Advances in pest control could help condos

After successfully controlling pigeon populations with birth control, pest management professionals are looking to use the same strategy to control rat populations. This is just one of the recent advances in pest management that could help condo managers combat the bed bugs, flies, others insects and rodents that can invade their properties.

Groundbreaking research and technology are paving the way for smarter and more sustainable pest control. The industry is constantly looking for better ways to manage pests, and for most of these innovations, the goal is to minimize the impact on the environment and any non-target creatures. Even better, new products are more effective and cost-efficient as well.

Read on to discover what’s new on the market and learn which of these technologies could benefit condo properties and their residents.

New pheromone technique targets ants

Insects produce chemicals unique to their species called pheromones, which allow them to communicate and influence their behaviour. Pheromones are a type of bio-rational material, meaning they are non-toxic to people and animals and have no environmental side effects if used appropriately.

The use of pheromones in the pest control industry is not new, but the way pheromones are being used has been refined to improve their effectiveness. The pheromone traps that pest management professionals have been using to detect and monitor pest populations are now incorporating bait-based insecticides.

Researchers at the University of California developed a “pheromone-assisted technique” to maximize the effectiveness of an insecticide used to control Argentine ants. The original insecticide works to reduce ant populations only if the ant comes into contact with the treatment. However, when combined with Argentine ant pheromones, the product actively attracts the ants, luring them away from their trails and nests to the enhanced insecticide.

Although this new product is currently specific to the Argentine ants, experts are modifying the technique and aiming to apply it to other ant species and eventually other pests. One such product for bed bugs is currently in the works.

Birth control for pigeons…and soon rats?

Pest management techniques have also shifted to an ecological approach aimed at manipulating pest behaviour and population dynamics to reduce the population.

In recent years, pest management professionals have been using birth control for pest birds, such as pigeons, as a means of managing populations. Now the attention has turned to rodents, which are capable of transmitting harmful pathogens and contaminating food and surfaces. Rodent birth control may soon target these prolific breeders without negatively impacting non-target creatures. This will have the greatest impact in busy, urban areas, where controlling the rapidly growing rodent population continues to be a challenge.

Infrared cameras ferret out hidden pests

Thermography is relatively new technology in the pest control field, but is quickly gaining popularity.

When pests such as rodents, wildlife, bees, wasps, termites or ants are concealed behind walls, voids, ceilings or are in other secluded sites, they can be detected using infrared cameras because of the heat emitted from their bodies. The heat pattern and intensity emitted from their nests, colonies or movement is picked by the camera and seen as an array of colours.

That’s how the technology is being used to detect pest habourage sites, nests, potential entry points, damage and activity without having to tear down the structure or open up walls. It also helps to detect conditions that are conducive to the pests, such as the presence of moisture, fungal growth or wood damage.

Thermography can also be used to verify that a treatment worked to eliminate a pest problem. It is time-saving, accurate and a reliable pest diagnostic tool — particularly in condo buildings, where pest inspection and detection can be challenging.

Real-time monitoring improves response

Mobile data-capture devices have made the transfer of pest control information more efficient, helping pest control professionals record pest activity in real time and react quickly. Over time, professionals can identify trends in the data, making pest activity more predictable and preventable.

Some of this research and technology are still in early development or testing stages, but it’s clear that the pest control industry is busy making advancements. The good news is that, once available, many of these advancements stand to improve pest management on condo properties.

Alice Sinia, Ph.D. is quality assurance manager – regulatory/lab services for Orkin Canada, focusing on government regulations pertaining to the pest control industry. With more than 15 years of experience, she performs analytical entomology as well as provides technical support in pest/insect identification to branch offices and clients. Alice can be reached at [email protected].

Vancouver home sales fall nearly 30 per cent in March

The Metro Vancouver home sales market was less active throughout the first quarter of 2018.

In March 2018, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reported 2,517 residential home sales, a 29.7 per cent decline compared to the 3,579 sales recorded one year earlier, and 23 per cent below the 10-year average for the month of March. However, home sales were up 14 per cent compared to the 2,207 home sales in February 2018.

There were 6,542 home sales on the MLS System during the first quarter of 2018, down 13.1 per cent from the 7,527 sales in Q1-2017, representing the region’s lowest first-quarter sales total since 2013.

“We saw less demand from buyers and fewer homes listed for sale in our region in the first quarter of the year,” said Phil Moore, REBGV president, in a press release. “High prices, new tax announcements, rising interest rates and stricter mortgage requirements are among the factors affecting home buyer and seller activity today.”

There were a total of 4,450 new listings across all home types in March 2018, which represents a 6.6 per cent decrease compared to the 4,762 homes listed in March 2017 and a 5.4 per cent increase compared to February 2018’s 4,223 new home listings.

In Q1-2018, Metro Vancouver had a total of 12,469 homes listed for sale, a 0.8 per cent decrease from the 12,568 sales over the same period last year. This represents the region’s lowest Q1 new listings total since 2013.

The total number of homes currently listed for sale in Metro Vancouver is 8,380, an increase of 10.5 per cent year-over-year and 7.1 per cent compared to February 2018.

“Even with lower demand, upward pressure on prices will continue as long as the supply of homes for sale remains low,” added Moore. “Last month was the quietest March for new home listings since 2009 and the total inventory, particularly in the condo and townhome segments, of homes for sale remains well below historical norms.”

