Ontario investing in new and renovated schools

Ontario is investing in building 10 new schools, completing renovations or additions to 28 existing schools, and creating a combined total of 460 new licensed child care spaces across the province.

Education Minister Mitzie Hunter announced the 38 new capital projects in schools across the province while visiting Glen Brae Elementary School in Hamilton. The funding will go towards building modern learning environments and improving programming opportunities for students.

“By building the best possible learning environments for our students, we are laying the groundwork for their future success,” said Minister Hunter, in a press release. “These new and renovated schools will support the well-being and achievement of students across the province for years to come.”

This year, Ontario is investing $225 million in major school infrastructure projects across the province. Over the next five years, the province is investing up to $1.6 billion in new capital funding to support the creation of 45,000 new licensed child care spaces in schools, other public spaces and communities. Since 2013, Ontario has invested $9.3 billion in capital funding for school boards to help support the construction of over 120 new schools and 140 additions and renovations.

ASHRAE honours industry achievement

Canadians figure prominently among this year’s honourees for industry achievement and meritorious service to ASHRAE, announced at the 2017 annual conference, which is currently underway in Long Beach, California. Notably, Luc Bertrand of Saint-Lambert, Quebec, and George E. Menzies of Burlington, Ontario, received the distinguished 50-year member award, marking their outstanding contribution to advancing sustainable technology in the built environment over the past five decades.

Erich Binder, president of Calgary-based Erich Binder Consulting Ltd, and Bert Phillips, president of UNIES Ltd. in Winnipeg, were in exclusive company as two of just seven recipients of the exceptional service award. Five other Canadians were part of a larger group of 56 professionals worldwide who received the distinguished service award. They are: Robert Bean, president of Indoor Climate Consultants, Calgary; Douglas Cane, retired, London, Ontario; Kamel Haddad, senior research engineer, CanmetENERGY, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa; Michel Lecompte, vice president of engineering and R&D, RefPlus Inc., St. Hubert, Quebec; and Wahid Maref, a professor of engineering at École de Technologie Supérieure in Montreal.

Canadians also co-authored the article deemed the best submission to the ASHRAE Journal in the judging period. Hugh Crowther, vice president of engineering, and Yi Teng Ma, an applications engineer at Swegon in Markham, Ontario, were recognized for the article, Design Considerations for Dedicated OA Systems, originally published in March 2016.

Among other prominent conference events, incoming 2017-18 ASHRAE president, Bjarne W. Olesen, outlined the theme for his tenure — Extending Our Community — in his inaugural address. “I look forward to working with my fellow ASHRAE officers and members this year to extend our global community, adapt to new technologies and embrace our shared needs and objectives,” said Olesen, who is a professor at the Technical University of Denmark.

Joining him as an officer is Darryl K. Boyce, assistant vice president, facilities management and planning, at Carleton University in Ottawa, who was elected as treasurer for the 2017-18 term. Tim J. McGinn, a partner with DIALOG in Calgary, was also introduced as director-at-large for 2017-2020.

New bus maintenance facility opens in Oshawa

The Raleigh Bus Maintenance and Storage Facility has officially opened in Durham Region, supporting more bus rapid transit (BRT) and make commuting faster and more convenient for residents.

The state-of-the-art, 5,770-square-metre maintenance facility replaces the original maintenance area that was built in 1964. The facility, which cost approximately $26 million in total to construct, was entirely funded by the province. It features enough space to maintain and service 85 buses and is on track to earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification, recognizing the building’s sustainable and energy-efficient features, including a rainwater collection system.

The Raleigh Bus Maintenance and Storage Facility is part of the Durham Highway 2 BRT project, which also includes road improvements to a 31 kilometre route located between downtown Oshawa and the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, with stops in Whitby, Ajax and Pickering along the way. The new facility will provide essential maintenance and service support to the BRT project.

As part of the Quick Wins program in the 2008 Ontario Budget, the province committed $82.3 million to Durham Region to support this project. In 2016, the province also invested $10 million to move forward on the planning, design and engineering work for the proposed BRT route between Oshawa and Scarborough. BRT service along Regional Highway 2 launched in 2013, with a fleet of 26 new, accessible, clean diesel buses.

“This new state-of-the-art maintenance facility will keep the Region’s buses running safely, efficiently and reliably for years to come,” said Roger Anderson, regional chair and chief executive officer of the Regional Municipality of Durham, in a press release. “Our vehicles travel millions of kilometres a year. This investment is an important step to growing ridership in the Region.”

CIBC Square begins to rise on Bay Street

Work has officially begun on CIBC Square, an office development expected to boast the largest floor plates in downtown Toronto once it’s completed.

Formally known as Bay Park Centre, the Ivanhoé Cambridge and Hines venture will rise to 2.9 million square feet, as one of the last office projects with a Bay Street address in the business district.

The development will feature two office buildings (49 and 50 floors), and a one-acre elevated park over the railway, connecting the two properties at the fourth floor level. The programming of the park has been developed in co-ordination with Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, which operates and curates the activities of New York City’s Bryant Park.

Office and collaborative spaces will offer expansive views of Lake Ontario and Toronto’s skyline. The 81 Bay Street building is scheduled to be completed in 2020. The second building, at 141 Bay Street, and the elevated park over the railway will be completed in 2023.

