Ontario legislation replaces OMB with local appeal panels

Earlier this week, the Ontario government passed the Building Better Communities and Conserving Watersheds Act, 2017, legislation that will provide communities with a stronger voice in land-use planning.

The legislation will replace the Ontario Municipal Board with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, an independent tribunal making decisions away from the sway of the government. The latest available data finds that in 2015-16, the Ontario Municipal Board received 1,460 cases from across the province. This move will help ensure that proceedings that come before the tribunal are faster, fairer and more affordable.

The new legislation will also create the free Local Planning Appeal Support Centre, which will provide Ontario residents with information about the land use planning appeal process, legal and planning advice and may also provide legal representation in proceedings before the tribunal.

“This legislation will help create a faster and more accessible process for appealing land-use planning decisions,” said Yasir Naqvi, Attorney General of Ontario, in a press release. “Giving people a stronger voice in the planning of their own communities will help ensure cities and towns reflect the best interests of the people living in them today, as well as future generations.”

The Building Better Communities and Conserving Watersheds Act will come into force on a date yet to be determined by the Lieutenant Government.

Anne Cormier wins Margolese Design prize

Architect and educator Anne Cormier is the winner of the 2017 Margolese National Design for Living Prize. The prize was awarded by the UBC Faculty of Applied Science, through the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

Cormier’s impact spans the fields of practice, education, research, and leadership. She is the co-founder of the award-winning Montreal-based firm Atelier Big City. She is also an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture at the Université de Montréal, where she served as Director between 2007 and 2015. Anne’s research has led to roles with the World Design Summit, and the Laboratoire d’étude de l’architecture potentielle (LEAP).

“When Randy Cohen, Howard Davies and myself founded our firm, Atelier Big City, we adopted the motto Make Architecture a Public Policy,” said Cormier. “We firmly believed then that architecture has a major role to play in the quality of everyday life. We still do. The Margolese Prize acknowledges the social importance of design. I am deeply grateful to the late Leonard Herbert Margolese for this.”

In their decision, the selection committee noted her exemplary use of her wide-ranging abilities in making Canada a better place to live. In particular, her interdisciplinary work in the social end of design led the committee to their unanimous decision.

Cormier holds a Bachelor of Science (Architecture) and a Bachelor of Architecture from McGill University, as well as a Certificat d’études approfondies en architecture urbaine from the Paris-Villemin school of architecture. She is a member of l’Ordres des architectes du Quebec. Her firm, Atelier Big City, were the recipients of the Prix de Rome in architecture from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Governor General’s medal and the grand prize in architecture from the Ordre des architectes du Québec.

She will be presented with the award at a public event in the Spring of 2018, which will take place in Vancouver.

Each year the Margolese National Design prize is awarded to a Canadian who makes outstanding contributions to the development or improvement of living environments for Canadians of all economic classes.

Five critical elements of floor care

Canada’s roads and walkways will be coated with rock salt and other ice melt products throughout the winter months. These products were designed to prevent accidents and keep people safe during inclement weather, but they can also have some serious drawbacks.

Salt, ice melt, soils and other contaminants that collect on the bottoms of shoes are trekked into facilities all day long. As this potent mixture is deposited onto floors, it can eat away at the floor finish. If no preventive measures are taken, it can lead to costly repairs.

Fortunately, there are ways to protect floors and keep them looking their best. Andre Peters, chief executive officer at Swish, a Canadian distributor of floor care products and equipment, says there are five critical elements or components of floor care.

“Building owners, managers and custodial workers must address each of these components of floor care, not only to keep floors clean, safe and healthy, but [also to] reduce floor care costs,” he says.

Nearly 70 per cent of a typical cleaning budget for a commercial facility reflects floor care, he adds, most of which is attributed to labour.

“So, any steps we can take to improve efficiencies and worker productivity, especially in the winter months, can help keep [floor care] costs down.”

Here are Peters’ five critical elements of floor care:

Pre-routine floor maintenance program

With a pre-routine maintenance program in place, nearly 70 per cent of contaminants like soil and ice melt can be stopped at the front door.

This can be accomplished by adding:

Powered parking lot sweepers. For indoor parking lots, it is faster and more effective to use these instead of manually sweeping floors.
Entrance matting. As much as 80 per cent of soils and moisture can be captured and trapped if 15 feet of high-performance matting is installed at building entrances.
The right floor finish, based on the soiling and foot traffic in your building.
An effective ice melt program and regular snow removal from parking lots and walkways promotes safety.

Routine maintenance

Routine maintenance is essential to any floor care plan.

“This step in the program involves dust mopping daily and in some cases, several times throughout the day,” Peters says. “Always use a microfiber dust mop system. They provide superior soil and moisture removal.”

Floors also must be damp mopped, again using microfiber products. Microfiber is more effective and uses less water and cleaning solution. For larger floor areas, an auto-scrubber should be used. Scrubbers are much faster and help reduce labour costs.

One of the keys to the success of routine floor maintenance is the cleaning solution selected to mop or scrub floors.

“Always select a high-quality floor cleaner based on soil type,” stresses Peters. “For instance, when dealing with winter soiling, including salt and ice melt, a cleaning solution that neutralizes the residue will effectively clean and protect the floor and its finish.”

In other situations, selecting a cleaning solution specifically designed for light or medium soiling may be appropriate. Janitorial distributors can also help owners, managers and cleaning workers select cleaning solutions that best meet specific floor care needs.

Interim and partial restorative care

Interim maintenance primarily involves spray buffing floors, as well as burnishing and traction enhancement. This consists of spraying a solution on the floor and buffing it with a floor machine, which helps bring back luster. The solution also helps remove embedded soils that mopping or auto-scrubbing can’t eliminate. This complete process helps protect the floor and maintain the shine.

Partial restorative care is needed when floors are no longer responding well to spray buffing. The appearance of the floor begins to deteriorate, negatively impacting the slip resistance of the floor.

“Partial restorative involves scrubbing the floor to remove one or two coats of damaged floor finish,” says Peters. “One or two new coats of finish can then be applied. This is far quicker and less costly than a complete restoration of the floor, and much easier on the environment as well.”

