply diminishes and as municipal delays climb, the value of serviced land has climbed by over 300 per cent since 2006.
Existing low density neighbourhoods in the GTHA are resistant to intensification, driving density to urban centres and to new communities near the fringes of the GTHA, which are farther away from transit and infrastructure, putting a greater reliance on cars and leading to traffic congestion.
More gentle density homes, such as stacked townhomes and low-rise apartments, should be built within walking distance of transit in developed areas of the GTHA, in order to maximize investment in infrastructure and transit. However, community resistance to increased density causes building in these areas time-consuming, expensive and subject to intervention at the municipal level.

“Land use in the province of Ontario is highly regulated and the 2006 and 2017 Growth Plan changes have slowed down the approval process to bring new land on stream for new communities,” said Matthew Corey, principal at MGP. “Increasing the supply of new land for housing is subject to a process that can take as long as a decade or more.”

The recommendations include:

Make more vacant land available for new communities.
Cut down on bureaucratic red tape and duplication in the planning and approval process.
Avoid directing density to fringe areas and away from transit and existing infrastructure.
Encourage moderate or gentle intensification across the GTHA by clarifying and amending Growth Plan policies to encourage intensification.
Maximize investments in transit and infrastructure.
Provide greater certainty for future development by labeling the agricultural and rural lands of the Whitebelt as future urban areas in the Growth Plan.

Ontario honours leadership in accessibility

Ontario’s David C. Onley Awards for Leadership in Accessibility have been bestowed for 2018, recognizing champions of inclusion and efforts to remove barriers in workplaces and communities. This year’s recipients include three individuals who have influenced attitudes and policy, two Greater Toronto Area municipalities and two not-for-profit organizations that have implemented programs and technologies to support employees and/or clients with disabilities.

“You are making a difference and, as a result, many more Ontarians have the opportunity to realize their real potential,” Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, noted as she congratulated the accessibility leaders.

Linda Niksic, a senior advisor with Natural Resources Canada, received the Employee Engagement Award for her role in supporting federal public servants with disabilities and in promoting accessibility to policy makers.

Michael Mulligan, founder of London’s Moving Forward Rehabilitation and Wellness Centre, received the Role Model Award for both his professional work, as an engineer designing accessible spaces and in providing neurological supports for the recovery of movement, and his advocacy and peer support.

Dylan Itzikowitz received the Youth Leadership Award for co-founding The Forward Movement, an initiative to promote the Dynamic Symbol of Access, and his work to consult with community organizations and all levels of government.

The cities of Pickering and Vaughan, Ottawa’s Heartwood House/Au coeur de la vie and the Toronto-based Hospitality Workers Training Centre received the Champion Award for a range of initiatives that exceed the requirements set out in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act for removing barriers in workplaces and communities. Notably, Vaughan introduced Canada’s first Innovative Path System (IPS) at City Hall, a technology that provides customized vocal directions to people with impaired vision via a phone app that communicates with a cane.

The non-profit organizations, Heartwood House and the Hospitality Workers Training Centre, stress inclusion in their own hiring practices, and provide training and supports for hiring and retaining workers with disabilities in the sectors they serve.

“The leaders we’ve recognized have worked tirelessly to improve opportunities for people with disabilities across the province,” observes David Onley, Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor from 2007 to 2014, for whom the awards are named. “I applaud these dynamic accessibility ambassadors for their innovative programming and personal commitment.”

Ontario to partner with developer on Mimico GO station

The Ontario Government has announced that it plans to partner with a condominium developer in order to deliver the proposed new Mimico GO Transit station.

“Transit Oriented Development will let us partner with the private sector to build a new GO Transit station at Mimico, and get the work done at a lower cost to the taxpayer,” said Jeff Yurek, Minister of Transportation, in a press release. “The developer will pay all construction costs for the main station building, new parking and a greenway, in exchange for the right to develop above the station.”

The government says allowing developers to build housing above transit stations in exchange for building new facilities around transit stations will create mixed-use communities in these regions.

Yurek added that he has asked Metrolinx to assess the status of transit projects and determine how feasible it is to apply this sort of approach. “We are open to new ideas for other forms of partnerships that will create value for transit users, communities and interested parties. We will look at all our major transit projects through this lens.”

“We are very excited to partner on a market-driven approach that puts people at the core of transit planning,” added Phil Verster, president and CEO of Metrolinx. “Working to build new places to live, work and play right at stations will grow transit ridership, save tax dollars, and create the new and seamlessly connected communities that Metrolinx has long envisioned. We look forward to our continued work with the government, municipalities, and the private sector to deliver a great customer experience with benefits that extend to communities across the region.”

UK combustible cladding ban has loopholes

New regulations banning combustible cladding on high-rise residential construction in the United Kingdom will still allow builders to use combustible materials in external facades if they begin foundation work on a construction site before the last week of February 2019. This would include the later phases of a multi-tower project.

“It is the commencement of work on the first of the buildings within the application which determines whether all the building work can take advantage of the transitional provisions, not each individual building,” a guidance document from the UK’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government states.

As announced in the UK parliament in late November, a prohibition on combustible materials in the external walls of buildings will go into effect for new construction of multi-storey dwellings at least 18 metres (60 feet) in height as of December 21, 2018. However, the combustible cladding ban will not apply if building approvals are in place prior to that date and any of the following activities are underway by February 21, 2019:

excavation for strip or trench foundations or for pad footings;
digging out and preparation of ground for raft foundations;
vibrofloatation (stone columns) piling, boring for piles or pile driving; or
drainage work specific to the building or buildings concerned.

The new rules — following the deaths of 72 residents of London’s Grenfall Tower in June 2017, attributed to the rapid spread of flames via the 24-storey building’s aluminum composite material (ACM) cladding — now require cladding materials to meet a minimum fire safety rating of European Class A2-s1, d0, meaning that they are non-combustible, and produce little or no smoke and no flaming droplets or particles during the first 10 minutes of exposure to fire. This covers: most residential occupancies, excluding hotels and rooms in hostels or boarding houses; hospitals; long-term care homes; boarding school dormitories and other student accommodations that are at least 18 metres in height.

At the same time, the UK government is pushing local housing authorities to get moving on the removal and replacement of existing ACM cladding. This includes an offer of “financial assistance, if necessary”, although it is mandated that costs are to be recovered from building owners.

“Everyone has a right to feel safe in their homes and I have repeatedly made clear that building owners and developers must replace dangerous ACM cladding, and the costs must not be passed on to leaseholders,” asserts the UK’s Secretary of State for Communities, James Brokenshire. “My message is clear. Private building owners must pay for this work now or they should expect to pay more later.”