The sales-to-active listings ratio across all home types is 30 per cent for March 2018. When separated by property type, the ratio is 14.2 per cent for detached homes, 39.9 per cent for townhomes and 61.6 per cent for condominiums. Analysts generally say that downward pressure on home prices occurs when the ratio falls below the 12 per cent mark for a sustained period, while home prices often experience upward pressure when it exceeds 20 per cent over several months.

The current MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is $1,084,000. This amount is a 16.1 per cent increase year-over-year and a 1.1 per cent increase compared to February 2018.

In March 2018, there were 722 sales of detached properties, a 37 per cent decline compared to the 1,150 detached sales in March 2017. The benchmark price for detached properties is $1,608,500, up 7.4 per cent compared to March 2017 and an increase of 0.4 per cent month-over-month.

There were 1,349 apartment properties sold in March 2018, down 26.7 per cent compared to March 2017. The benchmark price of an apartment property in Metro Vancouver is $693,500, an increase of 26.2 per cent year-over-year and 1.6 per cent compared to February 2018.

There were 446 attached property sales in March 2018, down 24.1 per cent compared to the 588 in March 2017. The benchmark price of an attached unit was $835,300, up 17.7 per cent compared to March 2017 and up two per cent month-over-month.

Non-residential construction set to bounce back

Non-residential construction could be set for a modest turnaround in 2018, new predictions have revealed.

However, investment levels still won’t reach the heights hit in 2014, according to Michael Burt, director, Industrial Economic Trends at The Conference Board of Canada.

“Non-residential construction is expected to bounce back this year, following a contraction in 2017,” he said.

“However, business investment levels are expected to remain below their 2014 peaks, which will lower growth opportunities for non-residential construction going forward.”

The Conference Board’s latest outlook predicts a rebound in 2018 for the non-residential construction industry, following two years of contractions. However, it warns that weak business investment intentions are limiting prospects.

Pre-tax profits in the sector are expected to rise by 8 per cent to reach $2.3 billion this year, while the industry is expected to grow by 1.9 per cent this year.

The value of new non-residential building permits increased by an estimated 15 per cent last year to reach $35 billion, indicating a healthy number of projects in the pipeline.

Growth in e-commerce continues to drive demand for more warehouse space.

In combination with several new mining projects and planned plant expansions, this will support growth in the industrial segment, the Conference Board advised.

The institutional segment will be supported by federal government infrastructure spending on new community centres and recreation facilities. Additionally, provincial infrastructure spending on schools and hospitals will continue to support the industry.

Meanwhile, after posting its strongest growth since 2013 last year, Canada’s residential construction industry is forecast to see a small contraction in 2018.

“Spending on new housing and renovations will likely slow this year as Canadians become more cautious under new mortgage rules and interest rate increases,” Burt explained. “This will put downward pressure on new residential construction.”

Starlight acquires four Vancouver multi-res properties

Starlight Investments announced that it has acquired four landmark concrete Vancouver apartment buildings comprised of 456 units. The acquisition of the trophy assets complements Starlight’s existing Victoria and Vancouver portfolio, which is now comprised of approximately 1,700 units in 18 concrete high-rise towers and mid-rise multi-residential buildings.

“Starlight has once again demonstrated its ability to execute its strategic plan through the recent acquisition of four highly desirable multi-residential high-rise concrete towers in Vancouver’s city centre,” said Daniel Drimmer, Starlight Investments President and Chief Executive Officer. “In the Canadian market place, an urban multi-residential real estate transaction of this magnitude and involving irreplaceable Vancouver real estate is rare. The acquisitions significantly increase our multi-residential portfolio in Vancouver and allows Starlight to recognize significant synergies created by the growing scale of our West Coast portfolio.”

1005 Jervis Street, Vancouver, British Columbia

Located at 1005 Jervis Street in Vancouver, Matthew Towers is a 19-storey concrete high-rise building comprised of 135 bachelor, one- and two-bedroom units. Matthew Towers offers residents on-site laundry, elevator access, underground and surface parking and controlled entry to the building. The property includes a state-of-the-art fitness facility, outdoor pool, sauna and an environmentally-friendly car sharing program. Matthew Towers is situated near public transit and offers access to major highways. Nearby amenities include local restaurants and nightlife, retail shops, museums and theatres. The property is in close proximity to Stanley Park and English Bay Beach and will be managed on-site by MetCap Living Management.

1501 Haro Street, Vancouver, British Columbia

Paul Plaza is a 22-storey concrete high-rise building located at 1501 Haro Street in Vancouver. The property is comprised of 144 one- and two-bedroom units and offers residents on-site laundry, elevator access, surface and underground parking, storage lockers and a state-of-the-art fitness facility with a sauna as well as an outdoor pool. Many units offer views of the mountains and the nearby Pacific ocean. Nearby amenities include retail and grocery shopping, theatres and local restaurants with access to public transit and major highways. Located in Vancouver’s West End, Paul Plaza is in close proximity to the Vancouver Harbour, Stanley Park and Canada Place. The property will be managed on-site by MetCap Living Management.

1755 Haro Street, Vancouver, British Columbia

Peter Manor is a 19-storey, 138-unit concrete high-rise located at 1755 Haro Street in Vancouver that offers residents elevator access, secure underground and surface parking, bicycle and locker storage and controlled and secure building entry, as well as a state-of-the-art fitness facility with a sauna and outdoor pool. Located within downtown Vancouver’s West End and in walking distance to public transit, Peter Manor is in close proximity to Vancouver Harbour, Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park and the Naval Museum at HMCS Discovery. Nearby amenities include retail and grocery shopping, local restaurants, theatres and hotels. The property will be managed on-site by MetCap Living Management.