“CIBC Square will be a remarkable addition to Toronto’s skyline and a significant contributor to its thriving economy,” said Daniel Fournier, chairman and chief executive officer of Ivanhoé Cambridge.” We are delighted to make a significant and sustainable impact to the development of Canada’s largest city, with an elegant, modern and efficient project.”

Additional amenities will include modern fitness and bicycle-parking facilities with showers exclusive to tenants, an international style eatery offering a selection of nutritious and healthy food options, and a variety of other restaurant options, including a white-tablecloth restaurant, a casual restaurant, and a café. There will also be interior VIP parking and limo/taxi pick-up and drop-off facilities for building occupants and their clients.

WilkinsonEyre and Adamson Associates designed CIBC Square to attain LEED Platinum Core & Shell certification, WELL Certification and WiredScore Platinum accreditation.

“With this project, we are contributing vibrant, technically and socially advanced architecture befitting the city for decades to come,” added Hines Canada CEO Kevin Shannahan.

SNC-Lavalin sells Montreal headquarters to GWL Realty Advisors

SNC-Lavalin has sold its Montreal head office building and the adjacent empty lot of land for approximately $170 million to GWL Realty Advisors.

SNC-Lavalin will lease back the René-Lévesque Boulevard West building for 20 years, and is planning a major workplace renovation to outfit the office with modern designs according to best practices in efficiency, flexibility, innovation and teamwork. Consultation and planning for this project have already started.

“This sale brings several benefits, notably the opportunity to create a work environment that enhances collaboration for our Montreal-based employees, most of whom will be brought together in one main location,” said Neil Bruce, president and chief executive officer.

By undertaking significant renovations to modernize the current workspace, the company said it will also strengthen its main objective “to build a performance-driven culture that inspires employees to be more collaborative and enhances overall efficiency and productivity.”

“SNC-Lavalin is here to stay. Our long-term lease demonstrates our commitment to Montreal and to Quebec,” added Bruce. “We have been an integral part of Montreal’s fabric for over a century, and will continue our growth from our downtown Montreal headquarters for years to come.”

The pros and cons of different humidifiers

In mechanical systems for buildings, benefits in some areas may come with trade-offs in other areas. For example, the lowest possible upfront cost might mean future costs for consumables. Conversely, a larger upfront investment might deliver payback in the form of maintenance-free operation for months or even years. Following that logic, it’s helpful to consider maintenance requirements when selecting a humidification system.

Every humidifier system requires some level of maintenance. The type of system chosen will directly affect the amount of time, effort, and expense that must be invested to keep the equipment running at peak performance. The following overviews describe maintenance scenarios by humidification system type, along with their benefits and tradeoffs.

Electrode humidifiers: Low upfront cost, fast/simple maintenance, more consumables

Electrode steam humidifiers are designed with replaceable steam cylinders, rather than cleanable tanks. All minerals in the fill water stay in the steam cylinder as water is boiled away. It could be thousands of hours before enough minerals build up in the steam cylinder to affect performance. Most electrode steam humidifiers display a message when the steam cylinder reaches the end of its life. All that’s required is a very brief shutdown ─ just long enough to swap in a new steam cylinder and discard the old one.

The benefits of an electrode steam humidifier are low upfront costs and time saved not cleaning a tank. The tradeoff is future costs for replacement steam cylinders ─ which will vary depending on water quality and frequency of use.

Heated tank humidifiers: Average upfront cost, longer maintenance interruptions, no consumables

Gas-fired, resistive electric and steam-to-steam humidifiers can deliver high performance and high capacities, even with tap water. Further, these systems can be programmed to skim and drain their tanks more frequently if the fill water is very hard. This minimizes minerals in the tank and means fewer and shorter shutdowns for cleaning.

The tradeoff is longer interruptions in steam output for routine tank maintenance, as steam cannot be produced when a tank is refilling with cold fill water. This could be an issue in applications where tight relative humidity control is critical.

Combined humidifier and water treatment systems: Higher upfront cost, little or no maintenance for the life of the humidification system, some consumables

Gas-fired, resistive electric and steam-to-steam humidifiers can deliver high performance and high capacities with little or no maintenance year after year ─ if water treatment is included in the system.

Softened fill water will eliminate much of the required maintenance, as soft-water scale is much easier to remove than hard-water scale. Better yet, it is possible to practically eliminate maintenance with reverse-osmosis or deionized supply water. These systems provide ultra-pure fill water, so the tank and heaters or heat exchangers could possibly look like new even after thousands of hours of operation.

Humidification systems that run year round and/or need tight relative humidity control benefit the most from reverse-osmosis or deionized water.

The tradeoff, in a building that does not already have a water treatment system, is the cost of a water treatment system. Also, water softeners require salt refills, while reverse-osmosis and deionization systems require occasional filter, membrane, and resin bed service.

The best of both worlds, of course, is a steam humidifier and a reverse-osmosis system in a single package. Such systems are commercially available and finding great success in applications where space is limited and single-point water, electrical, and drain connections are desired for both the water treatment system and the humidifier.

