Building Systems
Maintaining schools for second pandemic winter
Every team should create a checklist, and then continually review their internal systems—floor by floor—to reveal any possible failure points.
Guidelines inform resilient healthcare facilities
Newly released guidelines offer a standard for approaching the planning and designing of healthcare facilities from a resiliency perspective.
Digitizing fire protection for facility inspections
With fire equipment, the biggest culprit for non-compliance issues usually involves obstructions blocking fire extinguishers and hoses from view.
Surrey awards three major infrastructure projects
The City of Surrey has awarded contracts for three major infrastructure projects from the Surrey Invests initiative.
A cybersafe return to the workplace
At last, our buildings are ready to catch up with the conveniences and expectations that future users have come to expect in the 21st century—and COVID has been the much-needed accelerant for this transformation in the building industry.
A path to fully inclusive community hubs
The idea of creating inclusive community hubs—where people of all ages and abilities can gather together—is gaining significant momentum.
Campus high-rise brings health to new heights
Dingy is a word that conjures thoughts of old institutional spaces. Academic buildings with dimly-lit hallways and windowless classrooms punctured with fluorescent glare. Rarely are
Indigenous voices hushed in planning processes
Indigenous communities across Canada continue to be sidelined or completely excluded from initial planning phases of new developments and renovations.
Updating facility security in a post-COVID era
A former counterterrorism expert explains some steps that can be taken to enhance facility security.
Ottawa hockey facility a zero carbon first
How AMPED Sports Lab and Ice Complex in Ottawa, Ontario, became the first Zero Carbon Building Performance Standard certified arena.
ASHRAE updates healthcare facility ventilation standard
The 2021 edition delivers critical guidance for designers and operators of these frontline facilities and incorporates 17 changes to the standard.
How to optimize building technology management
Leveraging appropriate service technology and integrated service tools can ensure buildings are safe and properly maintained.
Pandemic intensifies evolving role of FM
Facility managers are no longer viewed as a back-office function, but rather “a strategic instrument to attract and retain talent and create a great experience,”
Cogeneration systems to lose tax enticement
The 2021 federal budget adds some clean energy equipment to immediately qualify for accelerated capital cost allowance, and names various combined heat and power applications to be delisted after 2023.
What toxic chemicals are lurking in our buildings?
In the age of COVID, it's also important to consider how chemical exposures influence our ability to fight disease.
New home for world’s largest Inuit art collection
Qaumajuq, meaning “it is bright” or “it is lit” in Inuktitut, opens virtually this week, but the 40,000-square foot addition has been almost a decade in the making.
ASHRAE & IAPMO unite on water efficiency document
The document will combine ASHRAE's and IAPMO’s respective standards to offer complimentary guidance and references.