Facility service providers invited to apply for innovation awards

Entries are now being accepted for the 2017 ISSA Innovation Award Program. Manufacturers and facility service providers are invited to submit their innovative products and services for a chance to win an ISSA Innovation Award.

There are three award areas. First the ISSA Innovation Award names one winner who will be selected based on votes received from online and onsite voting and a panel of judges. The winner will be announced at the Innovation Awards Ceremony taking place at the 2017 ISSA/INTERCLEAN North America, in Las Vegas.

Second, five winners from each category will also be honoured. This is based on the product in each category that receives the most qualified unique votes on ISSA.com. Categories include:

Cleaning Agents
Dispensers
Equipment
Services and Technology
Supplies and Accessories.

In additon, the Visitors’ Choice Winner honours the top five products that receive the most qualified votes onsite at ISSA/INTERCLEAN North America.

All entries are due June 15. For more information or to enter visit www.issa.com/innovation.

Federal budget boosts accessibility in public spaces

Canada’s federal budget has earmarked $77 million over ten years to expand the Enabling Accessibility Fund that supports accessibility upgrades in renovated and newly constructed public facilities.

Eligible projects can add features, such as accessible washrooms, ramps, automatic door openers, and hearing induction loops, along with other necessary items that nurture a safe and inclusive environment for people with disabilities. Projects could also provide accessible information and communication technologies and retrofitted vehicles.

Since its creation in 2007, the Enabling Accessibility Fund has provided funding to more than 2,300 projects across the country.

One project that became more accessible through the fund is the Boys and Girls Club of London, Ontario. The community space added a new accessible desk, along with a mobile change table for the swimming club to reduce the risk of injury by safely raising and lowering people with special needs. As a result of the project, persons with disabilities can now safely participate in the swimming activities held at the facility every month, alongside their family members and friends.

Safeguarding vital building systems during floods

Spring has sprung in many parts of Canada and temperatures are now rising, causing snow to melt and flood. In Manitoba, for instance, a wet winter has caused major overland flooding the past couple of weeks, while thaws also increase the chance of damaging facility basements in more populated areas like Winnipeg. When river levels are high, sewer systems can’t keep up. Looming summer rainfalls can also overload sewers, wreaking havoc on vital building systems and equipment.

Such consequences can devastate a facility’s ability to function and cause loss of business and interruption to both occupants and owners. In many circumstances, facilities cannot function because essential equipment was placed in basements, sub-basements or ground floor levels that flooded. In some cases, components of vital systems were elevated well above the floodwaters, while other elements such as boilers, fire suppression systems, transformers, transfer switches, fuel tanks, pumps, etc. were placed at lower levels, leaving them susceptible to flooding and rendering the systems inoperative.

Unfortunately, even after the devastating flood in Calgary in 2013, the majority of facilities continue to maintain an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality, choosing to defer to insurance companies, rather than be proactive and prepare for what could happen next. But while insurance covers loss of business like material equipment for example, it doesn’t give facilities the return of their occupancy and doesn’t address displacement and the inconvenience it causes clients and occupants who have to relocate after an event.

Flooding removes from service, items that address comfort, usability, life safety, fire prevention and compliance with general occupancy requirements.

Compromised systems often befall a domino effect that impacts life safety systems and the general health of buildings. For instance, components that control elevators are usually located in basement areas. If the hydraulic reservoir and electronic control panels are flooded and the cab (brains of the elevator system) is damaged, elevators will be immobile and stairways will have to be utilized. But if there is no generator to power back the lighting system, occupants will have to rely on emergency exit lights that typically run under 30 minutes, which may not be enough time to safely leave a facility.

Another ripple effect results when flood water in a parking garage carries in contaminants. In turn, vehicles stuck in the garage contain gasoline that could also float out with the water. This creates an environmental issue where thousands of square footage is polluted. Often, issues within a building take priority, and contamination is left to antimicrobial clean ups that don’t necessarily remove all unhygienic elements.

Facility managers may not be aware that items that have become inoperable due to flooding may remove the legal right of occupancy. Life safety equipment, lighting, fire suppression and warning devices all could be affected if the main control panels and backup systems are compromised. Without these items in place, some jurisdictions would remove the legal right of occupancy until they are restored.

In such matters, communication between onsite staff and facility managers can often be fragmented. Onsite staff usually knows a facility intimately, but external management does not fully understand what the heart and soul of a building consists of. Yet one problem that occurs is that onsite staff isn’t aware of building and fire codes or jurisdictional requirements for the locale. At the same time, management doesn’t know all the ins and outs of them either, and no one wants to knock on the door of a fire department to hear all the bad things about their buildings because this often leads to dolling out extra budget funds.

Protecting vital components from flooded control rooms

One suggestion would be to install flood rated panels over the ventilation areas of rooms that house critical systems. This, along with sealing any utility perforations, will fully conceal a room against flooding.