Pressurized steam-injection humidifiers: Upfront cost varies with building/application size, minimal maintenance, no consumables

Pressurized steam injection humidifiers typically cost less per application than steam-generating humidifiers, because they disperse boiler steam that is already being generated for heat or other building purposes. Costs vary by the length and quantity of dispersion tubes and the quantity and types of traps, fittings, and modulating valves. There are few items to inspect every few months, such as strainers, steam traps, valves, and seals, but these are not high-maintenance items and are easy to clean or replace.

While pressurized steam-injection humidifiers leverage the output of an existing boiler or central steam plant, the tradeoff is that boiler chemicals carried by the steam enter the airstream along with the steam. Buildings with processes or occupants requiring steam that is free of chemicals should not use boiler steam for humidification.

High-pressure atomization: Higher upfront cost, very low energy consumption, minimal maintenance, no consumables

High-pressure atomizing systems can deliver humidification and cooling for large or small loads with very tight control. Because they use heat in already in the air for evaporation, they are inexpensive to operate. Because these systems require pump stations or air compressors, control systems, and stainless steel piping, they have a higher upfront investment with a payoff of very little maintenance.

Most high-pressure atomizing systems require ultra-pure water to avoid covering surfaces with hard-water dust. Like steam humidification systems using treated water, the tradeoff is the additional cost of water treatment and water treatment system maintenance.

Wetted-media systems: Lower upfront cost, very low energy consumption, minimal maintenance, some consumables

Wetted-media systems are inexpensive to purchase, require very little maintenance, and do not require treated water. While wetted media systems are not capable of tight control, higher-end systems can monitor upstream and downstream conditions and automatically cycle though modes of operation to maximize water use and extend media life.

The tradeoff is that the media needs to be inspected periodically and replaced if sagging under the weight of hard-water scale or deteriorated from prolonged use.

Choose a system, choose maintenance levels

Each type of humidification system has its advantages, and all require some level of maintenance. Thinking through the complete lifecycle when purchasing a humidification system will ensure that both system performance and ongoing maintenance requirements are good fits.

Dave Schwaller has designed and applied evaporative cooling and humidification systems for both traditional and custom HVAC applications for more than 19 years. Dave has been a product development engineer for DriSteem’s gas-to-steam and steam-to-steam humidification product lines, and he has been a product manager for DriSteem’s evaporative cooling systems, water treatment systems, and new technologies. In his current role, Dave is a senior applications engineer on DriSteem’s inside sales team.

Design for world’s tallest timber tower revealed

The design of the world’s tallest hybrid timber tower, by Shigeru Ban Architects, has been revealed by Vancouver-based developer PortLiving. Named Terrace House, the project will be located in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour neighborhood, adjacent to the landmark-listed Evergreen Building, designed by late architect Arthur Erickson.

Ban designed the residential tower as a tribute to its neighbour, picking up the architectural language of triangular shapes, natural materials, and an abundance of greenery.

“Shigeru Ban has tremendous respect for Arthur Erickson’s work. It was the opportunity to design a building next to one of Erickson’s masterpieces that initially drew him to this innovative project,” said Dean Maltz, Managing Partner at Shigeru Ban Architects Americas.

The tower will stand 19 storeys and 71 metres tall, one storey higher than the current world’s tallest timber building – Brock Commons on the UBC campus. This marks the first time Shigeru Ban Architects has undertaken a project in Canada.

PortLiving has assembled a world-class team to bring Ban’s vision to life, including the original landscape architect who worked on the neighbouring Evergreen Building, Cornelia Oberlander. Another prominent member of the project team is internationally renowned wood structural engineer, Hermann Blumer.

“We have brought together the best of the best – a team of true experts in creative collaboration, working together for the first time ever on a single project. The result is truly a once-in-a-lifetime project setting new standards in design and construction,” said Macario (Tobi) Reyes, founder and CEO of PortLiving. “Every detail has been considered right down to the specific foliage on the terraces.”

The goal of this innovative wood, glass, and concrete tower is to make a prominent gesture that demonstrates Vancouver’s commitment to forward-thinking sustainable design and advanced timber engineering and construction.

The project is expected to undergo a 22-month construction period after the existing structure is completely demolished.

HST misconception a sleeping giant

Income tax considerations have received a lot of attention lately in Canadian condominium corporations. Meanwhile, it looks like another type of tax has been flying under the radar and could become a potentially significant liability for condominium corporations, boards of directors and management companies who may be unaware of or even ignoring the issue.

HST or harmonized sales tax is a term not normally associated with condominium corporations. That may be due to some misleading articles and misinterpretations of the current law in Canada over the past decade. This article will focus on clarifying in general terms the HST rules as they relate to condominium corporations in Canada. The objective is to raise awareness so that owners, boards of directors and management can consider whether they may be affected by the issue. If so, then they should most certainly seek out professional advice.

The largest source of the confusion has been with some previous pronouncements that “condominium fees in Canada are exempt from HST.” This statement is much too general: the law does exempt condominium fees, but only “residential” condominium fees. Therefore, what people often do not realize is that, generally, condominium fees on commercial units are not exempt and are in fact taxable.

Complicating the matter are other types of revenues that are also taxable and have become more prominent over the past few years. Revenues such as guest suite and party room rentals, roof rentals for telecommunications equipment and certain types of parking rentals may also be subject to HST. This is not a complete list; there are additional revenues that condominium corporations earn and will need to be considered as well. These “other” or “ancillary” revenues can add up to thousands of dollars per year and are often overlooked when condominium corporations assess whether they are required to collect and remit HST.