Complete restoration

Complete restoration of a floor can be costly, labour-intensive, potentially harmful to the environment and disruptive to facility operations.

The process involves stripping all the finish, rinsing the floor and then applying three or more new coats of finish.

“Once again, the products used should be of superior quality, especially the floor finish,” Peters emphasizes. “When it comes to floor care products, you do get what you pay for, but it pays dividends. Higher-quality products last longer, hold up better and can help reduce labour costs.”

Sealing floors

An important part of any floor care program, especially when addressing harsh winter weather, is to ensure floors are sealed before applying floor finish.

“Look at it this way,” says Peters. “We want to build a foundation to protect the floor. A sealant is the first step in building that foundation [and] not only adds a significant amount of protection, but helps defend the floor against salt and ice melt, prevent floor staining and discoloration, promote walker safety and ensure a high-gloss shine on the floor.”

Robert Kravitz is a frequent writer for the professional cleaning industry.

Three trends set to disrupt construction in 2018

Factories in flat-packs and homes built in factories—modular construction will build new momentum in 2018. However, the industry is battling with significant skills shortages and must manage increasing globalization. Here are three industry predictions for 2018 from Kenny Ingram, Global Industry Director of Construction and Contracting at IFS.

1. Skills shortages will force the industry to adapt to new technology and business models

A shortage of one crucial resource threatens the rate of growth worldwide. Can you guess what it is? Energy? Water, maybe? Capital? Actually, it’s manpower. On every continent, skills and labour shortages are hitting hard. In 2018, it could force permanent, decisive changes in how construction does business and meets demands.

The recent global Turner & Townsend international construction survey shows that 23 of the 43 markets surveyed suffers from skills shortage, up from 20 the previous year. Another source pointing in this direction is the World Economic Forum Report, ‘Shaping the Future of Construction’, that shows that the U.S. construction industry’s productivity has fallen 19 per cent since 1964.

In the same period, non-agricultural industries improved by 153 per cent. This was also brought up in the UK in a recent government-commissioned report, the Farmer Review, that has rung alarm bells in the construction industry. Subtitled Modernize or die, time to decide on the industry’s future, it details how skills shortages drive costs up, quality down and lead to poor productivity.

However, there is hope too. The review details many innovative high-quality cases where the merger of manufacturing and construction has opened up new markets and revenue streams with creative construction solutions.

One such modular construction is GSK’s ‘factory in a box’, designed by modular and BIM construction studio Bryden Wood. The solution is a colour-coded, easy-to-assemble pharma factory that can be shipped in a crate and put together in emerging markets – helping meet demanding local compliance standards, high potential, but limited money available for large specialist onsite teams. Designed with business information modeling (BIM), the factory in a box is a great example of how design-led innovation in construction can produce more assets with fewer resources.

In 2018, we will see a perfect storm of factors – an aging global workforce, a lack of new entrants, and growing restrictions on free movement of labour – begin to decisively accelerate the uptake of construction-integrated manufacturing. Governments, regulatory bodies and the industry alike will start to realize that, while getting more people into the industry is important, as well as trying to increase the number of people onsite, the most strategic solution would be to fundamentally change the way we build in the first place.

2. With construction-integrated manufacturing, 10 per cent of traditional contractors could disappear over the next five years

It is beyond doubt that modular construction and construction-integrated manufacturing is playing an increasingly important role all over the world.

Modular is expected to rise 6 per cent globally by 2022, with some countries already leading the pre-fab charge. Sweden is a model for modular home building – around 84 per cent of detached homes built in the Scandinavian nation use pre-fabricated timber elements. Compare this against the U.S., Australia and the UK where the figure is just 5 per cent, and Sweden is practically a modular world leader. Meanwhile, also the third world countries are considering how pre-fab can meet their housing shortages and cost constraints. Nigeria is one example that is taking a long look at modular housing to meet its crippling housing shortage – close to 20 million units at the last count.

In Japan, around a quarter of all new houses are prefabricated. Japan’s success shows both the quality of assets manufactured in controlled conditions, and how many new entrants they attract. As well as market leaders Sekisui House and Daiwa House, Japanese retail giant Muji recently started developing modules, and Toyota has manufactured prefabs for over 20 years. Japan particularly prizes prefab construction for its quality and efficiency. Offsite modular construction removes the last-minute changes that can plague onsite construction and reduce the quality of the finished asset. Small wonder from 1963 to 2014 manufacturers built 9 million prefab homes in Japan.

With growing skills shortages and a need to build faster and more cost-effectively, it will become a crucial competitive advantage to be able to invest in the right technologies and people and find the right business partners to leverage construction-integrated manufacturing.

3. Globalization will increase the foreign content of construction projects by 20 per cent within five years

Offsite, logistics-centric construction will be a catalyst for increased globalization too. Currently, 95 per cent of construction projects are carried out by local firms sourcing local materials. But we see that this is changing. Customized, large-scale components and elements will increasingly be sourced globally, meaning increased competition and, potentially, margins. It’s a big shift for an industry that has traditionally been highly country-specific. But for operators agile and disciplined enough to start planning and handling logistics and invest in new joint ventures, the gains could be huge.

Take Spain. With a significantly smaller GDP than, for example, the U.S., seven of the world’s top 100 construction companies are Spanish. Yet while the country’s recent economic difficulties took out many companies, Spain’s construction sector fared remarkably well. One of the main reasons is that Spanish construction companies often partner globally and thereby reduce the risks of exposing the business to domestic economic challenges. Here, the Spanish construction industry’s strong tradition of joint ventures and global partnerships was a powerful competitive advantage.

New technology is making it easier to work profitably on a global level as well. With 3D printing, for example, costs for both material and long transports are decreasing substantially. Using technologies such as these, the partnerships will focus more on global competence exchange rather than long-haul transports.

All three of these trends are woven tight together. Contractors need to work hard to ensure that the right competences are secured while considering how to implement new business models for modular buildings and construction-integrated manufacturing — all this in a construction industry that is becoming more global and offers new forms of partnerships. The players who master this balance act will be the winners in 2018.