150 East Keith Road, Vancouver, British Columbia

Monika Vista, a 12-storey property located at 150 East Keith Road, is comprised of 39 one and two bedroom units with elevator access, secured underground parking, in-suite laundry and bicycle storage. Located in North Vancouver, Monika Towers complements Starlight’s property located at 151 East Keith Road. Nearby amenities include retail and grocery shopping, community services and public green spaces. Located close to public transit, Monika Vista offers access to major highways, local theatres and the Vancouver Harbour. The property will be managed on-site by MetCap Living Management.

The acquisition of these four Vancouver apartment buildings further strengthens Starlight’s presence in urban Vancouver, demonstrates its access to investment opportunities and reflects its reputation for successfully negotiating and executing transactions.

U.S. birth data hints looming multifamily exodus

U.S. housing analysts are drawing links between the rising age of first-time mothers and the country’s vibrant multifamily apartment market in recent years. On the flipside, they suggest recently released data from the U.S. National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) forewarns a looming multifamily exodus as the millennial age cohort continues to slide into its third decade.

NVSS recorded an unprecedented outcome in 2016 when the birth rate for mothers aged 30 to 34 (102.7 per 1,000) surpassed the rate for those aged 25 to 29 (102.1 per 1,000) for the first time since such recordkeeping began in 1940. The average age for bearing a first child was pegged at 26.6 years — up from 23.8 in 1986 and 21.4 in 1970 — while 32 per cent of all first-time mothers, or about 484,000 women, were 30 or older.

“Women are beginning to catch up from not having kids in their 20s,” concludes a new briefing from CBRE Multifamily Research. “While the overall rising age of first birth has a positive effect on keeping young households in multifamily rentals longer, the increased birth rate of women in their early 30s is likely providing incentive to move into homeownership.”

Birth rates for women aged 20 to 24 fell 4 per cent from 2015 levels and there was 2 per cent drop among women aged 25 to 29. However, year-over-year birth rates climbed for women in their 30s — up 1 per cent for mothers aged 30 to 34 and 2 per cent for mothers aged 35 to 39. This occurs in the context of a consistently declining national birth rate, which stood at 13 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in 2010 but fell to 12.2 in 2016.

CBRE multifamily researchers point to growing homeownership among American households in their 30s, exhibited in statistics for the fourth quarter of 2017. They see this as a continuing trend, even as the new U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act erodes some deductions that previously favoured homeowners.

“There’s no tax difference between renters and homeowners for the majority of households,” a CBRE backgrounder on the new law explained earlier this year. “The question is: how important are homeownership tax benefits in the home purchase decision-making process? The principal reason for first-time homebuyer to buy a home, according to the National Association of Realtors’ 2017 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, is desire to own a home of their own.”

However, analysts note that the multifamily sector ended the year strongly despite the steady influx of new supply, tallying about 1.37 million new units nationally since 2011. JLL reported a national vacancy rate at 5.2 per cent and 2.3 per cent effective rent growth for the year.

New tax rules also bode well for the investors who were already admirers of the asset class. “Several provisions of the tax reform law are favourable for apartment owners, both private and public (REITs). These changes will help to maintain a very healthy interest in multifamily investment and help maintain high acquisition volumes in 2018,” CBRE projects

Transforming the Turnover Process

The digital revolution is here; and while buzzwords like automation, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing are often linked to big industry, these tools are also proving beneficial in the increasingly-complex world of property management.

“This industry has become very sophisticated,” says Elik Jaeger, CEO with SuiteSpot Technology. “Over the past decades, the industry has evolved to managing portfolios with hundreds of diverse assets and it takes a lot more than pen and paper – or even spreadsheets – to do that effectively.”

Certainly, he continues, data-driven tools and mobile technologies can transform many aspects of the job. That includes one of the most critical pieces of the property management puzzle: the recurring turnover process: “Real-estate turnover is one of the leading contributors to capital expenses. Turnover management takes a lot of time and resources, and if the process isn’t efficient or taking too long to complete, you will begin to see a significant impact on your revenue.”

For that reason, more and more property management stakeholders are leveraging advanced systems and resources to take the risk and headache out of this key process.

Some key benefits of integrating technology for effective turnover management are:

Better budgeting: Through predictive analytics, property owners and managers can use their data to predict turnover occurrences, how inventory levels will fluctuate, what components of the unit will likely need fixing or replacing, and what costs they can expect to incur throughout the turnover phase. Knowing the numbers in advance can help stakeholders plan ahead.

Tighter scheduling: It takes many parties to make a unit lease-ready. With shared, cloud-based platforms and mobile apps, property managers can keep everyone on the same schedule, track their progress, and tweak activities to detect and prevent bottlenecks and delays. From scheduling contractors to ordering materials, and managing inspections to navigating move-ins, there’s much technology can do to give property managers and owners greater visibility over the critical turnover path.

Smarter inspections: Sophisticated apps and advanced analytics can make short and accurate work of move-out inspections. They can give users the ability easily select materials and work required from a predefined catalogue in a standardized way, capture tenant damages for effective recovery, prioritize inspection items, make detailed notes, take pictures, and share inspection results in real time.

Insightful benchmarking: By collecting, curating, and analyzing property data, property stakeholders can compare all aspects of the turnover process against other buildings in their portfolio based on a wide range of factors. In so doing, they can identify trends, compare performance, spotlight areas for improvement, and share best practices across their organizations.