So what are the rules to determine whether a condominium corporation must register and charge HST on these previously mentioned sources of revenue? The legislation has a “small supplier” rule, which applies to non-profit organizations. Since condominium corporations are generally considered non-profit organizations, they do not have to register and collect HST if their revenues, referred to as “taxable supplies,” are less than $50,000 for the year. Therefore, each condominium corporation has to add up all of these taxable supplies. If the total exceeds $50,000 on an annual basis the condominium corporation has to apply for a tax registration number and begin to collect and remit HST.

While many condominium corporations will fall well under this threshold, there is an exceedingly large number of condominium corporations that will find themselves above the threshold for exemption and that may have never even considered the implications. To examine the potential tax liability, it’s necessary to understand the system of collecting and remitting HST.

If a condominium corporation is in Ontario and exceeds the threshold for exemption, it would have to collect tax of 13 per cent HST on all commercial condominium fees and any other taxable supplies. However, they may be able to claim “input tax credits,” which are essentially some of the HST that they have paid out on their expenses, such as various operating costs and other repair and replacement projects.

There is a lot of uncertainty as to what input tax credits condominium corporations can claim. The considerations vary depending on the situation. Some of the questions that arise are: What percentage of total HST paid by the corporation can be claimed as an input tax credit? How should expenditures such as reserve fund charges be handled when they may or may not relate directly to the taxable revenues?

Where a condominium corporation has residential and commercial units or activities, it would be considered a mixed-use entity for HST purposes. There are various rules in the law that need to be considered with respect to claiming input tax credits for mixed-use entities, so it’s critical to seek professional advice. Ultimately, the condominium corporation must remit the net HST to the government, usually on a quarterly or annual basis.

So why call this a “sleeping giant” of an issue? Because it appears as if there are many condominium corporations in Canada that are clearly well above the small supplier threshold and are not registered and are not collecting and remitting the tax. In some cases, they may have exceeded the threshold for years without considering the tax.

There are also various strategies that a corporation can take to come into compliance with the law, such as making a voluntary disclosure. Therefore, if a corporation appears to be in a position where they are required to collect and remit HST they should immediately seek professional advice.

Whatever direction a board or management chooses, continuing to ignore the issue and hoping it will go away is a risky strategy. If this goes unreported the corporation could be held liable for the unreported tax as well as penalties and interest. The government normally has a specific period of time to reassess a tax return, but a corporation is always liable for HST it has never reported. This could amount to many thousands of dollars and it can be resolved by registering and collecting the tax. While accounting for and collecting the HST are added burdens on management, a sudden assessment for unreported and uncollected taxes represents a much larger burden to the corporation.

Stephen Chesney is a Chartered Accountant and partner with the firm Parker Garber & Chesney, LLP in Richmond Hill and currently specializes in the auditing of Ontario condominium corporations.

Wellness key in future office building designs

The conversation around building health and wellness and thermal comfort is not new in the building industry, but now tenants are beginning to acknowledge these as requirements in their buildings, according to Kevin Welsh, sustainability designer, Integral Group.

He was one of three speakers from Integral Group at the CaGBC 2017 conference, discussing office design and how tenants are influencing change by pushing for sustainable commercial real estate.

Flexibility, adaptability and a more integrated approach to connect building wellness and occupant health with a high performance building design were identified as key considerations for future office buildings in Vancouver.

The session highlighted past office design trends, the Vancouver office market, what tenants want, the City of Vancouver’s new rezoning requirements and new office towers in the pipeline.

Integral vice president Goran Ostojic advised tenants are looking at several factors in buildings such as will the space enhance their brand and culture; support recruitment/retention and collaboration. Also a big focus for tenants is employee health and wellness.

For the first time, tenants are looking at spaces to see if it will be healthy for employees, will it be comfortable and will it enhance productivity, said Ostojic.

Another trend is to put more people into the same area by making that space more flexible to accommodate work styles such as telecommuting and hot desking. Ostojic discussed how the square footage of office space per person has decreased over the past 20 years, using Integral’s office as an example where it is 130 square feet per person today.

With about 10 new towers being considered in Vancouver, Ostojic said they expect to see a new record for cost per square footage. He provided an overview of four exciting new office buildings coming to downtown Vancouver: 1133 Melville, 400 West Georgia, Waterfront office tower and Vancouver Centre II.

“1133 Melville just got approved and will be the smartest building in Vancouver and aiming for a net zero design. 400 West Georgia is an architectural wonder which should hit the ground this December. The Waterfront office tower is very close to getting going and will be carbon neutral in operation,” he said.

As a result of the increased density in buildings, there will be increases in areas such as higher demand for ventilation. “Air quality is an integral piece to our human health and our wellbeing within the workplace,” said Welsh. “Daylighting is important. To support both excellent occupant experience with high glazing ratios, we will need to look at higher performance envelope assembly in designs.”

In the past, the focus was to build cost effectively and lease it, said Ali Nazari, principal at Integral, and this resulted in a number of problems including poor thermal comfort, not much daylighting and limited controllability.