Accessibility certification fills industry void

High-performance buildings, by definition, exceed the minimum standards set in the building code across almost every design and operating feature. Accessibility is the exception. Fear of possible liability often prompts building owners and their designers to favour the choices they know they can defend.

“The architect tends to drift back to the code where it’s nice and safe,” Brad McCannell, vice president, access and inclusion, with the Rick Hansen Foundation, told seminar attendees at the recent IIDEXCanada conference and tradeshow in Toronto. “We need a LEED program (equivalent) for accessibility. We need a national scale to rate things. We need a common standard.”

Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) is an initiative to create that standard, stock a pool of accredited accessibility assessors to serve as a resource to the commercial real estate industry, guide property improvements and identify and commend accessible buildings. The program got a boost in the Rick Hansen Foundation’s home base earlier this fall when the British Columbia government pledged $9 million to sponsor free accessibility ratings of up to 1,100 of the province’s commercial, multi-residential or institutional buildings by March 2019 and offer grants of up to $20,000 for accessibility improvements.

Thus far, 12 accessibility assessors are on the job, including three working in Ontario. Vancouver Community College is the first of the envisioned national network of colleges to offer to the 60-hour training module, while an associated course specifically for design and real estate practitioners is slated to be launched in the spring of 2018. RHFAC administrators are aiming to have about 200 assessors qualified within the next 18 to 24 months.

The timing is fitting as Canada and countries worldwide await what’s been dubbed the silver tsunami. Already, global statistics reveal that about one in seven people report some kind of disability, but that percentage is projected to rise to one in five over the next 20 years. McCannell pointed to his own mother as a stereotypical example of the aging population, experiencing diminished mobility, eyesight and/or hearing.

“They don’t respond to the idea of being disabled,” he said. “She doesn’t think she’s disabled. She thinks she’s normal and, when you look at the stats, she is.”

Universal design principles are grounded in the same philosophy. McCannell cited the Vancouver International Airport, where the Rick Hansen Foundation served as a consultant, as an example of a space designed to enable the broad cross-section of the public to use it with minimum need for assistance or special interventions.

“You won’t find that little wheelchair guy (icon) anywhere because everywhere is accessible,” he explained. “When you make things invisible except to people who need it, that’s a core principle of universal design.”

Benchmarking and guidance

Much of the existing building stock falls short of that ideal, but RHFAC can help owners/managers identify impediments to access and set priorities to address them. The assessment scores buildings on a scale of one to five in eight different aspects, including vehicular and exterior access, interior circulation, communication systems and emergency egress. Assessors can also award bonus points in each category if they see something innovative.

Buildings achieving a score of 60 to 79 per cent are awarded accessibility certification; scores of 80 per cent or higher merit gold accessibility certification. In all cases, building owners/managers receive the scorecard and have discretion to decide whether to publicize the results.

“It’s not designed as a consumer product. It’s an industry tool,” McCannell said. “Eight categories tell owners where they are strong and where they are weak. The scorecard will reveal the low-hanging fruit.”

Developers can similarly ask for a preliminary accessibility rating based on the building design. This could then be used for leasing and marketing purposes or it could be a quality control exercise to spot and correct potential barriers. “Getting to new buildings is important because we have to stop making new mistakes,” McCannell asserted.

If participation grows as the program designers hope, it could help to build a more accurate inventory of accessible buildings. “Right now, we don’t know,” he said. “We want to celebrate access. We are not the code police; we are trained to see the good as much as the bad.”

Beyond the scorecard, which McCannell defines as “a snapshot in time”, RHFAC will be a resource for building owners/managers seeking more detailed audits and/or guidance about implementing improvements. The standard could also support regulatory due diligence since new federal accessibility legislation is expected to be tabled in 2018.

“We see RHFAC as a way of helping you get prepared for that,” McCannell said.

Under B.C.’s new grant program, municipalities and not-for-profit entities are directly eligible for funds, while private sector owners/managers must contribute a matching amount. Prospective proponents are urged to consider the entire scope of needs, including visual and auditory aids that can be added without modifying protected design features in heritage buildings.

“Hearing loss is the single biggest disability by far,” McCannell stressed. “There’s a notion that wheelchair users equal access. Wheelchair guys are less than 20 per cent of the disability community, yet we dominate the discussion. Just because you don’t have access for wheelchairs doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of things you can do.”

The Vancouver International Airport is good proof that the benefits flow both ways. Universal design doesn’t just get people efficiently to their flights, it also gives everyone equal access to services while they are waiting.

“It’s essentially a mall,” McCannell observed. “A barrier to a person with a disability is a barrier to making a profit.”

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

David Wilkes new president and CEO of BILD

David Wilkes has been appointed president and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) Board of Directors, effective January 3, 2018. Wilkes takes over from Bryan Tuckey who has been at the helm for five years.

“We are thrilled that David will join BILD and lead it through its next period of growth,” said Darren. Steedman, chair of the Board of Directors. “This is the culmination of an extensive search process. We are pleased to have found an individual with the background, skills and leadership to take BILD to new levels of advocacy.”

Wilkes most recently served as senior vice-president of government relations and grocery at the Retail Council of Canada (RCC) where he provided leadership to a national team that was responsible for RCC’s government relations activities at the national, provincial and municipal levels. In 2011 he established RCC’s Grocery Division and the unique CEO-based forum known as Grocer Manufacturer Collaborative. Wilkes brings more than 25 years of senior management experience and has provided strategic leadership for the retail industry as a passionate spokesperson, appearing in front of parliamentary committees, senior Cabinet Ministers and industry groups.

“This is an exciting time for BILD and I am delighted to be taking on the role of president and CEO,” said Wilkes. “I’m ready for the challenge of leading an industry that employs over 197,000 people and brings $30 billion in investment value to the Greater Toronto Area.”

Building permits on Vanc. Island reach record high

Building permits on Vancouver Island reached the highest dollar value ever recorded in the July to September 2017 period, contributing to the Island’s economic growth and employment.

“The building boom continues across the Island in both residential and non-residential sectors,” said Rory Kulmala, Vancouver Island Construction Association CEO. “We expect this upswing to continue right through 2018.”