During the floods in Calgary, an eight-foot-high parkade in a condo complex flooded right to the roof. Every single system in the building was out of service. Had there been flood proof doors on the elevator control room, boiler room, electronic control room and sub-basement area, most of the systems would have been saved.

If feasible, it’s best to protect the entire room with this safeguard because there can be several units in a control room or distribution area. It’s also important to look at closing the “holes in the boat.” There can be holes in the exterior walls that run directly to electrical, gas, plumbing and hydro. Even if these lines are underground, as water rises, it can fill below and come up through these holes.

To replace the components of a full elevator system that has flooded (hydraulic reservoir, control panel) can cost upwards of $150,000. This also puts an elevator out of service for an indefinite period of time while trying to arrange for service technicians. Moving components above basement level is prohibitive in most cases due to location and can cost a minimum $40,000 to $85,000 versus the under $10,000 it would typically cost to safeguard the room with the flood proof door and panel.

Preparing for emergencies

Emergency preparedness assessments can help identify systems’ vulnerabilities using a comprehensive flood mitigation approach and plan to account for loss of power. It should educate staff on code requirements, new construction flood code requirements and local EM recommendations, and investigate historical flooding on a specific location. Basically, it should ensure that facilities remain operational during and after a major event and reduce damage and disruption.

Preparation should also address the bigger picture. Not long after the Calgary flood, the downtown area experienced a major power outage, which had nothing to do with the flood. Many businesses couldn’t operate because they had no back-up generators. Disasters aren’t just natural; they also highlight failures in municipal infrastructure like hydro lines.

For floods, once accurate elevations are obtained, a proper prevention strategy can be developed. This could involve many different items, including exterior tube barriers, door panels, flood proof doors, exhaust vent enclosures, permanent berms or barriers, monitoring and localized warning systems.

Dave Swan is an emergency planning consultant for Flood Risk Canada

Province responds to final report in Tarion review

Minister of Government and Consumer Services Tracy MacCharles announced planned changes to the role of Tarion in Ontario’s new home warranty program in a speech Tuesday at the Empire Club. Min. MacCharles said the province intends to assume responsibility for setting the terms of new home warranty coverage and create a new standalone regulator for new home builders and vendors, which are both functions currently served by the delegated administrative authority.

“We believe that consumers can be better protected by giving government the lead in making rules and setting standards,” said Min. MacCharles. “It’s also important to separate the delivery of the warranty program for new homes from the regulation of builders and vendors.”

The announcement addresses some of the recommendations contained in a final report from Justice J. Douglas Cunningham, who the province appointed to conduct a review of the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act and Tarion. Among other recommendations, Justice Cunningham called for an administrative authority independent from warranty providers to regulate builders and vendors and greater government oversight for writing warranty coverage rules.

Justice Cunningham attributed many of the challenges of the existing new home warranty program and its delivery to Tarion’s several roles, which were established in legislation that dates back four decades. In addition to administering the program, the non-profit corporation makes rules, adjudicates disputes, and regulates builders and vendors.

“I believe that this multiplicity of roles, at a minimum, gives rise to a perception of conflict of interest and can also result in actual conflicts of interest,” he wrote.

Min. MacCharles said that the province also plans to simplify the dispute resolution process for new home owners, who would only have to show evidence of the symptoms of problems, as an example. In his final report, Justice Cunningham recommended that the onus of proof be clarified to reflect the fact that home owners don’t generally have the expertise to diagnose defects.

Min. MacCharles said she hopes to introduce a bill to the legislature this fall. In the meantime, she has directed Tarion to bring in new deposit protection measures that correspond to current house prices and deposit requirements. The ceiling for deposit protection has not been updated for more than 10 years, she said, with protection for condo units topping out at $20,000 and at $40,000 for other homes.

The minister of government and consumer services said the province will continue to review Justice Cunningham’s outstanding recommendations as it takes steps to implement many of his suggestions. But Min. MacCharles said she believed that the planned changes would address most of the concerns that would make one of the outstanding recommendations, to introduce competition into the warranty coverage system, a consideration.

City of Mississauga slashes electricity use at rink

A task force at the City of Mississauga has slashed the electricity consumption of the ice-making equipment at its Iceland Arena by 22 per cent during winter and shoulder season operations, staff say. The improvement in energy efficiency for that timeframe represents a weekly 136-kilowatt drop in electrical demand, which works out to savings of $38,000 per year.

The task force achieved these results at Iceland Arena while maintaining the quality of ice required by different user groups, staff say. The municipal rink runs year-round, hosting everything from fun and figure skates to competitive and sledge hockey. With three pads measuring 185 feet by 85 feet and one Olympic-sized pad measuring 185 feet by 100 feet, the facility serves seven vendors and roughly 950,000 visitors annually.

The success of the pilot project at Iceland Arena has paved the way for the energy efficiency program to be rolled out to the rest of the City of Mississauga’s 12 rinks.