“Buildings today focus on more flexibility to the tenant, higher glazing percentage to maximize daylighting and views …and have good envelopes so tenants can have good indoor air quality and thermal comfort,” he said.

He cited a few projects that were recently completed as examples including Telus Garden, 745 Thurlow and the MNP Tower. All three are iconic projects in Vancouver and feature low energy use intensity with huge savings in water and energy.

Commercial office building design will also be driven by the city’s new rezoning requirements. The rezoning requirements came into effect in May 2017 and is now more focused on the performance of a building rather than comparative analysis, explained Nazari.

The main goal of the policy is to move buildings towards low or near zero emissions (carbon). The city requires buildings to meet specific targets for energy use intensity, thermal energy demand intensity (TEDI) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI).

“Greenhouse gas is the most important one for the city,” said Nazari. “What that means is no more gas for space heating for office and residential buildings.”

New buildings that are being proposed are great examples of the connection between a high performance building and satisfying the City of Vancouver’s aggressive energy targets while also acknowledging the tenant experience within the space, said Welsh.

“Building responsiveness and the ability for smart building integration to help bridge the gap between traditional mechanical design and the future of tenant controllability and comfort is where we’re going to see a lot of focus in future buildings,” said Welsh.

However, he noted that an often overlooked component in new and existing buildings is the operation side. Buildings are handed over with high performance glazing and other systems that are designed to satisfy tenants but in “operation that can be pushed towards the wayside.”

“So we see an increased push in operation and maintenance and helping the base building maintain accountability for the performance of their systems which allows them to better keep track of thermal comfort and other pieces… and ultimately to the leasability of the space,” he said.

Cheryl Mah is managing editor of Canadian Property Management BC/Alberta.

Allied acquires 56 The Esplanade in Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market area

Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Allied) announced it has acquired 56 The Esplanade in Toronto for $60 million.

Located on the north side of The Esplanade, the property is a Class I building situated on 26,261 square feet of land. Built in 1903 for a manufacturer of flour milling equipment, the building was renovated and retrofitted over the past three decades. It spreads across 76,112 square feet of gross lease area that is 98 per cent leased to tenants.

“This is a strategic acquisition for Allied, in that it augments a large assembly we’ve made over time in the St. Lawrence Market area,” said Allied President and CEO Michael Emory. “It affords us a reasonable current yield, as well as a property-specific intensification opportunity and a larger intensification opportunity that we can pursue in conjunction with 35-49 Front East, the assembly we own to the north of the property. We do not expect to pursue either intensification opportunity in the near term.”

The property will augment Allied’s ownership 35-49 Front East, which is made up of properties with historically designated facades and includes 227 feet of uninterrupted frontage on the south side of the street and 39,203 square feet of underlying land.

Allied has owned 35-45 Front East since its IPO in 2003, 49 Front East since 2010 and 47 Front East since 2016.

56 The Esplanade

PCL awarded contract for Calgary Cancer Centre

PCL Construction Management Inc. (Calgary) has been awarded the $1.1 billion design-build contract for the new Calgary Cancer Centre project.

The Calgary Cancer Centre is PCL’s largest design-build lump sum project to date. The new facility will measure over two million square feet, including a 1,650-stall underground parking garage and a 984 linear foot elevated walkway that connects with existing facilities. There will be 160 inpatient beds; fifteen new radiation vaults; outpatient cancer clinics; a clinical trials unit; and research laboratories.

“PCL is honored to be leading the team that will bring this world-class facility to Calgary, knowing that we can help make a very real difference in our community to cancer patients and their families. Our company takes pride in all of the projects we build, and the Calgary Cancer Centre will be another exceptional facility where our health-care building expertise shines through,” said PCL president and CEO Dave Filipchuk.

The vision for the centre is to deliver leading comprehensive cancer care that integrates patient- and family-focused care, education, prevention, screening, and cancer research. It will also be one of the most energy efficient hospitals in North America, and LEED Silver certification is targeted.

PCL is looking forward to working with the province and local partners Dialog and Stantec on this project.

Construction will begin in late 2017 and is scheduled for completion in 2022.

Building services seen as precarious employment

Cleaners, security guards, parking attendants and building-specific food service workers could attain union certification through a streamlined one-step process if proposed amendments to Ontario’s Labour Relations Act are adopted. Building services are also among a handful of sectors subject to a special measure that would uphold collective agreements and bargaining units when contracts are re-tendered, while, more generally, proposed changes to the Employment Standards Act would apply to the vast majority of workplaces in the province.

A relatively fast-tracked schedule to raise the provincial minimum wage to $15 an hour by January 1, 2019 captured much of the attention when new legislation to address employers’ responsibilities and workers’ entitlements was tabled in the Ontario legislature earlier this month, but the envisioned overhaul of the two Acts — known as Bill 148 — encompasses dozens of revisions and additions to the rules. This follows the report and recommendations of the government’s appointed review panel, which consulted widely on the state of Ontario workplaces over a two-year period. Its final report was released a week before Bill 148 was introduced.

Some proposals, such as those related to overtime, holiday pay, emergency and medical leave, cover employees at all levels of the wage scale. Other measures are directed at people in low-paid, part-time and/or less stable positions, commonly defined as precarious employment, and Premier Kathleen Wynne did not shy from naming the source of many such jobs as she outlined highlights of the legislation.

