Provincial

community hubs

Private sector gains allure for community hubs

Prospective developers of community hubs will no longer get extra time to negotiate the purchase of surplus properties the Ontario government is selling.

CDM mandate survives Green Energy Repeal Act

Selected provisions enabling some of Ontario's key energy and water conservation programs will be transferred to the Electricity Act.

Hot weather plans get a workout in summer 2018

Workplace health and safety practitioners advise that measures to safeguard building services personnel from heat stress should be fairly straightforward.

Environmental surfaces can be infection gateway

Recently released guidelines from Ontario's Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee address the cleaning and disinfecting challenges that housekeeping staff continue to face in healthcare facilities.

Energy efficiency messaging reset in Ontario

Energy efficiency advocates are working to enlist broader support and leverage existing influential backers at a time when government commitment is becoming more uneven across North American jurisdictions.

Alberta retracts promised retrofit incentives

Despite information posted on the Energy Efficiency Alberta website for more than a month, commercial customers do not qualify for the new incentives announced in May 2018.

Ontario candidates overstate conservation costs

The upfront costs of Ontario's electricity conservation programs are lower than some candidates for provincial office are alleging.

Construction side effects carry deadly risks

Living through construction may be a fact of life for city dwellers, but living through construction can be a fact of life and death for hospital patients.

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.

Library facility reads like ‘fragment’ of its landscape

The new Waterdown Library and Civic Centre is designed to read like a ‘fragment’ of the Niagara Escarpment over which it cantilevers.

Using technology for safe building evacuations

An expert highlights how new systems help first responders deploy their resources more efficiently during building evacuations.

Complex alternative to carbon tax questioned

Commercial and multi-residential real estate owners will catch a significant share of the fallout from Ontario's pending cap-and-trade system, but a projected natural gas price increase in the range of $0.84 to $1.05 per gigajoule is lower than carbon tax rates in British Columbia or Alberta.

UBC library facility takes a page from Harvard

UBC has taken a page from Harvard with its newly opened Library PARC facility, using a model that extends the shelf life of books from 30 years to 300.

How FMs can support employment standards

The latest phase of accessibility regulations in Ontario may concern employment standards, but facility managers have a role to play in compliance.
REMI

Accessibility, ergonomics and AODA compliance

As of 2015, anyone renovating or constructing a public space must meet new building code requirements. Here's how one company achieved AODA compliance.

Toronto puts energy reporting proposal on pause

An energy reporting requirement for large buildings is likely coming to Toronto. The only question is: Will it come from the city or from the province?

Expanding the frontiers of universal design

Universal design encompasses much more than physical accessibility, as three Interior Designers of Canada members recently explained in a panel discussion.