Benchmarking activities pinpointed ice arenas, which are known power hogs among municipal facilities, as prime candidates for energy efficiency improvements, said Daniela Paraschiv, manager of energy management, City of Mississauga.

“Our team continuously monitors energy consumption in City-owned facilities, identifies top consumers and compares their performance with similar type facilities within the City of Mississauga and with other facilities in other municipalities,” Paraschiv explained.

The energy management team formed a task force to tackle energy efficiency at municipal ice arenas with the goal of finding low- or no-cost strategies, such as changes in standards operating procedures, with the potential to deliver outsized savings.

After researching best practices recommended by industry groups including ASHRAE, Natural Resources Canada (CanmetENERGY) and the Ontario Recreational Facilities Association, the task force moved to install meters on the refrigeration equipment at Iceland Arena to track real-time energy consumption. It was also important to control for unintended consequences as the team experimented with changes to operating procedures, said Sumeet Jhingan, energy management coordinator, City of Mississauga.

The task force experimented with different ice surface and hot water resurfacing temperatures in an effort to reduce loads on the equipment and used CIMCO 5000E controls to give the equipment time to rev up and down to avoid extreme ups and downs in usage.

“It’s like taking a car and essentially pressing on the accelerator right to the max and then going straight off from the stop sign to your point of destination, and then every time you’re coming to a stop you’re hitting the brakes,” said Jhingan. “It’s a very inefficient way of running things, so we wanted to somehow ease into and control the equipment better.”

In between user groups, the ice surface is shaved down and flooded by Zambonis, which happens 16 times per pad per day. The water used to resurface the ice afterward is the main source of demand on the compressors, observed Michael Blazenko, supervisor of operations at Iceland Arena.

The temperature of the water has to be cooled from 150 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit to 20 to 22 degrees Fahrenheit. The difficulty in tinkering with the temperature of the water used to resurface the ice, said Blazenko, is that if the water is too cold, it creates shale, or ice that is prone to breaking off in large chunks. The supervisor of operations said that he had been game to pursue energy savings, but he added that they couldn’t come at the expense of ice quality.

However, there is no industry-wide standard for how to measure ice quality, other than thickness, noted Jhingan. The staff at Iceland Arena check and chart 25 points of interest on each pad twice a week, with a targeted thickness of around 1.5 inches.

During the eight-week pilot project, Blazenko and Jhingan met twice per week to set the schedule for the rink, which accounted for the different requirements of different user groups. Figure skating, where users are planting toe picks into the pad, demands softer, warmer ice, while hockey games, where users are traveling across the pad in crossovers, demand harder, cooler ice, said Blazenko by way of example. The control system has three temperature set points, which are programmed for game and recreational uses as well as for when the pads are unoccupied.

Staff at the Iceland Arena only received one complaint over the course of the eight-week pilot project, Blazenko reported. In that case, the water was taking too long to freeze in between user groups because the ice was too warm, he said.

“Because of this complaint, my team and I knocked down our infrared reading by a 0.5 degree Fahrenheit (from 27 degrees Fahrenheit to 26.5 degrees Fahrenheit) and that ended up being our sweet spot,” Blazenko said.

Over the course of the pilot project, the data captured by the meters installed on the refrigeration equipment showed consumption flattening out from spikes in week one, as the compressors switched on and off, into a straight line in week eight, said Jhingan. Before, four out of five compressors would run continuously, and the fifth compressor would run afternoons, said Blazenko. Now, two out of five compressors run continuously, and the third compressor runs as needed, reducing the wear and tear on the equipment.

Following Iceland Arena’s success, the Hershey Centre volunteered to be the next City of Mississauga rink to participate in the energy efficiency program. But the optimization of its operations will have to be unique to its controls, equipment and facility, said Jhingan.

The main bowl in the high-profile Hershey Centre is used by Figure Skate Canada and junior Ontario Hockey League team the Mississauga Steelheads, so the search for electricity savings will be limited to the facility’s three community rinks, he added.

The City of Mississauga plans to roll out the program to the rest of its ice rinks incrementally, as resources permit, said Paraschiv.

Michelle Ervin is the editor of Canadian Facility Management & Design.

$75 million donated for new Vancouver hospital

A record $75 million has been donated to the St. Paul’s Foundation to help build a new Vancouver hospital. The Jim Pattison Medical Centre, an 18-acre health campus, will be built near Main Street and Terminal Avenue in East Vancouver.

The donation from B.C. billionaire Jim Pattison is the largest donation by a private citizen to a medical facility in the history of the country.

“A gift of this magnitude will have an impact today, and for generations to come,” said Dr. Jeff Pike, physician and director of Clinical Planning for Providence Health Care’s Redevelopment Project. “Our patients’ care experience will be greatly improved, and they’ll be supported from hospital to community to home –receiving the right care, at the right time, at the right place.”

