Canadian Facility Management & Design

JUNE/JULY 2018

A TIMBER TIPPING POINT?

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VISITOR MANAGEMENT WELLNESS CERTIFICATIONS PA R T O F T H E

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On the cover: The cross-laminated timber used in the CLT wing of Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture is showcased on both the interior and exterior. Page 16.

[ contents ] 14

PHOTO: BOB GUNDU

CANADIAN FACILITY MANAGEMENT & DESIGN

16 Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture sits at the former crossroads of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Trans-Canada Highway.

10 LAUNCH OF WELL V2 FOLLOWS ARRIVAL OF FITWEL

Wellness certifications open up different paths to healthier corporate spaces.

14 VISITOR MANAGEMENT

Campuses turn to software to meet safety and security requirements.

Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture brings lessons to life.

16 BUILDING KNOWLEDGE

20

24 PASSIVE HOUSE POISED FOR INSTITUTIONAL UPTAKE

Non-residential projects are now targeting the energy efficiency standard.

28 HEAD OF THE CLASS

Height-adjustable lecterns are among the latest offerings in education furniture.

columns

departments

6 OBSERVATIONS 20 FM EDUCATION 22 MANAGEMENT MEMO 26 OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE 30 LAST WORD

8 FOUNDATIONS 27 INFO GUIDE

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BY MICHELLE ERVIN

A TIMBER TIPPING POINT?

T

imber construction appears to be on the rise in Canada, both in terms of the number and size of projects.

In the current climate, of concerted efforts to combat climate change, the building material may be most attractive for its environmental virtues. Not only does the plentiful natural resource store carbon, but it biodegrades and can be recycled and renewed.

Robert Wright, dean of the Faculty of Forestry and associate professor in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto, told the U of T News that the sustainability of wood is one of the reasons he believes there is so much buzz around the post-secondary institution’s plans for a 14-storey academic tower made from timber.

The University of Toronto isn’t the only post-secondary institution with big plans for the building material. George Brown College, which similarly cites sustainability as an impetus, will be adding a 12-storey wood building to its downtown campus.

For now, Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture — the subject of our cover story — represents Canada’s largest institutional application of the construction material. The use of cross-laminated timber in the project was a natural choice in the context of its location in resource-rich northern Ontario, as Janna Levitt, founding partner of LGA Architectural Partners, told me. The project is also notable for the way it was designed to showcase its different structural systems, bringing to life lessons from the classroom.

Our regular round-up of new products profiles furniture fit for classrooms as well as other academic spaces. Plus, you will find features on the different building certification paths to occupant well-being, the push to promote gender parity in the real estate industry and the uptake of Passive House in institutional applications.

The moves to certify buildings to Passive House and use timber in their construction raise the bar for sustainability. It’s no surprise that post-secondary institutions are among their early adopters, serving as they do as incubators for the next great ideas and leaders.

MICHELLE ERVIN michellee@mediaedge.ca

JUNE/JULY 2018 Volume 33, Issue No. 2 PUBLISHER: Liam Kearney liamk@mediaedge.ca EDITOR: Michelle Ervin Tel (416) 512-8186 ext 254 michellee@mediaedge.ca SENIOR DESIGNER: Annette Carlucci annettec@mediaedge.ca WEB DESIGNER: Rick Evangelista ricke@mediaedge.ca PRODUCTION MANAGER: Rachel Selbie rachels@mediaedge.ca CIRCULATION: Yeshdev Singh circulation@mediaedge.ca (416) 512-8186 ext. 234 PRESIDENT: Kevin Brown kevinb@mediaedge.ca GROUP PUBLISHER: Sean Foley seanf@mediaedge.ca DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA: Steven Chester stevenc@mediaedge.ca

Canadian Facility Management & Design (CFM&D) magazine is published five times a year by MediaEdge Communications Inc., 5255 Yonge Street., Suite 1000, Toronto ON M2N 6P4; Tel (416) 512-8186; Fax 416-512-8344; email: circulation@mediaedge.ca SUBSCRIPTIONS Canada 1 yr $50* 2 yr $90* USA 1 yr $75* 2 yr $140* Int 1 yr $100* 2 yr $180* Single Copy Sales Canada $15* * Plus applicable taxes.

Authors: CFM&D magazine accepts unsolicited query letters and article suggestions. Manufacturers: Those wishing to have their products reviewed should contact the publisher or send information to the attention of the editor. Sworn Statement of Circulation: Available from the publisher upon written request. Although Canadian Facility Management & Design makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information published, we cannot be held liable for any errors or omissions, however caused. Printed in Canada.