“We will modernize rules around creating a union. That includes the extension of card-based certification to three vulnerable sectors — temporary workers, building services workers and home and community care workers,” she announced in a May 30 speech.

Labour Relations Act amendments

Workers in the designated sectors would gain the same flexibility that the construction trades already have to unionize without a formal vote. Under these rules, which have been in place for much of this decade, union organizers can submit an application to the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) for certification once they believe that at least 55 per cent of the potential membership of a bargaining unit has signed up. Employers have two days to respond after they’re notified of the application.

If there is no response, the bargaining unit is certified. If employers dispute the application — typically contending that it does not represent the required percentage of prospective members — the Labour Board can either order a formal vote if it’s determined that at least 40 per cent of prospective members of the bargaining unit have signed up, or dismiss the application for having too few signatories.

Recent research from Social Planning Toronto notes the obstacles to organizing workers such as cleaners, who move through multiple jobsites, often on erratic schedules where they interact with few colleagues. Although card-based certification requires a higher commitment threshold, at 55 per cent versus 50 per cent in a formal vote, it avoids the potentially contentious lead-up to that vote.

“Generally speaking, it’s easier for the union for two reasons: 1) the union has control over when and how they obtain the cards to be signed, and when they file the application with the Ministry, so they can wait until they have the numbers they need; and 2) the certification could happen without the company even knowing there is a certification effort underway,” explains Michael Horvat a partner who practices with Aird & Berlis LLP’s labour and employment group.

“For employers, it can be challenging to respond within two days, particularly if the application is submitted at 4 p.m. on a Friday. The timelines are extremely tight and very unforgiving,” says Andrew Pariser, vice president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON). “You do see a lot of certifications where there has been no response or submission from an employer.”

Nor are there necessarily set parameters for defining a bargaining unit and, accordingly, what 55 per cent of it might be. In addition to employees of contractors providing third party services, building owners/managers’ in-house maintenance and security staff would theoretically qualify for card-based certification.

“It will be interesting to see how it works out in building services. The requirement is only an appropriate unit, not the most appropriate unit,” Horvat adds.

Bill 148’s move to extend successor rights when building service contracts are re-tendered is likewise uncharted territory. Under current law, existing collective agreements remain in place when a business is sold because it is a transaction between the vendor and the purchaser, but they do not have to be honoured when a contract is re-tendered because there is no exchange of value between the outgoing and incoming contractor. The proposed amendment would specifically require building services contractors to take on the obligations of their predecessors.

“This is a significant change. This is now creating a connection that the law didn’t previously recognize,” Horvat says. “Effectively, the building location could be unionized for the service. It’s going to become an element of disclosure in transactions.”

It could also provide more stability for incumbent contractors. Looking to the construction sector, the highly unionized labour force serves as something of an equalizer. “In competitive settings, you can’t compete on the price of labour. That’s just the industry reality,” Pariser observes.

Operating costs and investor information

Full-day public hearings on the proposed Act are planned for 10 Ontario cities next month and written comments can be submitted until July 21. This will likely bring more discussion on the potential flow-through repercussions for building operating costs to light.

Industry insiders do expect a higher minimum wage will increase costs throughout the supply chain. Even where employers are already paying hourly rates around $15 there will be pressure to preserve the differential above the minimum wage for workers with more seniority — perhaps as part of the strategy to appease those who might contemplate unionization.

For the workers themselves, this should be welcome. Social Planning Toronto’s analysis reveals a divide even in sectors where wages are low and shifts are irregular. Data for 2,754 workers between the ages of 25 and 64 shows that 54 per cent of unionized workers earn at least $40,000 annually, compared to just 43 per cent of non-unionized workers. More notably, 59 per cent of unionized workers have a pension plan and 45.5 per cent have benefits versus 20 per cent of non-union workers with pension plans and a mere 13.3 per cent with benefits.

Yet, the legislation hits one of commercial real estate’s big-three operating costs at a time when the other two — utilities and property tax — are also under pressure. The Ontario government’s recent electricity cost adjustments largely benefit residential ratepayers, while May’s Global Adjustment of 12.31 cents per kilowatt-hour doesn’t exhibit any discernible discount for Class B commercial electricity customers. Simultaneously, many Ontario municipalities are phasing out property tax rebates for vacant commercial and industrial space.

“I’m hearing that some managers are actually beginning to modify their cleaning specifications because of continuing rising electricity costs,” reports Peter Willmott, a facilities management advisor at Ryerson University and a long-time instructor in real estate finance, management and operations with the BOMI Institute. “After landlords have done as much as they can to maximize energy efficiency, labour becomes the next cost-cutting option. Spiralling electricity costs along with new labour costs will likely lead to shrinking staff sizes.”

From a real estate investment perspective, there is some tentative momentum for disclosure and transparency relating to workforce conditions. The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) primarily tracks the environmental performance of portfolios, but survey participants are also asked to report: if they have policies regarding workers’ rights and labour-management relationships; whether their employees are trained on workplace and supply chain health, safety and well-being; and if their external contractors are subject to business ethics, human rights and health and safety requirements.