The new Jim Pattison Medical Centre will be a purpose-built, fully-integrated health campus, comprising the entire 18.4-acre site on Station Street in the False Creek Flats. Building on St. Paul’s global reputation for leadership and innovation in clinical care and research, the Jim Pattison Medical Centre will be a hub for services that reach across Vancouver and the province of BC.

“Jim Pattison has stepped forward to transform health care on a scale this country has never seen,” said Dick Vollet, President and CEO, St. Paul’s Foundation. “Jim Pattison’s gift will help us realize an exceptionally rare opportunity to build a major medical and research centre from the ground up, that will establish its place among the most highly regarded and recognized medical centres in North America.”

The Jim Pattison Medical Centre will include St. Paul’s Hospital with its associated acute-and-critical-care programs; the provincial Heart Centre, Centre for Heart Lung Innovation, the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and other centres of excellence in health care and research; primary care and specialized outpatient clinics; the PHC Research Institute; research facilities; and life sciences industry partners.

The new Centre will lead the delivery of B.C.’s new model of health care by providing patients with the highest quality integrated, compassionate, patient-centred care. In planning the new Jim Pattison Medical Centre, St. Paul’s has the unique opportunity to begin a project of this magnitude from a blank canvas. This allows the freedom to design and develop a medical centre that is built from St. Paul’s philosophy of patients first. This will translate into a health campus that is specifically designed for unique and diverse patient populations to provide an improved patient care experience for all.

Construction starts on new Bloomington GO station

Ontario has officially started construction on a new GO station at Highway 404 and Bloomington Road in York Region. Once completed, the Bloomington Road station will extend the Richmond Hill GO rail line north from the current terminus at Gormley GO Station. The new station is scheduled to open in 2019.

The new station will offer commuters living in Aurora and Whitchurch-Stouffville better access to GO Transit services. The fully-accessible station will feature a 765-space parking structure with charging for electric vehicles and scooter parking, heated shelters, a platform snowmelt system, a 12-car side rail platform with canopy, a ‘kiss and ride’ area and a covered six-bay bus loop. A surface parking lot will offer an additional 253 parking spaces.

The station will also be designed with sustainability in mind, featuring rooftop solar panels and incorporating environmentally-responsible building design (LEED Gold-targeted) to reduce its impact on the surrounding ecosystem. The cost for construction is estimated to reach $82.4 million.

“The new GO station at Bloomington Road will help make taking public transit an even easier and more convenient choice for people in Newmarket-Aurora,” said Chris Ballard, MPP for Newmarket-Aurora, in a press release. “Expanding public transit is critical to improving mobility, managing congestion, curbing emissions and building strong communities.”

Brokerage first in Canada to take purchases digital

Canadian brokerage and real estate marketplace Casalova is working with Dream Maker Developments to be the first in Canada to offer a digital purchase option for pre-construction condos.

Traditionally, when potential buyers are interested in purchasing a condo unit before it is built, they must visit a sales centre and wait in line, sometimes for hours, only to find that units have sold out or that the floor plan they wanted is no longer available. The brokerage is removing this step by making the purchase process completely digital.

Ray Taaeb, CEO and co-founder of Casalova, says condos are the perfect place to test-market a “buy now” option, although he notes that buying a resale condominium might require on-site visits, but pre-construction plans and demonstrative technologies make online touring equally as effective as in-person for condos that are yet unbuilt.

Potential buyers will be able to review the details of each available unit online, including the square footage, floor plans and condo features. To make a purchase, buyers can complete and submit all paperwork online and make a deposit using their credit card. As with in-person purchases, buyers will have a 10-day cooling-off period after the transaction has been finalized.

“This digital approach appeals to a huge market of potential buyers and also saves resources that would otherwise be invested in model suites and sales centres,” said Isaac Olowolafe, CEO of Dream Maker Developments, in a press release. “Developers are always looking for new ways to reach more homebuyers and this offering modernizes how people purchase a pre-construction condo.”

Casalova’s end-to-end real estate marketplace allows tenants and buyers to search for properties, schedule viewings, make offers online and process payments directly through the platform. Unit sales for the pre-construction development Yonge & King Urban Towns in Richmond Hill opens online on April 3, 2017.

CCA reveals national award winners

The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) has revealed the 12 winners of its national awards at its annual conference, held in Mexico.

The CCA awards recognize the important contributions of individuals, organizations and projects that promote and enhance the Canadian construction industry, whether through innovation, projects, or dedication to the industry.