Standardization: By linking everyone to the same cloud-based system and automating certain functions, property stakeholders can enforce and track standards across a portfolio. This results in better workflow, less room for deviations, and more predictable outcomes.

Better reporting: Using tools like machine learning (or AI) and data analytics for quantitative reporting enforces accountability, transparency, and oversight throughout the entire process. These tools can also leverage historical data to predict needs before they occur, detecting and alerting on premature failures and spending patterns.

Worth the Investment

While leveraging technology can bring greater efficiency and accuracy to the turnover process, it is important that there is a measurable return on investment.

“Our technology is built on intellectual property gathered from over 100,000 multifamily turnover projects” added Jaeger, “we’ve seen how SuiteSpot can transform the turnover process first-hand. While providing tools for effective end to end turnover management, and full visibility into the in-suite state and condition, our clients have seen their turnover time reduce by up to 60%”.

Cloud technologies and big data have impacted nearly every industry in the past decade. For property managers and owners specifically, however, it offers access to new tools that can take the property management game to the next level.

Elik Jaeger is the CEO of SuiteSpot Technology. For more, visit www.suitespottechnology.com, email: [email protected] or find them on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Self-driving cars may condense parking lots: study

New research from the University of Toronto shows that adoption of self-driving cars – also known as autonomous vehicles (AVs) – could significantly reduce the amount of urban space dedicated to parking.

“In a parking lot full of AVs, you don’t need to open the doors, so they can park with very little space in between,” Matthew Roorda, a professor in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and senior author of a new study in Transportation Research Part B, said in a press release. “You also don’t need to leave space for each car to drive out, because you can signal the surrounding AVs to move out of the way.”

While traditional parking lots are configured for “islands” of cars that can each pull in or out of a spot, an AV parking lot could resemble a solid grid, with outer cars moving aside as needed to let the inner cars enter and exit. The researchers’ challenge was to determine the optimal size of the grid to maximize storage while minimizing the number of moves required to extract any given car.

“There’s a trade-off,” said Mehdi Nourinejad, a recent PhD graduate from the department of civil engineering and the study’s lead author. “If you have a very large grid, it leads to a lot of relocations, which means that it takes longer on average to retrieve your vehicle. On the other hand, if you have a number of smaller grids, it wastes a lot of space.”

Nourinejad, Roorda and their co-author Sina Bahrami, a PhD candidate in the department of civil engineering, created a computer model in which they could simulate the effects of various layouts for AV parking lots. They then used an algorithm to optimize the design for various factors, including minimizing the number of relocations and maximizing the proportion of the lot that was used for parking versus lanes for relocation, entering or exiting.

Their analysis showed that, for a given number of cars, a well-designed AV parking lot could accommodate 62 per cent more cars than a conventional one. Depending on parking lot dimensions, in some cases they were able to increase the capacity even further – square-shaped AV parking lots could accommodate up to 87 per cent more cars. This improved use of space could translate into much smaller parking lot footprints, provided the total number of cars that need to park in them remains constant.

Another advantage of AV parking lots is that the design is not fixed. “If demand changes – for example, if you need to pack more cars into the lot – you don’t need to paint new parking spaces,” says Bahrami. “Instead, the operator can just signal the cars to rearrange themselves. It will take longer to retrieve your vehicle, but you will fit more cars in.”

Roorda hopes that municipal parking authorities will be able to use their design approach to enhance urban spaces. “Right now, our downtown cores have giant municipal parking lots next to major attractions,” he says. “AVs could allow us to both shrink and relocate these parking lots, opening up valuable space in cities.

Design drawbacks

The concept of an AV driving and dropping off a passenger, navigating to an ultra-efficient AV parking lot and later returning to pick up the passanger sounds attractive. But this new paradigm could also introduce negative consequences, such as a potential increase in traffic congestion.

“Right now, we have a lot of cars on the road with just one passenger,” said Roorda. “If we locate AV parking lots too far away from major attractions, we could end up with streets crowded with vehicles that have zero passengers, which would be worse.”

Another drawback is that team’s designs only work for parking lots reserved exclusively for AVs, rather than a mix of AVs and conventional vehicles, though Roorda says that a single lot could have both AV and non-AV areas. Roorda and his team also can’t predict when the number of AVs on the road will reach the critical mass required to make use of their designs.

“We’re talking about large numbers of vehicles that can fully drive themselves, with no requirement for a driver to take over if something goes wrong,” said Roorda. “There’s a lot that has to happen before we get to that stage.”

The research is part of the iCity: Urban Informatics for Sustainable Metropolitan Growth project, an initiative of the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute. It is funded by the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence, as well as a consortium of industrial partners.

Haeccity Studio wins for affordable housing idea

Haeccity Studio Architecture’s ideas for creating affordable housing in Metro Vancouver has garnered them the top prize for the Urbanarium Missing Middle Competition. The Urbanarium is a registered non-profit society founded by a group of Vancouver architects, planners, and committed urbanites.

“Urbanarium ran this competition to have a meaningful discussion on how middle density intergenerational housing could contribute to affordable housing in the future,” says Richard Henriquez, board chair of the Urbanarium and founding principal of Henriquez Partners Architects. The jury included technical advisors and senior planning officials from Vancouver, Port Coquitlam, and Surrey.

Haeccity, a Vancouver based practice that focuses on medium-scale housing, believe that it is no longer viable to rely on density alone to address the current affordability crisis. They are exploring ways to side step the speculation and sudden increases to land cost that come with rezoning.