With building permits increasing five per cent to $647.5 million, the Island’s construction industry was kept busy in the third quarter of 2017. Residential building permits jumped 20 per cent to $488 million, while non-residential permits increased 15 per cent to $648 million.

Major projects contributing to the building permits issued during this period include renovations and an addition to Elements Casino Victoria in View Royal ($13M), sewage treatment upgrades in Parksville (8.84M), and Camosun’s Centre for Health & Wellness in Saanich ($32M).

“We want our members working and the industry thriving, so our goal is to see this momentum continue,” said Kulmala. “Our forecast for 2018 is more of the same thanks to population growth, an expanding economy, and continued low interest rates.”

Construction employment rose by 2.9 per cent across Vancouver Island — 34,500 to 35,500 — with most of the gain seen in areas outside of metropolitan Victoria.

HIGHLIGHTS

Vancouver Island: year-to-date, building permits rose 18 per cent to $1.8 billion, with residential permits spiking 23 per cent to $1.3 billion and non-residential permits bumping up five per cent to $411 million.
Capital RD: year-to-date total permits increased 28 per cent to $1.064 billion led by a 26 per cent spike in institutional-government permits.
Western Communities: year-to-date total permits were led by a 144 per cent increase in commercial permits which offset lower activity in industrial and government permits.
Cowichan Valley RD: year-to-date total permits increased by 20 per cent to $124.4 million.
Alberni Clayoquot: year-to-date total permits were 18 per cent higher. Residential permits rose 13 per cent while non-residential permits jumped 46 per cent.
Mount Waddington RD (North Island): year-to-date total permits were nearly triple last year’s level on large increases in non-residential permits, led by institutional-government. Residential permits were 56 per cent higher at $2.3 million.

The Vancouver Island Construction Association serves the institutional, commercial, industrial, civil, and multi-residential construction sectors on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and other coastal areas of British Columbia.

StructureCraft opens new facility in Abbotsford

To meet the interest of architects and developers for constructing efficient and sustainable wood structures and buildings, StructureCraft has built a new state-of-the-art facility in Abbotsford, British Columbia and is now the first North American manufacturer of DLT (Dowel Laminated Timber) – the only all wood mass timber product.

The new facility sets a new standard in industrial building design with wood. Prefabricated wall and roof panels are designed with a variety of mass timber and engineered wood products, including DLT, LSL, NLT, and Glulam. To demonstrate the flexibility of mass wood in industrial buildings, StructureCraft designed the entire building as a demountable structure, providing flexibility to expand or move the facility entirely to a new location.

“Our team aimed to develop a signature structure and to expand what’s possible with wood from fast installation to cost effectiveness. The erection of the timber superstructure commenced on a Monday, and our crew had the entire building installed by that same Friday. In just one week, all four walls and a 40,000 square foot roof were up,” says Lucas Epp, head of engineering.

“We wanted to build an efficient and cost-effective building, and showcase the advantages of building with engineered wood for the industrial buildings of tomorrow.”

From the new 50,000 square foot facility, StructureCraft will continue to collaborate with its clients, pushing the limits in off-site prefabrication, timber engineer and mass timber construction. As part of supporting the demand for efficient and sustainable structures, a completely automated production line using custom-designed machinery from Europe has been installed in the new timber facility to produce DLT. This production line is the largest capacity DLT line worldwide, and has launched a new cost-efficient mass timber product into the rapidly growing North America market.

Photo: Production equipment at Abbotsford facility

New program supports low-carbon innovation in Ontario

A new program from the Green Ontario Fund is supporting industries to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from their facilities or manufacturing processes.

GreenON Industries is a program that will provide up to $200 million in matching funding for eligible projects that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution in buildings and the production of goods by large GHG emitters and other industrial, commercial and institutional facilities. Eligible projects may include switching to less carbon-intensive fuels, redirecting carbon dioxide emissions back into production processes, upgrading energy inefficient production equipment and introducing production processes that require fewer energy resources.

“GreenON Industries will accelerate Ontario’s transition to a low-carbon economy, while helping our industry and clean-technology innovators become more globally competitive,” said Parminder Sandhu, Chair of the Green Ontario Fund Board of Directors, in a press release. “As envisioned in the Climate Change Action Plan, we’re using proceeds from the carbon market to create a prosperous and resilient economy for the people of Ontario and a healthier and sustainable environment.”

The TargetGHG program, a similar industry-facing program, was launched in February 2016 by the Ontario Centres of Excellence. TargetGHG brings together large industries, innovative cleantech companies and research consortiums to develop new technologies to help lower greenhouse gas emissions, support innovation and strengthen the economy.

Nine successful applicants for TargetGHG’s Industrial Demonstration Program were announced last week, along with three projects in the Collaborative Technology Development Program and five projects in the Collaborative R&D Program. These projects include using landfill gas to generate electricity in an auto plant, a fast-charging station for electric vehicles and a more efficient way of capturing solar energy.

“Supporting the efforts of large industries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions is an important part of our government’s Climate Change Action Plan,” said Reza Moridi, Ontario’s Minister of Research, Innovation and Science. “With the help of our province’s innovative cleantech companies, the TargetGHG program will help build a prosperous, low carbon economy and create a cleaner, more sustainable future for Ontario.”

Both programs are important parts of the province’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from industry, which accounts for almost a third of the province’s greenhouse gas emissions. Companies that are interested in learning about how to qualify and apply for the new GreenON Industries program should visit GreenON.ca for more information.

Edmonton Tower welcomes new tenants

Edmonton Tower located in the heart of downtown has added Katz Group Real Estate (KGRE), ONE Properties and Felesky Flynn LLP to its growing list of building tenants. The 27-storey tower is the first office building to be completed in Edmonton’s ICE District and is now 86.5 per cent leased.

Edmonton Tower is a modern, Class AAA office building. To the west, it will be connected above ground to the forthcoming JW Marriott Edmonton, which will link it directly to Rogers Place. An above-ground walkway joins Edmonton Tower and Bell Tower on the south, providing indoor access to the rest of the downtown pedway system.