The 2016 CCA national award recipients are:

Awards of Excellence

• 2016 CCA Person of the Year Award – Paul Douglas, PCL Construction
• 2016 CCA Excellence in Innovation Award – Boehmers
• 2016 CCA Environmental Achievement Award – PCL Construction
• 2016 CCA International Business Award – Produits Métalliques (PMI)
• 2016 CCA National Safety Award – Deep Foundation
• 2016 CCA Partner Association Award – Calgary Construction Association
• 2016 CCA Community Leader Award – Gateman-Milloy
• 2016 CCA Gold Seal Association Award – Calgary Construction Association

Awards of Recognition

• 2016 CCA General Contractor Award – Kees Cusveller, Graham Group
• 2016 CCA Trade Contractor Award – Patrick Waunch, Rambow Mechanical
• 2016 CCA Civil Infrastructure Award – Steve Cruickshank, Cruickshank Construction
• 2016 CCA Manufacturers, Suppliers and Services Award – John Owens, Revay and Associates

“I’m honoured to highlight these individuals, companies and associations,” said Gilbert Brulotte, CCA’s chair. “It’s a privilege to be able to showcase the leadership, innovative approaches and generosity demonstrated through these awards. It sets the bar for all of us and demonstrates what we can achieve as individuals and as organizations.”

More information, including videos from the awards ceremony and a list of past recipients, is available on the CCA website at awards.cca-acc.com.

Acton Ostry Architects expands its leadership team

Acton Ostry Architects has announced the expansion of their leadership team. Five leaders of the Vancouver-based practice will join principals Russell Acton and Mark Ostry in leading future growth of the firm.

Former associates Alan Davies and Alex Percy are now associate principals while Ruth Chau, Derek Fleming and Matt Wood are new associates.

Alan Davies is a leader in heritage rehabilitation and restoration of historic buildings, as well as the planning and design of large-scale mixed-use residential projects. Alex Percy leads the design of public institutional projects with a concentration on academic and cultural facilities.

Ruth Chau is the operations manager responsible for ongoing development and execution of office protocols and systems. Derek Fleming has been responsible for leading the design of Cactus Club restaurants across Canada.

Matt Wood is a leader in the design of public institutional buildings with a focus on academic facilities.

Recent notable projects for the design firm include Brock Commons Tallwood House, UBC Sauder School of Business, York House Senior School, Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue, and Cactus Club Coal Harbour.

MPP proposes time limits for elevator repairs

Han Dong, the Liberal MPP for Trinity-Spadina, is proposing to set time limits for contractors called on to fix out-of-service elevators. Dong, whose riding is growing rapidly with the rise of new condos, introduced the Reliable Elevators Act to the Ontario legislature last week.

If passed, the private member’s bill would require downed lifts in long-term care and retirement homes to be repaired within seven days and within 14 days in most other buildings. The bill proposes to establish these deadlines under the Consumer Protection Act, which would be expanded to cover elevator maintenance agreements. This would give building owners and managers recourse to the ministry of government and consumer services’ consumer protection branch to report non-compliance.

The private member’s bill comes in response to concerns Dong said he first heard from seniors in his riding about chronic, lengthy elevator outages, which posed particular problems for people with mobility issues. The MPP said his proposal is aimed at closing a gap in the existing laws.

“The state of safety in Ontario’s elevators is excellent thanks to a regulatory framework for safety through Technical Standards and Safety Authority,” said Dong at a press conference last Wednesday. “However, once an elevator is out of service, there is no specific legislation or regulation to bring them back into service within an acceptable timeframe.”

At present, the MPP said that while most elevator repairs take just days, some take weeks and even months. Dong consulted with industry experts, whom he said largely found the proposed 14-day window to be reasonable.

“Two weeks is a long time for any condo owners, especially for those buildings with two or three elevators,” he acknowledged. “When one goes out, you can imagine how long the line-ups are.”

Dong’s private member’s bill also proposes to amend the Building Code Act to require that traffic studies be completed to determine the number of elevators needed to service new developments of seven or more storeys.

“I’ve seen buildings that are 20 storeys or more having only two elevators,” said Dong. “The problem is, when one goes out, seniors or people with mobility challenges on the upper floors, they don’t want to leave their condo or apartment and they’re basically trapped in their own home, and this is not acceptable.”

The MPP said that the finer points of enforcement would be figured out in the future, citing a clause in his private member’s bill that would allow the ministry of government and consumer services to create regulations. Such regulations could address circumstances under which contractors may be granted extensions on the proposed 14-day time limit for fixing elevators.

Rob Isabelle, chief operating officer at KJA Consultants, said some of the scenarios that would need to be considered include cases where contractors are owed money by building owners or have to order difficult-to-source parts to repair decades-old elevators. That said, Isabelle welcomed the 14-day time limit as a general rule for service providers.

“There’s no major pain for service providers to have an elevator shutdown for four weeks, five weeks, six weeks,” he said. “There has to be something, somewhere, to say, ‘You cannot have elevators shut down for extensive periods.’”

There are several reasons why quick elevator fixes may get dragged out, with the industry the busiest it’s ever been by Isabelle’s estimation. The number of service technicians entering the field has fallen behind demand, he said, which has been propelled by the pace of new construction, retrofits in buildings due for modernization and a recent TSSA requirement to upgrade elevators with single-speed controls.

The impact of out-of-service elevators is felt more in buildings where there are fewer elevators, observed Isabelle. Dong’s proposal for mandatory elevator traffic studies would force developers to show that proposed buildings of seven or more storeys provide for enough elevators.