“Our Micro-op concept,” explains Travis Hanks, Haeccity principal, “abandons the standard tool sets of developers, such as land assembly and stratification, in favour of owner-driven development, one housing lot at a time. Higher buildable area and incentives would only be available to projects that follow a shared ownership model. Pooling capital allows average households to clear the land-cost hurdle and qualify for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation financing.”

Haeccity proposes incremental but ambitious change that will both respect and reinvigorate existing neighbourhoods.

“Underlying Haeccity’s creative solution is a strong belief that increasing the quality of human experience is central to success. Haeccity is making a substantive contribution to the important work of addressing Metro Vancouver’s urbanism and housing issues,” comments Bruce Haden, board member of the Urbanarium and principal of Human Studio Architecture + Urban Design.

UBC opens $11.6 million sports medicine facility

The Chan Gunn Pavilion, a new $11.6 million sports medicine facility, has officially opened at the University of B.C.

Designed by HCMA Architecture & Design, the two-storey, 20,000 square-foot space for the faculty of medicine houses a state-of-the-art gym named for Jack and Darlene Poole, research space, offices and clinic rooms. Ledcor was general contractor.

The facility will allow physicians and physical therapists to treat about 3,500 patients a month. It will also be used by faculty and students from the school of kinesiology, which is part of the faculty of education, to explore the body’s response to exercise. The Chan Gunn Pavilion is also the new home to the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Clinic.

The building, named for the Vancouver physician Dr. Chan Gunn who donated $5 million to the faculty of medicine for its construction, will become a collaborative laboratory to develop and test cutting-edge methods for diagnosis and rehabilitation, and to apply new methods of helping all people– whether elite athletes or those interested in staying fit – reach their full potential.

“The Chan Gunn Pavilion demonstrates our commitment to understanding the science of physical activity and applying those insights to help people recovering from injuries, grappling with chronic disease, or striving to win Olympic medals,” said UBC president Santa J. Ono.

The building will also serve as a training ground for medical residents and fellows who are specializing in sports medicine, orthopedics, and other medical specialties bringing exercise into clinical treatment.

The building received funding from the Government of Canada’s Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, which provided $4.73 million for construction.

photo courtesy of HCMA

Homeless prioritized for Quebec rent supplements

The 2018 Quebec budget promises funds for 3,000 new units of social housing, with the vast majority of the envisioned $273.7 million investment scheduled for after 2020. A more modest $5.2 million allocation will begin to be released this year to enable an additional 225 low-income tenants to rent accommodations in the private sector.

Both initiatives augment existing housing programs. More than 5,700 social housing units are nearing completion and another 7,600 are in the planning stages — all arising from previous provincial budget commitments. “Including the 3,000 new housing units announced, a total of 16,305 more social, community and affordable housing units will be available in the coming years,” the budget document states.

The new funding for rent supplements will bring the total number of low-income households subsidized to rent in the private market to 17,386. Recipients contribute a share of housing costs equal to 25 per cent of their income, while the subsidy covers the remainder. The 2018 budget stipulates that 150 of the new subsidies must be reserved for people who are currently homeless. The $5.2 million is to be dispersed over a multi-year period, providing rent supplements to at least 2023.

Funds have also been earmarked for programs that specifically target dilapidated rural and urban housing and emergency shelters. RénoRégion, a program to help low and modest-income rural homeowners correct major housing defects is promised $5 million over two years. Rénovation Québec, providing funds for urban municipalities to invest in stressed residential areas, is to receive $25 million over three years.

Another $2 million is expected to underwrite upgrades in about 180 housing units qualifying for the Shelter Enhancement Program. Non-profit organizations operating shelters for women and children fleeing the risk of family violence can apply for funding “to ensure the shelters are clean, safe and functional”.

New LED lighting for Beacon Hill Park in Quebec

In an effort to enhance its sports and recreational facilities, save energy and improve safety, the city of Beaconsfield, Que., recently replaced the lighting illuminating the tennis courts and basketball court/ice rink and surrounding access areas at Beacon Hill Park.

Beacon Hill Park, a 31,000-square-metre district park featuring a baseball diamond, soccer field, basketball court which is converted into an outdoor ice rink in the winter, children’s play structures, asphalt tennis courts and chalet, serves the 20,000 residents in the local community.

The city worked with local contractors to replace twenty 1000W, 120-277V metal halide floodlights with high performance 400W LED fixtures, which were replaced one-for-one using custom-made bullhorn brackets. The fixtures are positioned to distribute light to the park’s facilities while minimizing the impact on the surrounding residences.

The new lights were switched on at the end of October 2017 and are expected to result in substantial energy savings. The new lighting has also improved visibility around the recreational facilities, increasing the feeling of safety in the park.

“The goals were to reduce energy usage, improve visibility and generally enhance the area,” added André Gervais, section head of projects for the city of Beaconsfield. “It’s been operating for four months so far and we are very satisfied.”

Moving toward a zero carbon economy

In a changing world where “zero carbon” is the ultimate goal in building design, Canada has been an eager adopter of new sustainable technologies and standards. Where energy efficiency used to be the measure of a building’s green standing, today it’s about shifting away from traditional fossil fuel-based infrastructure and embracing high-efficiency systems that rely on low carbon, renewable energy sources.

From commercial to institutional, from office to residential, no building type is out of the realm of zero carbon possibility. According to the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC), zero carbon represents the next frontier for the building sector, allowing owners of all building types to prepare their portfolios for a rising cost on carbon, while ensuring they remain viable in a “fossil fuel-free” future. In the shorter term, zero carbon buildings enjoy significantly lower operating costs without heavy (or any) reliance on purchased electricity.