The Vancouver-based Shareholder Association for Research & Education (SHARE) is working with a UK-based non-governmental organization on a new workforce disclosure initiative, thus far signing on 18 Canadian institutional investors with $70 billion of assets under management for the inaugural survey and report. Although these entities are largely in the public equities class, more institutional investors in Canada and the United States are calling on their real estate arms or asset managers to consider social conditions for all who are employed somewhere in their portfolios.

“Reporting around employees is still framed very much as a cost for employers, but more and more funds have been adopting responsible contracting policies,” says Hugues Letourneau, SHARE’s senior environmental, social and governance (ESG) analyst. “Asset managers then embed responsible contracting in their RFPs.”

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

National Trust unveils Top 10 Endangered Places for 2017

Heritage treasures from British Columbia to Nova Scotia are featured on the National Trust for Canada’s Top 10 Endangered Places List for 2017.

First launched in 2005, the annual list spotlights historic places at risk due to neglect, lack of funding, inappropriate development or weak legislation.

“Canadians care about their special places, yet they face powerful forces that threaten to destroy them,” said Natalie Bull, executive director. “The National Trust’s Top 10 Endangered Places List has become a powerful tool in the fight to save places that matter.”

The list is compiled, in no particular order, from nominations submitted and from reports and news items that the National Trust has been following throughout the year. The national attention it brings may even play a role in reviving places that matter. For instance, the Guild Inn in Scarborough, Ontario was included in the Top 10 Endangered Places List in 2011 due to its risk of demolition by neglect. Today, the building and the surrounding public park have undergone a $20 million transformation.

Top 10 Endangered Places

The Black Horse Pub and Pig’s Ear Tavern (Peterborough, Ontario)
Not only well-known watering holes, but also landmarks in Peterborough’s downtown core. Both bars stand on either side of the historic Morrow Building, built in 1878-79.

Saint-Germain Cathedral (Rimouski, Quebec)
An iconic Roman Catholic Church in limbo, the structure was built between 1854 and 1862 and designed by the prominent French Canadian architect, Victor Bourgeau.

Young Avenue (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Serial demolition undermines the character of a historic residential boulevard. In 1896, the City of Halifax passed an act which encouraged beautification of the avenue and limited construction on the avenue; however, the act is no longer in effect.

Davisville Junior Public School/ Spectrum Alternative Senior School (Toronto, Ontario)
An exceptional mid-century modern school designed by noted architects Frederick Etherington and Peter Pennington. The Toronto District School Board intends to tear down it in 2020 after a new school is built next door.

Wallingford-Back Mine (Mulgrave-et-Derry, Quebec)
A stunning industrial landscape that became a beloved, recreational asset is threatened with destruction. It was first exploited by miners in 1924 to produce feldspar and quartz, and would later become one of the largest mines in North America.

Bryn Mawr (St. Johns, Newfoundland)
A historic former summer home and local landmark that us being threatened with demolition. Built in 1907, the residence was provincially designated by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and was municipally designated by the City of St. John’s in 2016.

Manie Opera Society (Lethbridge, Alberta)
The oldest building in downtown Lethbridge’s Chinatown district: empty, crumbling and awaiting reuse. The two-storey, flat roofed, stucco commercial building speaks to Chinese emigration to southern Alberta in the 1880s and 1890s and the once thriving Chinese Canadian commercial neighbourhood.

Somerset House (Ottawa, Ontario)
Derelict for 10 years, this landmark downtown building is teetering on the brink. A key building in the Centretown Heritage Conservation District, this Queen Anne style building has served many purposes and is now at the centre of a decade-long battle between the owner and the city.

Hangar 11 (Edmonton, Alberta)
One of the last World World II hangars at the former Edmonton Municipal Airport. Edmonton City Council has approved the redevelopment of the overall Blatchford Field site to accommodate a sustainable community. Hangar 11 is listed on the City’s Inventory of Historic Resources, but is not protected by formal designation.

Sinclair Centre (Vancouver, B.C)
For over a century, four federal heritage buildings have made up the Sinclair Centre, which is now at risk from office tower development. These buildings are listed on the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Register and identified as prominent and highly valued heritage buildings.

Brant Park pays back $100-mil to syndicate lenders

Lenders in a syndicate mortgage that funded Brant Park, a condominium apartment project in downtown Toronto by Lamb Development Corp. (Lamb) and Fortress Real Developments Inc. (Fortress), received their principal back in full, as well as an estimated annualized return of 8.12 per cent, announced Building and Development Mortgages Canada Inc. (BDMC).

The completion of construction and registration of Brant Park marks the twenty-first exit for syndicate lenders who have funded Fortress projects. To date, over $100 million of principal has been repaid to lenders, and the average estimated annualized returns in the 21 completed projects is 9.3 per cent. These exits have come following various stages: completion of construction, sale of lands and refinancing of the development site included among them.

“The $100 million paid back to lenders is a major milestone in our industry,” said Ildina Galati, BDMC principal broker, in a press release. “This year alone we have exited five development projects and this is a testament to the borrowers we work with, their experience, the strong due diligence they do in terms of understanding the market and the value they create for all stakeholders involved in the projects.”

“We are very pleased with returns our lenders have achieved through this structure,” added Glenn May-Anderson, Principal Broker at FDS Broker Services, a representative of several Brant Park lenders. “This milestone shows that the age old method of lending through a syndicate is a great way to invest in real estate.”