These studies evaluate quality of service based on the estimated average wait time for elevators during peak periods, explained Isabelle, with 50 seconds being the targeted maximum for residential buildings.

“Fifteen years ago, we would rarely see a residential developer have a number higher than 50 seconds,” he said, “whereas now it’s common to see developers pushing that number higher.”

Isabelle pointed out that with an average peak wait period of 50 seconds, the distribution of wait times would see some people waiting for as long as two to two-and-a-half minutes.

Dong isn’t the first politician in Toronto to propose time limits for elevator repairs. Local councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who represents Toronto Centre-Rosedale, asked city staff to investigate service standards for fixing lifts back in June 2014 as part of a comprehensive property standards review.

Coun. Wong-Tam said the property standards review got delayed as city staff in the municipal licensing and standards division tended to urgent work relating to ride-sharing apps such as Uber and short-term rental websites such as Airbnb. The property standards review is now expected to occur later in 2017.

Coun. Wong-Tam said there should be “reasonable” time limits for completing elevator repairs, suggesting that, with a service contract and maintenance program in place, property owners and managers should generally, at a minimum, be able to get problems assessed within 24 hours. She challenged the one-week and two-week windows proposed in Dong’s private member’s bill.

“For some people who are living with mobility challenges, or even parents with strollers or seniors with heavy grocery bags, it’s simply too long,” she said.

Property owners and managers could help hasten elevator repairs by looking at the expected life span of parts and ordering hard-to-source replacements ahead of their anticipated failure, Coun. Wong-Tam added.

Since asking city staff to investigate service standards for fixing lifts, the local councillor has continued to come across elevator issues in all types of buildings, from social housing to rental apartments to luxury condos.

“I’ve heard the horror stories of elevators breaking down in brand new condominiums, where you do have a lot more say and control over your board of directors and your property manager,” said Coun. Wong-Tam, “and even those residents have been struggling because the elevators are not efficient and not working properly.”

Kevin Vuong, who attended Dong’s press conference in support of the proposed Reliable Elevators Act, has dealt first hand with chronic elevator outages as a member of his six-year-old building’s condo board. Vuong, who is also chair of the Southcore Community Association, said the problems his condo board has confronted are widespread in his neighbourhood south of Toronto’s Financial District.

“Effectively there are really only four vendors of elevators, and so, while we are very diligent about having those maintenance contracts, at the end of the day we rely on the vendor to tell us that they’re doing that maintenance,” he said after the press conference.

At Vuong’s building, the vendor said it was doing that maintenance, but it was common for half the elevators to be out of service. His condo board hired an independent auditor to examine the elevators, which he said revealed that that maintenance was not in fact being done.

“Subjecting elevator maintenance contracts to the protections of the Consumer Protection Act will empower vertical communities and condominium boards to hold the elevator industry to account for breakdowns in elevator service,” said Vuong. “It is ultimately in our interest to see this pass.”

Michelle Ervin is the editor of CondoBusiness.

Funds for cultural spaces in federal budget

The federal budget released last week allocates $300 million over 10 years to Canada’s cultural spaces fund, which supports the construction, renovation and equipment needs of creative hubs. The investment is aimed at nurturing homegrown talent and stimulating the creative economy by providing places for entrepreneurs and organizations in the arts to collaborate.

The federal budget also allocates $80 million over 10 years to building educational infrastructure that will help preserve the culture of official language minority communities. The funds would be available for the Canadian government to invest in projects such as early childhood centres in partnership with provincial and territorial governments.

Last year’s federal budget committed $342 million over two years to cultural and recreational infrastructure. One project that has already received support, with an investment of $4.5 million from Canada’s cultural spaces fund, is the Kenojuak Cultural Centre. Slated for Cape Dorset, Nunavut, the multi-purpose facility will promote Inuit art and local talent with exhibition galleries and studio spaces.

This year’s federal budget also noted the Canadian government’s plans to negotiate bilateral agreements with municipal, provincial and territorial partners for projects such as community and recreational infrastructure. The agreements would provide for project monitoring and cost-sharing proportions that would depend on where the investment is going. As examples, the Canadian government would fund as much as 40 per cent of projects with municipal partners and as much as 50 per cent of projects with provincial partners.

Tax Fairness for Realtors Act passes second reading

Ontario realtors are one step closer to being able to form personal real estate corporations (PRECs) under Bill 104, the Tax Fairness for Realtors Act, 2017, which passed second reading on March 23. The Bill is now moving onto the final stage of debate before a final vote determines if it becomes law.

The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) launched a campaign earlier this month encouraging MPPs to support the Bill through its website, RealtorTaxFairness.ca.

“Realtors are pillars of their communities and hard-working small business owners,” said Tim Hudak, CEO of OREA, in a press release. “Personal real estate corporations will help them offer more services to clients, invest in new technology and create jobs in their community.”