The CaGBC is confident that the Canadian building industry is ready to lead the global shift to a zero carbon economy. “The Canadian green building sector has always been active in finding ways to limit harmful impacts from the built environment,” says Fin MacDonald, Manager of the CaGBC’s Zero Carbon Building Program. “In the past, many of these efforts were voluntary, but now governments and industry across the country are recognizing the building sector’s potential to fight climate change and are setting more ambitious targets.”

One such target is COP21, a goal that aims to keep global average temperature increases well below 2ºC. Green building organizations around the world have stepped up in support of this objective, pledging to eliminate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the operation of new buildings by 2030. Even more ambitious is their goal to eliminate GHG emissions from all buildings, new and old, by the year 2050.

While new construction projects present the best opportunities for zero carbon performance as they are able to integrate renewable energy generation and new technologies from the onset, where does that leave our cities’ vast supply of aging building stock?

“The truth is, it is more expensive to bring existing buildings to zero carbon standards than new buildings,” warns Albert Bicol, Principal at Albert Bicol Consultancy. “Having said that, property managers should retrofit their buildings based on current practises even knowing that these buildings will likely be replaced by 2050.”

A daunting prediction for apartment owners to be sure. And while a recent CaBGC report estimates that a combination of deep retrofits, fuel-switching, recommissioning and on-site renewables can help large building owners reduce their emissions by 51 per cent, the question remains: is it worth it?

“My advice for building operators today is to focus on demand reduction,” Bicol says. “Do what you can to improve the building envelope, replace the windows and consider how natural ventilation can be implemented to offset increased usage. As occupants, we need to ask: can our strict comfort requirements be expanded to 18 to 26 degrees? This simple cultural shift would help save significant energy with essentially zero cost. Building owners can always upgrade lighting and other equipment to draw less energy, recommission building systems and controls. They can also apply renewable energy, which is the main cost barrier.”

Capital restrictions and owners’ need for short-term gains make multi-residential rental buildings the most challenging asset class to update, but such investment can deliver long-term savings with a carbon footprint.

“Tackling this type of challenge requires a financial solution, something that will bridge the capital costs with the long-term savings between two different parties,” Bicol advises. “For instance, continually there are more and more utility companies and thermal asset companies investing in the capital costs up front in order to recuperate that long-term investment. That’s one way to bridge the savings gap.”

Improving energy performance on the road to carbon-free

Andrew Pride, head of Toronto-based Andrew Pride Consulting, is a leading expert on the challenges and opportunities facing organizations today in the areas of environmental sustainability, climate change and energy conservation. From his hands-on perspective, improving energy performance is something apartment owners shouldn’t overlook.

“The economy in Canada is moving toward a zero carbon benchmark, which for green buildings should mean ultra-high performance from an energy efficiency perspective,” says Pride. “But it is important not to lose sight of improving energy performance prior to seeking an alternative that simply promotes low or no-carbon. For instance, provincial grids in Quebec, B.C., Manitoba and for the most part Ontario, are carbon-free or very low-carbon. Simply switching from gas to electricity won’t work due to the high cost differential between gas and electricity. Furthermore, apartment owners need to take a closer look at non-energy related operating costs. Heat pumps typically require a high maintenance cost over their lifetime compared to central boilers and chillers feeding fancoils. Ultimately, apartment owners should look at the larger picture prior to jumping on a single low-carbon technology solution.”

Pride recommends apartment owners employ a comprehensive natural resource strategy to address their carbon footprint. A plan that allows for quick payback measures first and deeper savings later should yield a favourable cash flow.

“Using the returns from the quick-payback measures will help fund the slower and deeper solutions,” he says. “The carbon strategy should point to the ultimate solution for the owner, while creating a sharp focus on those areas that need attention. If you know you need to re-clad a building in five years, it may be worthwhile to investigate higher insulation levels, which alone are very costly—however, when combined as an upgrade to existing work, make perfectly good sense. Having an actionable natural resource strategy in place will also allow an apartment owner to apply to the many low-carbon financing solutions that will soon be hitting the market. Being prepared now will provide early adopter apartment owners a financial advantage.”

To help with that preparation, there is also the matter of the federal government’s plan to develop a model energy code for existing buildings. “Over the next four years, we will see it take shape in many provinces and it will certainly give apartment owners a moment to consider the longevity of their buildings,” Pride says. “At some point the carbon costs and resiliency needs of buildings will render many apartments unviable, as cost to renovate will exceed the cost to re-build. In my estimation, this is beyond a mid-term vision—this is a very long-term play. Technology and systems are evolving rapidly, so go for any project that pays back in under 12 years and see where technology brings you next decade prior to looking to tear down and rebuild.”

“Passive House” and the future of building innovation

In November 2017, Asia Standard Americas Ltd. and Landa Global Properties announced plans to develop a pair of high-rise residential towers in Vancouver’s west end. If approved, the twin towers will be the largest Passive House towers in the world.

Passive House, a recognized standard for designing low-energy-use, livable buildings, emerged in Germany in the late 1980s and has been embraced by progressive developers ever since. Design elements include: airtight building envelopes, thick insulation, high performance doors and windows, and other sustainable features.

According to the project proposal, the towers will achieve a minimum energy performance in excess of requirements for passive house design. In addition to “cutting-edge” environmental strategies, the 43- to 48-storey towers will feature what the developers describe as a “throwback to the Formalist style” of architecture.