As part of the ICE District Properties Joint Venture, KGRE and ONE Properties are leading the development of ICE District. KGRE has been involved in land assembly, site and building development across Canada and the United States for more than 15 years.

ONE Properties is a North American real estate company headquartered in Edmonton with projects located in progressive markets spanning five major asset classes including: retail, industrial, office, residential and mixed-use. Felesky Flynn LLP has operated in Edmonton since 1978 providing a depth of talent and a dedicated focus in tax planning, tax representation and litigation.

“Since the beginning, Katz Group Real Estate has played an integral role in adding Edmonton Tower to the city skyline,” said Glen Scott, president of KGRE. “Our organization is excited to operate within ICE District where we will have a front row seat to watch the transformation of downtown Edmonton.”

Designed to LEED Gold standards, Edmonton Tower’s list of tenants include: The City of Edmonton, Kids & Company Child Care, RBC Dominion Securities, Sorrell Financial, Gateway Newstands, Tim Hortons, Cacao 70 and more. The city is the largest tenant in the new building, leasing a total of 17 floors.

TAC Real Estate Corp is rebranding to MLA Realty

Western Canada’s largest real estate services company, McNeill Lalonde & Associates (an acronym for MLA Canada), is rebranding their brokerage TAC Real Estate Corp to MLA Realty. MLA Realty, joins parent company, MLA Canada, aligning with the brand’s existing commitment to delivering results, exceptional customer service and experience while enhancing their offer through brokerage services.

Over the years, TAC Real Estate has connected buyers, sellers and investors with homes in vibrant communities across the Lower Mainland. Property services include resale, new developments, and land assembly, and the firm is licensed for rental property management. Since its inception in 2009, the boutique brokerage has also managed the successful sales of many pre-sale developments including Burquitlam Capital and Keefer Block to name a few.

“Our new brand aligns our entities under MLA Canada as we continue to innovate how the world imagines, creates, consumes, and enjoys real estate,” said Ryan Lalonde, president and partner of McNeill Lalonde & Associates. “We are excited to unveil MLA Realty which exemplifies exceptional service and results for our clientele, and their home and lifestyle plans.”

The brokerage has offices in Vancouver’s Westside and Coquitlam servicing Greater Vancouver, Squamish and the Fraser Valley Regional Districts. Within this breadth of service, MLA Realty has expertise within Vancouver and the Tri-Cities, two markets experiencing economic growth in both the residential and commercial market.

“MLA Realty is introducing a new look into real estate that includes our interactive website with local market analytics, and a remarkable family of realtors,” explains Peter Talbot, managing broker of MLA Realty who will continue to oversee the standalone brokerage. “Our priority is to ensure a seamless and enjoyable home experience. Whether a client is selling a property or purchasing a new home, we recognize this is a significant investment and exciting life event for them.”

Blackbird to open new Vancouver gaming studio

Blackbird Interactive Inc. (BBI) will be moving its operations to a brand new 28,000 square foot office space at 565 Great Northern Way in the heart of Vancouver’s newest tech hub starting in late 2018.

Adjacent to the new Emily Carr University of Arts and Design and the Centre for Digital Media, the new seven story glass building will feature 160,000 square feet of office space. It is slated for completion in Q1 of 2018, and is the first of many commercial spaces being added to the False Creek Flats neighbourhood of Vancouver. PCI Group is the developer.

BBI currently occupies a 9,000 square foot studio in the Great Northern Way Campus. To accommodate rapid growth BBI is expanding to include a temporary 10,000 square foot space in Mount Pleasant until its new space becomes available later that same year. Moving forward, BBI intends to maintain both Great Northern Way locations.

BBI has become a magnet for game developers, drawing in world-class talent both locally and from abroad. The company has more than doubled in size over the last 18 months, will surpass 100 employees as of January 2018, and will reach 160 by the time it is ready to move into its new headquarters next year. This move secures the company enough studio space to reach upwards of 300 employees over the next five years.

“It blows my mind to think how far we’ve come. Blackbird is blessed with some very special people. It is their talent and hard work that has made this growth possible,” said Rob Cunningham, Blackbird Interactive CEO.

“They deserve the very best workplace we can create and in this awesome city, finding studio space is a huge challenge. Fortunately for us, we’ve been tenants of the Great Northern Way Campus since day one of its spectacular development, and are positioned perfectly to make the most of it.”

New trade partners move up Canada’s wish list

Canadian construction and design service providers have a lucrative new market to crack at a time when trade specialists advise vendors to try to expand their horizons. The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) isn’t expected to suddenly propel a wave of Canadian firms onto short lists for EU projects, but it does open up opportunities to start building relationships with potential customers.

“We call ourselves a trading country, but we (mostly) trade with one country,” Milos Barutciski, a partner and co-head of international trade with Bennett Jones LLP, told seminar attendees at the recent Buildings Show in Toronto. “With CETA, the EU government procurement market is theoretically open. Before, you were simply disqualified if you were in Canada. Now, you are qualified.”

The prospect of new trade partners, whether through CETA or a future Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), is appealing as the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) appears to flounder. Barutciski can be counted with two of the three seminar panellists who predicted NAFTA’s demise.

Many observers of the negotiations thus far speculate that the United States has deliberately tabled contentious demands — including an elevated requirement for U.S. content in automotive exports from Canada and Mexico and a dispute mechanism that would allow the U.S. to challenge almost any cross-border transaction — to goad the other parties and paint them as uncooperative.

“The poison pills set up Canada as a convenient bogeyman,” suggested Omar Khan, vice president, public affairs, with Hill + Knowlton Strategies.

“I think Canada will be the fall guy,” Barutciski concurred.

In contrast, Export Development Canada (EDC) is holding to a more optimistic stance. “We are seeing a growing chorus of voices in the U.S., pro-NAFTA,” reported Todd Evans, EDC’s director, corporate research. “We think NAFTA will be renegotiated, but it’s still not a time for complacency in that regard.”

Breaking an integrated supply chain

The philosophy of NAFTA is more important to its supporters than many of the details of the current agreement. Canadian officials have always said they are open to an update that would be more reflective of 21st century economies.