BDMC has closed over 14,000 lenders into syndicate mortgages in 80 projects across the country, ranging from high-rise residential to condo commercial projects, offering varying tenures and built forms to choose from. Through BDMC, over $885 million has been funded into development projects to date, with projects having a built out value of $6 billion.

Mississauga adopts greener purchasing practices

The City of Mississauga is updating its purchasing practices in order to make the decision-making process much more sustainable and ethical, with positive social impacts.

Yesterday, Council approved a proposed draft that city staff presented at the end of May. Making Better Choices: A Sustainable Purchasing Approach ensures that purchasing decisions favour environmentally preferable products and services, and views unethical vendor behavior as unacceptable. Supporting actions are expected to begin in 2018.

The City is seeing both environmental and financial gains from its greener cleaning supplies and services and projects like LED street lighting, but says it could do better.

“Sustainable purchasing in the broader sense of looking for savings on energy, packaging, waste materials or other sustainability issues isn’t new to the City of Mississauga, but it is ad hoc, and not nearly as impactful and effective as it could be when benchmarked against similar programming in other large Canadian cities,” the report states.

Next steps in the three-year implementation plan include testing these practices and introducing a Supplier Code of Conduct, which will promote the city’s intention to purchase from vendors with ethical practices.

“Price, quality and service have always been important purchasing criteria in Mississauga,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “We are now expanding our approach to make sure we take into account social, ethical and environmental aspects when we procure our goods and services. We need to look at the total cost of our purchases and change our corporate culture to put sustainability at the heart of our business.”

Environmental attributes will be considered to mitigate impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions, toxicity, energy consumption, waste generation and excessive resource use. Ethical factors will avoid sweatshop labour and ensure fair labour practices within production facilities. Social factors consider how purchasing promotes health and safety, local economic development, minority groups, indigenous economic development, social enterprises, Fair Wage, local food, Fairtrade or other measures.

The new policy will inspire staff to develop five core sustainability values. For example, “considering purchasing alternatives.” This could include reusing, refurbishing, sharing between divisions, ordering appropriate quantities, leasing rather than buying and dividing large and multiple contracts to provide greater access to bidding opportunities for suppliers of all sizes.

Simple steps to handle norovirus incidents

Cleaning professionals and food service operators be warned. Norovirus illness can happen all year long and is easily spread in group settings like schools, day camps, childcare facilities, hospitals and cruise ships.

Noroviruses are a group of viruses that can cause gastroenteritis in people, an illness that usually includes cramps, diarrhea and/or vomiting. In Canada, about 300 to 400 outbreaks of norovirus occur every year, with many unreported. Only the common cold appears more often.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, they are very contagious and can spread easily from person to person. Some foods can be contaminated at their source. For example, shellfish like oysters may be contaminated by sewage in water before they are harvested.

Last May, an outbreak was linked to raw and undercooked oysters from B.C., resulting in 331 clinical cases of gastrointestinal illness that were reported in three provinces: British Columbia (230), Alberta (42), and Ontario (59).

To protect the health and safety of restaurant patrons and facility occupants, here are some precautionary tips from DayMark Safety Systems, manufacturers of food safety, personal safety and facility safety products.

When a contamination occurs, the most important thing is to plan for it

1. Have a written spill-control program in place and make sure all employees are trained and understand it. A spill-control program should be in writing, so there is no confusion as to how to handle such situations.

2. Have one person designated to oversee emergency cleanup operations.

3. Have the proper spill cleanup kits in stock. In a large restaurant, have several. The kit should include such things as gowns, aprons, gloves, a mask/face shield to protect workers, towels, trash bags, and most importantly, an absorbent spill pad.

4. The absorbent spill pad should be approximately 21 inches by 25 inches, large enough to cover the affected area of most vomiting incidents. The absorbency of these pads can vary, with some pads designed to be as much as 8.5 times more absorbent than other brands, making product selection due diligence a must.

5. Ensure an EPA-registered disinfectant is included in the cleanup supplies, one that is effective against norovirus.

Infection control market could reach $300-billion-plus by 2025

The global infection control market is expected to reach more than $258 billion (U.S.) by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research.

Concern regarding the surge in hospital acquired infections is driving the market, making room for more infection control products. The resulting demand for sterilized formulations and new biologics are key growth factors.

Healthcare organizations are implementing strategies for early recognition, reporting, isolation and surveillance of disease incidents that are a public health concern.

Additionally, more intensive training modules for nurses and other medical staff on infection prevention and control is expected to add a high potential for more usage of infection control products.

For example, the College of Nurses of Ontario released guidelines concerning standard practices for maintaining hand hygiene to reduce contamination and the spread of infection. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released guidelines for disinfection and sterilization for efficient use of infection control products by healthcare personnel in wide array of healthcare settings.

A higher penetration rate of these products is anticipated to fuel market demand and revenue. North America has already captured a dominant share of the overall infection control market owing to extensive infection prevention activities being implemented in hospitals, medical device and pharmaceutical companies.

Meanwhile, the market in Asia Pacific is projected to see exponential growth during the forecast period as a result of increasing awareness of the spread of infections within healthcare settings and measures for prevention.