While Bicol acknowledges Vancouver as a progressive, forward-looking city that embraces cutting-edge technology and design, he cautions that inspiration—and solutions— should come from other sources, as well.

“In general, my approach to Net-Zero building design has always been to apply ancient technologies, such as natural ventilation, passive architecture and thermal mass,” Bicol says. “Yes, technology will help in the long run, but I don’t think it is the only solution. In my opinion, Mother Nature has all the answers we need.”

Waste heat to warm buildings at Western U

Western University plans to recover waste heat from its power plant and use it in other buildings, while shifting from steam to low-temperature heating systems.

A $11.6 million provincial grant through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program from the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development, will help the facility achieve this in two buildings: Spencer Engineering and the Claudette MacKay-Lassonde Pavillion.

“By shifting to a low-temperature system, we can introduce a much wider range of renewable and recaptured energy sources,” Lynn Logan, vice-president of operations and finance, said in a press release. “These environmental investments will result in a 12 per cent reduction in emissions from our 2016 levels at an estimated cost savings of $1.5 million annually.”

Proposed upgrades have the potential to reduce the amount of steam required for heating and improve efficiencies in Western’s central power plant, reducing the amount of natural gas used for generating steam and chilled water.

“We want to use waste heat to heat Western’s buildings,” says Paul Martin, director of business operations at Western. “Once this project is completed, heat recovery technology and renewable energy systems will be integrated throughout our campus, dramatically reducing our future carbon emissions.”

Construction at the Spencer Engineering Building will start in July 2018 and will be completed in March 2019.

Brown is new dean, Faculty of Environmental Design

Dr. John L. Brown has been appointed as dean of the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary.

Brown has been an academic staff member in the Faculty of Environmental Design for more than 30 years and has served as interim dean since May 2017, and previously as associate dean, research and international. He is a registered architect and fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Brown is a founding principal of the design firm Housebrand, and a co-founder of Slow Home, an international movement advocating for increased design quality in North America’s housing market. He is currently serving as first-vice president of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Brown holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Manitoba (1980), a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas (1983), a Master of Science in Building Design from Columbia University (1984), and a PhD from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (2017), where he completed a dissertation that developed new strategies for housing Canada’s rapidly aging population.

“I am proud to be named dean of this growing faculty, one that brings bold thinking to explore innovation in architecture, landscape architecture and planning,” says Brown. “The Faculty of Environmental Design is a diverse group that includes award-winning teachers, practitioners, and researchers, and I look forward to what we will accomplish in the coming years.

Standing desks may cause lower back pain: study

Nearly half of people who use a standing desk are at risk of developing lower back pain, according to a study from the University of Waterloo.

The study tested 40 adults, evenly split between male and female, with no previous back issues. It found that 40 percent developed low back pain after standing for two hours. Moreover, if they were previously fatigued, their muscle strength was not able to recover while standing.

“People have different amounts of standing tolerance,” Daniel Viggiani, lead author and a PhD candidate in kinesiology at Waterloo, said in a press release. “The key take-away, regardless of whether you are sitting or standing at work, is to move around and shift your posture often.”

The adults in the study performed two hours of standing work, such as transcribing a document on a computer, or sorting cards to mimic a standing office, two times – once with a tiring hip abductor exercise before the session, and once without.

The people who did not have back pain during standing recovered their muscle strength by the end of the two hours. Females in general did not fatigue as quickly.

“Those with less standing tolerance use their muscles differently than others while they stand. They might stand with their back a bit more curved than those with more tolerance, for example,” said Viggiani. “Not everyone needs the same frequency of breaks, but people can usually tolerate sitting for longer than they can standing.”

He added that other studies have shown that prolonged standing can have negative implications on lower back pain later in life, but in this study, the immediate pain usually dissipated within 10 to 15 minutes of sitting down.

The study, which Viggiani co-authored with Jack Callaghan, a kinesiology professor at Waterloo, appears in the Journal of Applied Biomechanics.

Building better experiences as IoT advances

Building managers have a significant opportunity to take advantage of IoT-based connectivity to drive organizational value, from improving operations to enhancing occupant experiences. Simply put, advances in technology are changing how people interact with buildings.

When properly implemented, IoT connectivity can be used by organizations to shape how occupants move about a facility and assign precise monetary values to specific spaces. And when that happens, buildings can become smarter, more interactive and contribute strategically to an organization’s bottom line.

Evolution of experience

Smart buildings are nothing new, but as IoT rapidly expands, so do the opportunities to use technology to improve buildings and the experiences of the occupants within, which will either keep occupants coming back or make them seek a better experience elsewhere. The building blocks for achieving these goals comprise an interconnected framework of components, including everything from connected devices, mobile applications (apps) and cloud-based data management, to real-time services and social networking.

The primary pathway to the occupant is the smartphone. When the right building connectivity is in place, and smartphones can tap into a cloud-based IoT platform, occupants can shape and enhance their experiences, creating a direct line of feedback to an organization that can help improve operations.

Integrating digital identification with core building functions can enable occupants to potentially control things such as their comfort, or how they move about a workplace from both an access and wayfinding standpoint. For example, an employee in a connected office space can enter a freezing cold conference room and immediately alert building personnel of the comfort issue, helping to resolve it sooner and prevent it in the future.