While the 1994 version is primarily focused on tariffs and the trading of goods, Canadian companies are increasingly focused on a global marketplace for skills and project management acumen. In the construction/infrastructure sector, for example, Evans tallied $3.5 to $4 billion in equipment rentals, construction and engineering services on top of the approximately $18 billion worth of materials and equipment that Canada exports to the U.S. every year.

Overall, services now account for about 20 per cent of Canada’s export portfolio. “That’s why some of these newer trade deals are much more relevant,” he said.

As NAFTA was devised to do, tariffs within North America have dropped to an average of 2.5 per cent, thus giving smaller-scale importers a viable economic option to simply pay them rather than navigate formal NAFTA channels. “A lot of small companies are telling us the paperwork is too onerous and it’s (the tariff) something they can manage,” Evans noted.

Beyond the potential for rising tariffs, NAFTA’s demise would present significant costs and complications for the larger players forced to disentangle what Barutciski characterizes as “an integrated supply chain”. Most trade is in intermediate goods that go into the manufacture of a final product in the importing country, and a large share of Canadian and Mexican goods also go directly to the exporters’ U.S. subsidiaries. “About half of what we sell to the U.S. is inside a company,” Evans explained.

“There is virtually no industry that isn’t going be affected if NAFTA goes down,” Barutciski warned — and he foresees the greatest risk ultimately from ensuing economic damage in the U.S. “The old saying is: when the U.S. gets a sniffle, we get pneumonia.”

Influential U.S. advocates for NAFTA include its automotive and agricultural sectors, a large number of state governments and a perceived majority of Congressional representatives. However, none possess the power to make the deal, while U.S. President Donald Trump can break it.

“Trade agreements are where policy and politics collide like a freight train,” Khan mused. “The President, I don’t think wants a deal.”

If negotiations fail, the broad coalition of Canadian interests currently promoting NAFTA could also fracture fairly quickly. “The Trudeau government will come under intense pressure from the left and the right. I think you will hear a lot of rhetoric,” Khan said.

Cultivating new trade partners

Despite sending nearly 72 per cent of exports just across its border, Canada has actually broadened its trading base somewhat since earlier in the 2000s when 80 per cent of exports were destined for the United States. Nevertheless, Evans reiterated that Canada has largely tied itself to a “slow growth market”.

“Canada is at the bottom of the pack (in the OECD) in terms of export growth,” he said.

Courting new trade partners won’t necessarily be easy or an immediate fix, but the panellists unanimously endorsed the strategy. Khan recalled Canada’s historical efforts to cultivate what was known as the third option or third way. “It’s very hard to do when the largest economy in the world is next door,” he acknowledged.

Now, however, Canada has potential leverage as one of the largest economies among the 11 parties still pursuing the CPTPP, particularly when other potential partners are nervous about getting outmanoeuvred in bilateral agreements with the U.S. and/or China. The forerunner TPP, an initiative of former U.S. President Barack Obama, proposed a 90 per cent reduction in tariffs — a move Barutciski calls “huge” in a region with high trade barriers.

“The Asia allies — Japan, Australia, New Zealand — they want this deal so bad,” Khan submitted. “These are the markets we need to target to enable the third way.”

“If it can be done, Canada will be in there and will have an advantage ahead of the U.S.,” Barutciski agreed.

Given that it took seven years to negotiate CETA, that could still be a long way off. Meanwhile, ratification of CETA really just launches a new leg of the journey for Canadian deal-makers. Barutciski sketched some of the challenges inherent in a trading partner composed of 28 (albeit slated to drop to 27) separate nation states, each with its own governance and business culture.

“They just love to regulate over there,” he cautioned. “You need to think it through on a country-by-country basis, but it’s opening up the opportunity of entering certain markets ahead of your U.S. counterparts.”

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

FirstOnSite – 2017 in Review

It’s been a milestone year for FirstOnSite Restoration. From revitalizing essential services and businesses during the BC Wildfires to bringing order following the chaotic Windsor windstorms, the team has responded coast-to-coast helping commercial and residential clients recover from the unexpected.

“We’ve seen a lot this year, especially when it comes to natural events,” says Bill Fender, Senior Vice President of Commercial Properties with the company. “With weather patterns changing, disasters like wildfires, flooding, and extreme rainfalls are becoming the new normal.”

This fact is not lost on Canada’s property stakeholders. FirstOn Site leaders have observed property owners and managers becoming more and more aware of the risks to their properties and planning ahead for both recurring incidents and natural disasters alike.

“Today’s commercial real estate stakeholders are taking measures to be more prepared by undergoing upfront planning, practicing those plans consistently, and integrating those plans into an end-to-end solution so that all the necessary protocols and partners are in place,” notes Fender. “We’re seeing more and more of that recently because clients are realizing they aren’t as prepared as they thought they were.”

FirstOnSite has always been an advocate for emergency planning. It has rolled out disaster awareness training and planning services to its clients through its Priority Response Emergency Plan (PREP) program for businesses, which pairs clients with FirstOn Site professionals for collaborative planning sessions.

“Emergency planning is something we’ve been championing with our clients for years,” insists Fender. “Today, however, the pendulum is shifting. Where in the past we were the ones trying to get clients to think about pre-planning, clients are now reaching out to us to get those conversations started.”

2017 also drove home the importance of technology in the field. This was especially true for some of FirstOnSite more remote projects, where mobile technologies and cloud-based systems played a critical role in connecting teams across multiple sites, as well as tracking their progress and relaying vital information to stakeholders.

“In the past, we relied on phone calls and emails to keep everyone on track and that wasn’t always reliable. Now, we have the tools to send updates electronically and resources like our mobileCT tablet based technology and Customer Gateway App to share information in real time to stakeholders. In the end, it leads to everyone working more efficiently towards quickly mitigating losses and minimizing disruptions.”

Technology also took the spotlight during FirstOnSite’s work with the BC wildfires. Here, Fender and the team were tasked with managing indoor air quality issues for 130 critical commercial properties such as government offices, banks, grocery stores, and essential businesses, to help residents stay in their communities and function on a day-to-day basis.