A 2015 study by the Centre for Spatial Economics (C4SE) found that PRECs would have a positive economic benefit for the province, creating between 33 and 89 net new jobs annually and contributing between $9 and $25 million annually to Ontario’s GDP.

“OREA is working to make sure Ontario realtors are treated fairly,” said Ettore Cardarelli, president of OREA. “Most professions in Ontario have the ability to form personal corporations, but not realtors. This legislation is about giving realtors the same business rights as everybody else.”

A technicality in the Real Estate Business Brokers Act, 2002 currently prevents realtors from forming PRECs. Other regulated professions in Ontario, such as accountants, lawyers, health professionals, social workers, mortgage brokers, insurance agents, architects and engineers can all form personal corporations. Other provinces have already moved to allow realtors to incorporate, including British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Nova Scotia.

Bill 104 was reintroduced earlier this month by PC MPP Todd Smith and co-sponsored by NDP MPP Catherine Fife and Liberal MPP Mike Colle. OREA plans to continue encouraging realtors to contact their local MPP prior to the third vote.

Homeowners’ Choice Awards finalists announced

Tarion has announced the finalists for the 2017 Homeowners’ Choice Awards, the Ontario-based awards that give new home buyers the power to recognize their new home builder for outstanding customer service.

Presented by Tarion, the awards recognize builders with excellent customer service in four categories: small, medium, large volume and high-rise.

“The Homeowners’ Choice Awards are an important opportunity for customers to tell us about their new home buying experience and their level of satisfaction with their builder,” said Howard Bogach, Tarion president and CEO, in a press release. “Each and every home buyer can have a say in whether their builder is worthy of recognition for excellent customer service.”

Every fall, Tarion uses a third party research firm to conduct an Ontario-wide customer satisfaction survey of new home owners in their first year of ownership. For this edition of the Homeowners’ Choice Awards, homeowners who took possession between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2016 were surveyed. Tarion sent out over 52,500 invitations to complete the survey by email or standard mail. It received 8,500 completed surveys in response, representing a response rate of 16 per cent.

Survey questions focused on homeowners’ satisfaction with their builder, covering every stage in the homeowner-builder relationship, from the signing of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, through construction and the pre-delivery period, to after-sales service.

To be eligible for the Homeowners’ Choice Awards, builders must have at least five new home possessions during the survey timeframe and a certain number of completed questionnaires must have been returned.

In addition, this year, the inaugural Ernest Assaly Award will be presented to a builder that is a leader in quality home building, innovation and community service. The award is named after Mr. Ernest Assaly, Tarion’s first Board Chair, who held this role from 1976 to 1988. Assaly was a passionate voice for the builder’s warranty program, a highly respected award-winning builder and leader in Ontario’s residential construction industry.

“This new award recognizes a builder’s longstanding commitment to building quality, innovation and involvement in their community,” added Bogach. “Ontario has more than 5,000 registered builders, but only 38 met the challenging eligibility criteria and were invited to make a full nomination submission to Tarion.”

Award recipients will be announced at a luncheon taking place in Woodbridge on April 19, 2017. Finalists for the Ernest Assaly Award were selected by Tarion’s Board of Directors and will be honoured at the luncheon, where the recipient of the award will also be announced.

Here are the finalists for this year’s Homeowners’ Choice Awards:

Small Volume Category (5-20 possessions per year)

Davenport Homes, Peterborough
Greene Homes, Kingston
JF Homes Construction Ltd., Strathroy
Lockwood Brothers Construction, Oxford Station
Luxart Homes Inc., Carleton Place
MacGregor Enterprises Ltd., Kincardine

Medium Volume Category (21-100 possessions per year)

Hayhoe Homes, St. Thomas
Klemencic Homes, Trenton
Neilcorp Homes, Almonte
Opus Homes, Vaughan
Talos Custom Homes Ltd., Richmond
Wrighthaven Homes Limited, Elora

Large Volume Category (More than 100 possessions per year)

Arista Homes Ltd., Vaughan
Mountainview Homes, Thorold
Tamarack Development Corp., Ottawa
Tartan Homes, Ottawa
The Daniels Corporation, Toronto
Tribute Communities, Pickering

High-Rise Category (More than 100 high-rise possessions per year)

Menkes Developments Ltd., Toronto
Onni Group, Toronto
Pratt Homes Barrie, Barrie
The Conservatory Group, Markham
The Daniels Corporation, Toronto
Tridel, Toronto

Ernest Assaly Award

Granite Homes, Guelph
Lockwood Brothers Construction, Oxford Station
Pinnacle Quality Homes, Mitchell

Funds in federal budget to close gaps in housing data

The 2017 federal budget released last week allocates funds to CMHC and Statistics Canada to shed light on blind spots in national housing data and support expanded research into housing affordability and foreign ownership.

“In recent years, Canada has grappled with difficult questions about housing affordability and foreign ownership — questions that could not be answered in a timely or effective way,” states the budget. “Gaps in research and data in these areas must be filled, to ensure that Canada maintains a stable and well-regulated housing market, and to ensure that investments made under the national housing strategy are effective.”