The result isn’t just more comfortable and empowered occupants; facility managers also benefit from improved insight to manage their buildings better. With occupants providing real-time evaluations of temperature, cleanliness, and overall space ratings, location-aware apps enable facility managers to aggregate requests quicker and ultimately create a closed loop communication with reviewers. In turn, this can lead to downstream benefits, such as easily managing credentials and keeping facilities secure, as well as improving space utilization, and saving time by quickly fixing comfort problems.

Applications in action

Various industries are taking advantage of IoT connectivity and the ubiquity of smartphones. While goals and needs will differ from organization to organization, one common theme unites them: their use of a cloud-based platform that leverages IoT connectivity and existing building systems to integrate with mobile apps that give people more insight and access to their surroundings.

For example, in the healthcare industry, mobile apps that connect people to their surroundings are providing patients with more control of their comfort, such as window blind positioning. In addition, these types of apps can provide wayfinding, enabling patients and their loved ones to more easily navigate the often-confusing hallways of hospitals, saving everyone’s time in the process.

In Minnesota, a mobile app is helping pedestrians navigate the Minneapolis Skyway System, a complex interlinked network of enclosed pedestrian walkways spanning 80 city blocks. The wayfinding app helps visitors and locals alike navigate the challenging system, allowing them to avoid the drastic hot and cold temperatures of the seasons and easily find their ultimate destination. The app taps IoT connectivity to offer accurate indoor location, mapping, routing, presence, proximity notifications and analytics — all embedded into an integrated platform.

Users benefit from easy-to-use wayfinding, with turn-by-turn voice assistance and location accuracy up to five feet, along with a “share my location” feature that lets users more easily find each other in the skyway system. Businesses located in the skyway system can use the app’s insights into foot traffic patterns to inform measures such as messaging placement to serve their customers better.

Limitless potential

The way people are interacting with their world and each other is changing every day due to the rapidly growing IoT. Occupants ranging from hospital patients to retail shoppers have the potential to shape and improve their experiences thanks to IoT connectivity. Organizations can take advantage of this connectivity in their buildings to build a better overall experience.

Dr. Himanshu Khurana is the director of engineering and global innovation leader for Honeywell Building Solutions where he drives innovation in connected buildings. He obtained his MS and PhD in computer engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. He can be found on LinkedIn.

Keeping Your Company Afloat After a Flood

It’s no secret that the risk of floods is rising. News of extreme storms and record-breaking rainfalls is now common across North America; while headlines of unprecedented flooding in BC, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec have made it clear the issue is creeping close to home.

Whether a result of global warming, urban expansion, or inadequate city planning, one thing is clear: the potential for water-related disasters is real. And yet, many Canadian businesses have yet to take that risk to heart.

“Even though we’re seeing a noticeable increase in floods across Canada, a lot of companies are still in reactive mode,” says Billy Short II, Executive Vice President of Large Loss Operations, North America with FirstOnSite Restoration. “They’re still of the mindset that if something happens all they’ll need to do is call someone up and get everything fixed, when the reality is that they need to have a comprehensive contingency plan in place now if they hope to recover.”

And Short would know. He has been on the frontlines of virtually every major natural disaster in Canada over the last decade, as well as countless floods, wildfires, and category 5 hurricanes south of the border. Needless to say, when it comes to cautionary tales, he has a few.

“Years ago, I remember there was a massive production facility in Alabama that had a large kiln knocked out by a catastrophic flood,” he recalls. “Like any other manufacturer, they had contracts to fulfill and only a short amount of time their customers were going to wait for them to get back up and running. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a backup production facility or any meaningful backup plans, so they missed that window and effectively went out of business.”

Organizations that have bounced back from a water-related event, he continues, are those that had a solid contingency plan to guide them to recovery that answered a number of key questions:

Who will you call? An effective contingency plan will detail everyone that needs to be notified in the critical minutes and hours following a flood. That includes emergency contacts, restoration service providers, customers, and supply chain partners.
Where will you work? Downtime can be disastrous for a business and its customers. Making arrangements for a temporary, offsite production facility or office prior to an event will ensure operations resume as quickly as possible.
How will you stay plugged in? Electrical substations and other assets are especially vulnerable to water-related damage. Therefore, contingency plans need to include arrangements to obtain generators or alternate means of power.
Is your data protected? Losing a server room due to a flood can mean saying goodbye to years of crucial operational data (e.g., databases, contacts, contracts, etc.). Consider partnering with a trusted cloud storage provider now and setting up controls to back up your data on a consistent basis.
Will your restoration teams be informed? Flood / disaster recovery professionals will need to know all your property’s ingress and egress points and potential building hazards in order to bring in the required equipment (e.g., dryers, pumps, safety gear) quickly and get to work.
What will your workforce do? Your employees may be loyal, but they still need to make a living. Keep them from finding new jobs during your downtime by planning their post-disaster roles in advance and making sure payroll and HR are operational. In fact, some of those employees may even be able to work temporarily with your restoration partner, contributing their knowledge of your facility and adding value throughout the restoration process.

These are simply some of the questions a contingency plan should answer with input from both company stakeholders and disaster restoration specialists who offer this planning service.

After all, adds Short: “If you think you’ll be able to simply ‘wing it’ after a disaster, think again. To have any chance of getting your business back online after a flood – or any type of disaster – you need to work with your partners now to create a strategy that will help your business survive if – and likely, when – the worst should happen.”

Billy Short II is Vice President of Large Loss Operations with FirstOnSite Restoration, a leading Canadian disaster restoration company providing remediation, restoration, and reconstruction services nationwide, as well as for the US large loss and commercial market. For more information about preparedness planning, visit www.firstonsite.ca/priority-response-emergency-plan.