“It was an unusual event,” he recalls. “We were on the ground in 24-hours and had to figure out our logistics on the fly when it came to working within a series of remote, sparsely populated communities over a very wide geographical location. That only emphasized the critical nature of communications and the need to have all those partnerships, plans, and communication protocols locked down so everyone was in the loop.”

No doubt, the BC Wildfires stand out as the most challenging and rewarding experiences in Canada for 2017. Still, ask the FirstOnSite team what they’re most proud of over the last year, and they’ll say it’s their success in demonstrating the true value of working with a restoration partner before, during, and after an event.

“That’s our real value to property managers – being a one-stop shop for clients anywhere in Canada, whether it’s a major metropolitan area or a remote location. Over this past year, we’ve been proud to show that due to our tight structure, we can provide that same level and standard of service in any community in Canada on a consistent basis,” says Fender.

As for what’s to come in 2018, he adds the company plans to continue bringing innovations to the market and leveraging its experience, best practices, and technology to help clients both prepare for the unexpected and recover from disasters: “That’s how we see us moving forward … as a true comprehensive services partner that helps our clients prepare and manage risk before an event.”

Bill Fender is Senior Vice President of Commercial Properties 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, visit www.firstonsite.ca.

Humber College: Beacon of Knowledge

The changing of the seasons, from summer to fall, signals the school year is in full swing. At post-secondary institutions across the country, hallways are abuzz with chatty scholars bustling to and from classes, cafeterias are brimming with ravenous students and the excited exchange of ideas, and campus libraries and study rooms are filled with the low hum of quiet conversation.

But on Oct. 16, just six weeks into the fall semester, school sounds at colleges across Ontario fell silent. At a time when students actively begin prepping for midterms, they were instead at home sidelined by a strike. Talks between the union representing faculty at the province’s 24 public colleges and the College Employer Council broke down the night prior, putting more than 12,000 full-time and partial-load instructors on picket lines and the academic year indefinitely on hold.

Though schools were effectively closed that Monday, operations didn’t completely cease. Inside campus walls, administrative staff tended to business as usual in what was now a serene setting. At Humber College, Spencer Wood missed the hustle and bustle of working at an active school site; however, the director of facilities management was quick to admit the absence of the school’s 30,000 students made his job easier.

“We’re able to work in spaces during the day that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to if classes were in session,” says Wood.

A fixture at Humber for nearly 20 years, serving in multiple roles throughout his tenure, Wood currently oversees facilities management at the school’s North and Lakeshore campuses, as well as leads strategic initiatives related to his department. He and his team of approximately 50 in house staff are responsible for providing a safe, clean, healthy and properly maintained environment that supports well-being and promotes excellence in teaching and learning. This is more easily achieved since the introduction of software platform Archibus in 2015. The new integrated workplace management software enables Humber staff and academic professionals to submit and track work order requests for repairs, cleaning and other general building operations concerns.

Still, it’s no easy feat maintaining the college given its sheer size – 3 million square feet spread over two campuses – and the geographic location of both sites (a 30-minute drive apart, depending on traffic), so the school contracts out a number of services, including cleaning, snow removal and grounds maintenance, to name a few.

Contracts are typically put up for tender every five years. The college solicits competitive bids for services through written proposals. Humber has established guidelines that reflect its high-quality standards and outline the school’s value, price, delivery and safety requirements. Contractors are chosen through an open, fair, competitive and non-discriminatory process. Each bid is evaluated based on the technical response, including qualifications and references, and then price, explains Wood.

“Normally, the split is 70-30,” he continues. “We first assess the technical knowledge and then look at cost. If there are five bidders, for example, we rank them before opening the pricing. So, while the best contractor is the cheapest in an ideal world, that’s not always the one that wins the bid since we’re looking more at value than lowest price.”

However, expenditures have become a major talking point of late, driven by the Ontario government’s decision to raise the minimum wage to $14 an hour in 2018, and $15 an hour by 2019, which equates to an increase of 23 per cent in 15 months. (Currently, minimum wage is $11.60 an hour.) Wood says this jump will cost the college an additional $130,000 a year for the duration of its cleaning contract alone. Other contracts will also be affected, given that many were signed years prior to, and without knowledge or expectation of, the government’s minimum wage hike announcement in May.

“The cleaning contractor can’t absorb this type of increase because their contract is essentially all labour other than cleaning supplies, so Humber will have to pay the difference,” says Wood.

Going forward, however, Wood says the college will examine whether to include a wage rate price adjustment clause in its contracts, whereby the contractor will incur any costs related to a minimum wage increase, and/or give price greater consideration in the bid evaluation process, so long as it doesn’t impact quality of service.

Spencer Wood

Humber isn’t the only post-secondary school faced with assuming the burden of the cost increases related to the province’s planned minimum wage hike. And like most education institutions, it’s under budgetary pressures and has been for quite some time. To save money long-term, Humber has invested in a number of energy conservation initiatives that align with its sustainability goals to minimize the college’s environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions, and help conserve the world’s non-renewable energy resources.

“Our goal is to become a Canadian leader in energy efficiency,” says Wood, who is a certified energy manager, or CEM, a designation he earned in 2001 from the U.S. Association of Energy Engineers.

Since 2005, Humber has reduced energy consumption by 11 per cent while retiring deferred maintenance, cut down on greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent and decreased water consumption by 50 per cent. At the same time, the school’s student population has increased by 48 per cent and floor area by 23 per cent. Humber’s target is a 50 per cent reduction in energy usage by 2034.

To help achieve this objective, “We performed building envelope projects on four buildings at the North campus this past summer, essentially changing all the windows to triple pane and reinsulating or adding five inches of insulation to the buildings to reduce air infiltration,” says Wood. “The results aren’t in yet because we haven’t gotten to winter but the models are saying we’re going to save about 30 per cent of the heating energy.”

Wood’s department is also in the process of installing more than 700,000 square feet of new LED fixtures with wireless controls across both campuses. When complete, Humber is expected to save more than 60 per cent on lighting energy.