The budget earmarks $241 million over 11 years to CMHC for the purpose of boosting data collection and analytics in order to better measure the impact of Canada’s national housing strategy and shape policy. These funds will also further housing research conducted in partnership with other levels of government and through university networks as well as support work by a network of innovation labs to develop novel ways to address concerns about housing affordability.

The budget also earmarks $39.9 million over five years to Statistics Canada for the purpose of creating a new housing statistics framework. The framework would capture current data on purchases and sales for properties across Canada, including homeowner demographics, financing characteristics and foreign ownership, with the first release of information slated for fall. At the end of the five-year period, the budget commits $6.6 million annually to this endeavour going forward.

Sealed Air sells Diversey Care division

Sealed Air Corporation is selling its Diversey Care division and the food hygiene and cleaning business within its Food Care division to global private investment firm Bain Capital Private Equity for about $3.2 billion.

New Diversey will be a leading hygiene and cleaning solutions company that integrates chemicals, floor care machines, tools and equipment, with a wide range of technology based value-added services, food safety services and water and energy management. The deal is expected to close mid-2017.

There are approximately 8,600 employees around the world that New Diversey will continue to employ. Diversey Care and the related food hygiene businesses, known for innovations like the Internet of Clean, robotics and AHP disinfection technologies, generated combined net sales of approximately $2.6 billion in 2016.

“New Sealed Air, a leading provider of food, product and medical packaging solutions, will continue to focus on accelerating profitable growth and generating strong cash flow through end market opportunities and the global adoption of new products and solutions,” said President and CEO Jerome A. Peribere. “Sealed Air’s advanced product portfolio is designed to reduce waste, conserve resources and provide product security, and deliver unique and measurable value to customers and the planet.”

“We are excited to partner with the talented team at Diversey to grow across key market verticals and geographies while investing in innovative hygiene solutions,” said Ken Hanau, a managing director at Bain Capital Private Equity. Bain Capital’s integrated global platform and strong growth orientation are well aligned with the strategic vision for Diversey.”

GTA condo sales surpassed records in February

February was a record-breaking month for new condominium apartment sales in the GTA, while the number of new low-rise homes on sale reached new lows, says the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).

Across the GTA, there were only 1,001 new low-rise homes, including single-detached and semi-detached houses and townhomes, available for sale at the end of February, according to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new-home market intelligence. Ten years ago, however, there were 17,304 low-rise homes available.

“February data demonstrates, quite clearly, that our housing supply crisis in the GTA is getting worse,” says Bryan Tuckey, BILD’s president and CEO, in a press release. “Our members are building to current provincial intensification policy and we are building less low-rise single-family housing and more high and mid-rise housing but consumer demand for low-rise homes has not dropped.”

“Today in the GTA we have a scarcity of single-family ground-related housing that is not just unprecedented – it is almost inconceivable,” continues Tuckey. “As a result, we are seeing record-breaking condo sales and continued price growth.”

By February’s close, there were only 324 new detached homes available for purchase in builder inventories. Ten years ago, there were 12,064 new homes available for purchase.

February saw available new detached homes reach a record-high average price of $1,469,449, while the average price for all single-family ground-related product, including semi-detached and townhomes, reached a new high of $1,081,013.

Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s executive vice president of research consulting services, says the low inventory of available single-family homes is a key factor driving price increases and it is limiting choice for consumers.

“If I were shopping for a single-family home 10 years ago, I would have been able to choose from among 500 different sites and nearly 18,000 units,” she says. “Today, there are less than 100 projects with any available units to purchase, totalling only about 1,000 units. And I would have to act very quickly to get one of those.”

In the GTA in February, there were more than twice as many new condominium units sold than low-rise homes. Altus Group recorded 3,542 sales of condo apartments in stacked townhouses and mid- and high-rise buildings, while there were only 1,541 sales of new detached and semi houses and low-rise townhomes.

Condo apartment sales in February climbed 79 per cent over the same period last year and more than double the 10-year average. Condo sales in February were driven by continued strong sales in Toronto, where there were 1,661 units sold, as well as a significant increase in sales in the 905 region, including 1,299 sales in York Region.

Average prices for available new condo apartments in the GTA also set records in February. The average price of new condo apartments in stacked townhomes and mid- and high-rise buildings was $532,086, up from January’s $507,511. The average price per square foot reached a record $652, and the average unit size fell to 802 square feet.

Condo apartment inventory levels continued to fall in February, reaching a new low of 10,342 units.

“While the February results point to a trend decades in the making, the severity of the monthly figures is jarring,” says Tuckey. “As the current data demonstrates, legislative guidelines and planning policies have real impacts on real people. With significant declines in builder inventory and record prices (for both low and high-rise homes), the GTA housing market is in crisis and it is time for governments to work with us to address the problems.