Building Systems
Updating facility security in a post-COVID era
A former counterterrorism expert explains some steps that can be taken to enhance facility security.
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.
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.
New fee model for Ontario elevator licenses
The flat license rate will penalize mid-rise and high-rise owners with extra costs if an elevator passes the periodic inspection and does not require a follow-up. It will be a bargain if just one follow-up inspection is required.
ASHRAE partners with CIBSE to encourage safe and sustainable environments
The agreement outlines how ASHRAE and CIBSE will work cooperatively to promote a more sustainable built environment through HVAC&R technology.
Toronto Pearson launches infectious disease mitigation program
Toronto Pearson has launched its Healthy Airport initiative to monitor and mitigate the risk of infectious disease.
Canada wavers on airtightness testing
The timing might have been opportune for uptake of the measure — provided it was adopted into provincial and territorial building codes — because it would have applied broadly in what is currently Canada’s most buoyant commercial real estate sector.
Open protocols could nurture organic smart city
Abandonment of the Sidewalk Labs project proposed for Toronto is unfortunate, but it serves as an important lesson that building a smart city from the top down is hard.
Smart buildings harnessed for pandemic response
While climate change may have slipped somewhat from people’s consciousness and priorities right now, it’s noteworthy that the pandemic and climate crises are both problems of exponential growth against a limited capacity to cope.
Proptech potential still largely unexploited
Global and Canadian survey results suggest proptech is more piecemeal than strategically deployed in many cases, hindering the capacity to integrate data collection and interpretation.
Setting a new standard at Ken Soble Tower
With mechanical systems nearing end of life, inadequate ventilation and other issues, the 50-year Ken Soble Tower was in critical need of an upgrade.
Finding the right facility maintenance partner
Like any other significant hire, there is a benefit to working with a facility maintenance team that can deliver tangible value to your operations.
Friendlier CHP environmental approvals welcome
It's still unclear how the process of securing environmental approvals for combined heat and power systems will be streamlined, but the Ontario government's recent pledge has been greeted enthusiastically in the buildings sector.
IAQ standards dissect freshness of outdoor air
Guidance related to natural ventilation, particulate filtration and compartmentalization of multi-residential HVAC systems are prominent in the list of identified "significant changes" compared to the incumbent 2016 version of the standards.
Plugging into the “smart city”
How can commercial property owners and managers “plug in” to the smart city revolution?
Ontario Fire Code to add steeper fine bracket
More stringent fines and an extended period for prosecutions are slated to come into force 30 days after the Ontario legislature adopts the Budget Measures Act.