On the water front, the school has changed all urinals to 500-millilitre models and most washrooms now have motion-sensored auto shut-off taps. In 2014, facilities management partnered with the Humber student federation Ignite to install 100 new water refill stations across the Lakeshore and North campuses. According to built-in meters, the initiative has resulted in the avoidance of the use of more than 2.1 million plastic bottles to date.

Humber is also continuously working to reduce, reuse and recycle. Every year, the school conducts a waste audit in order to better understand its waste streams and improve the management of its waste. In 2016, the school diverted 63 per cent of its waste from landfill. The goal is to achieve 70 per cent by 2019.

But of greater interest, at least according to Wood, is how the college is tying key concepts in sustainability into core course content to affect long-term change. While generally not a facilities management role, this task falls under Wood’s leadership. He and his sustainability staff take time to educate students and faculty in various programs on how they can be more energy-efficient in their future careers.

In hotel management, for instance, one of the most environmentally impactful areas of operations – laundry – can be improved by using lower temperature settings for the wash cycle, investing in Energy Star rated appliances, installing laundry ozone systems, and so on.

“If Humber reduced its energy usage to zero tomorrow, the impact would be relatively small in the grand scheme of things,” he says. “But getting at those students so that they bring sustainability with them when they go off and find employment, that could change the world.”

Something Wood is looking forward to resuming now that the strike is over and classes are back in session.

Clare Tattersall is the editor of Facility Cleaning & Maintenance.

Photos by Robyn Russell.

Shopping centres prepare for the holidays

Creating immersive and memorable experiences for retail customers during the holiday season is a process that unfolds all year round at 19 Cadillac Fairview shopping centres across Canada.

“It’s one of the biggest cultural moments of the year, so it’s key for us to provide services and experiences that connect communities and bring them together to celebrate the season,” says Craig Flannagan, vice-president of consumer marketing, Cadillac Fairview.

Plans are kick-started in the spring, and as the national holiday program rolls out, regional property teams ensure activities reflect their specific market. Different locations bring challenges because property activities need to resonate with shoppers in each region.

Every year, new elements are added to the holiday list of to-dos. Last year, the company began to focus on shareworthy décor in its properties and interactive moments for visitors. To play up the open-concept environment of CF Shops at Don Mills in Toronto, a new fireside lounge and festive outdoor patio opened this season.

“The space is fully licensed and equipped with four fire pits where guests can warm up and relax on Muskoka chairs and benches as they enjoy food and holiday cheer from participating vendors,” says Flannagan.

In Vancouver, CF Pacific Centre welcomed a new CF Gift Wrap Valet service that launched at 12 other properties. Customers can have their gifts wrapped in a pop-up lounge, which offers complimentary drinks and snacks.

These unique offerings heighten the in-property experience for consumers at a time when online shopping continues to grow among Canadians. According to a new Angus Reid Institute poll, about 65 per cent of Canadians said they would do more online shopping in the next two years, while 19 per cent said the majority of their purchases would be online if they weren’t already.

However, 74 per cent of Canadians said they still prefer to shop in bricks-and-mortar stores for every product except entertainment media. And another survey by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada shows consumers prefer shopping in stores on Boxing Day rather than online.

“The bricks-and-mortar retail experience is not going away,” notes Flannagan. “We are still seeing strong foot traffic in our properties throughout the holidays, beginning with Black Friday. It’s our busiest time of the year.”

Purchasing a product immediately versus waiting for it to be shipped also leads to immediate consumer gratification, he adds.

“The retail landscape in Canada is undergoing dramatic shifts—today’s shopper is looking for a superior shopping experience and that’s why CF is constantly looking for ways to innovate,” he says, “Part of the excitement of holiday shopping is going to a local shopping property where there are hundreds of retailers to choose from to physically see what’s available.”

Returning holiday experiences like Christmas tree unveilings, live performances and Santa, including a Sensitive Santa, launched in partnership with Autism Speaks, help build a tradition at the properties.

“Our shoppers tell us they need inspiration and efficiency. This guides us in the experiences we build. It’s all about delivering an unforgettable experience.”

Interior renderings of Terrace House revealed

Interior renderings and details of Terrace House in Vancouver, the highly anticipated development by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban, have been revealed.

The interiors of the 20 limited homes are clean, pure, and blanketed with natural light resulting in the feeling of exposed spaces, reflective of Ban’s work. Custom fixtures and features throughout the building have all been designed by the architect, reflecting the developers’ commitment to the ultimate residences exuding exclusivity and livability.

“Terrace House has been thoughtfully executed and planned, drawing on Shigeru Ban’s iconic design codes to ensure that each of the 20 homes are individual works of art,” said Macario (Tobi) Reyes, founder and CEO of PortLiving.

The residences each have a full suite of smart home technologies, museum-quality glazing that helps to control temperature and provides UV protection for art collections. Fully-integrated air conditioning and heating systems paired with in-floor radiant heating and cooling extend onto enclosed balconies, creating comfort and maximizing use of indoor/outdoor living spaces all year-round.

Each home will offer views of the city skyline, mountains and inlet. Signature terraces flank the building, providing outdoor spaces off the living rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms in most residences. Landscaping, designed by world-renowned and decorated landscape architect, Cornelia Oberlander, will complete each terrace and the buildings common spaces

The homes within the upper timber levels feature vertical and horizontal wood structural beams and columns set against a minimalistic palette. Douglas Fir timber is used to construct these residences, harvested from sustainably managed forests in the Kootenay region of British Columbia, approximately 700 km from the project site.

“Terrace House is the pinnacle of modern development and will stand out among some of the greatest residential buildings in the world,” said Reyes. “Shigeru Ban and his team’s attention to detail is unparalleled and have ensured that each of these homes is truly unique to any other in Vancouver.”

Almost half of the homes at Terrace House occupy entire floor plates, some over multiple levels, with a vertical orientation allowing for only three homes to occupy the top seven floors of the building. With prices starting at $3 million, residences have been designed to maximize both privacy and exclusivity.

Currently under construction, the project is the first in Canada for Ban and is the tallest hybrid timber structure in the world.