Regulations
Post-CERS property expense relief announced
A new iteration of property expense relief will be more bountiful for many recipients than recent payouts of the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidiary, but fewer commercial tenants or owner-occupiers will qualify.
Pandemic paperwork piles up with new protocols
Pandemic paperwork is becoming more voluminous for commercial landlords as a growing list of influential tenants ask for proof that building personnel have two valid COVID-19 vaccinations.
Creating a neurodiverse workplace
As employees eventually return to the office, most will bring with them a heightened sensitivity to their surroundings—specifically to what they touch and their proximity to coworkers.
Changing up change management
Organizations are now encouraged to develop a change management process based on a new understanding of the post-COVID needs of their people.
Accessibility carries a simple business case
Many commercial real estate operators are making the simple business case for buildings that are functional for all potential users. It’s a quest that can begin with simple investigations, simple low-cost measures and simple mindfulness.
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.
Pandemic expands an aging workforce
The pandemic is pushing people to reconsider their post-work-life ambitions.
Civic building inventory lags on capital repair
Ontario’s civic building inventory has fallen the farthest behind on capital repair among seven categories of municipal infrastructure assets scrutinized in a newly released report from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario.
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
Re-visiting office ergonomics for a safe return
For employees transitioning daily between different workstations, management may want to standardize equipment so employees can easily learn how to adjust equipment and not have to relearn each workstation type.
CERS uptake falls short of potential
Removing landlords from the application process hasn’t necessarily made the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) more accessible for commercial tenants experiencing pandemic-related financial stress.
Heat is on for electricity demand projections
Electricity demand projections through the vaccination rollout period should take two contradictory factors into account, energy management specialists affirm.
Parsing Ontario’s electricity cost allocation
After a year of operational upheaval and more modifications to electricity pricing policies, BOMA Toronto’s annual workshop to address the complexities of the global adjustment had a lot of ground to cover.
Light industrial set for heavy property tax hit
Economic fallout from COVID-19 is shifting more of the tax burden to this flourishing group of assets via the mill rate, while also driving up the tax rate, for a double-whammy of consequences in jurisdictions that update valuations annually.