Copyright 2018 Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement no. 40063056 ISSN 1193-7505 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: MediaEdge Communications Inc., 5255 Yonge St., Suite 1000, Toronto, ON M2N 6P4

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» foundations »

BOMA QUEBEC’S BUILDING ENERGY CHALLENGE BY THE NUMBERS

BOMA Quebec has found its own answer to BOMA Manitoba and Toronto’s RACE 2 REDUCE. The recently launched Building Energy Challenge will similarly encourage commercial, institutional and residential building owners and managers to lower their greenhouse gas emissions through friendly competition towards a shared target. Here’s a quick look at how the race will work:

10%

The energy-reduction target participants will be challenged to reach within four years.

100

The number of buildings BOMA Quebec hopes to get involved in the competition in year one.

2021

The four-year finish line for Building Energy Challenge participants to reach their goal.

NEW RYERSON CAMPUS SET FOR BRAMPTON A new Ryerson University campus is set to rise in Brampton, in partnership with Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology. The site will be located at the southeast corner of Church Street West and Mill Street North in Brampton, adjacent to the downtown GO station. This marks the first time that Ryerson University has expanded academic programming outside of downtown Toronto.

The Government of Ontario is investing $90 million in the construction of the new campus, plus the cost of land purchase. Brampton City Council has committed up to $150 million towards the construction of the new downtown university campus.

The university will focus its programming on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). Students will also have access to experiential learning opportunities, such as co-operative education, internship programs and case studies. The campus will also be home to a Centre for Education, Innovation and Collaboration; an Innovation Hub, which will connect students with external organizations in the region; and a National Centre for Cybersecurity.

“In expanding to Brampton, Ryerson University will provide much-needed university programs to students in one of the fastest-growing and most diverse communities in Canada,” said Mohamed Lachemi, president and vice-chancellor of Ryerson University, in a press release. “We are looking forward to working with Sheridan to provide students in the region with innovative academic programs that offer the critical thinking and problem solving skills needed to succeed and thrive in the modern economy.”

The campus is expected to be open to students in September 2022. Plans call for this campus to accommodate up to 2,000 new undergraduate spaces within five to 10 years.

GENDER BALANCE AMONG 2018 WORKPLACE TRENDS: SODEXO Sodexo recently released its 2018 Global Workplace Trends report, which features insights into the most significant factors affecting the future of work. The report also demonstrates how an improved workplace experience is vital to increasing companies’ performance, resulting in better employee engagement.

The report highlights the increasing presence of robotic and artificial intelligence in the workplace as well as daily life, and outlines the ways that the development of individual and collective human intelligence will guide the impact of technology on life.

“Since 2012, our Global Workplace Trends report has provided an important perspective on the future of many different types of workplace environments, spanning the globe,” said Sylvia Metayer, CEO of Worldwide Corporate Services at Sodexo, in a press release. “By understanding and anticipating these trends, we can more effectively help our clients plan what lies ahead, by experimenting and implementing human-centred and experience-based solutions.”

This year’s trend report focuses on seven topics with one unifying theme: the need for collective intelligence across all workplace segments. The featured trends highlighted in the report include:

8 CFM&D | Part of the REMI network | www.REMInetwork.com

• How Gen Z is reshaping the workplace in new and exciting ways where technology, flexibility, well-being and quality of life are concerned; • How IoT-supported workplace environments create the opportunity to engage business and employees more effectively by improving comfort in physical spaces, flexibility, precision and ultimately, quality of life for everyone; • Creating an emotionally intelligent workplace by allowing employees to bring their full spectrum of emotions to work, and aligning their fundamental human needs and motivations; • How some organizations are redefining their business models to leverage the benefits of the sharing economy; • Creating a gender-balanced workplace by examining the barriers that are holding back women; • Enhancing the employee experience and helping organizations perform at their best using human capital management 3.0; and • Shaping corporate responsibility strategies by giving employees a voice in the company.

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[ fm ergonomics ]

This page sponsored by

BY MICHELLE ERVIN

LAUNCH OF WELL V2 FOLLOWS ARRIVAL OF FITWEL As the influence of buildings on occupant health becomes impossible to ignore, the expansion of wellness certifications has opened up at least two different paths to healthier corporate spaces

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Teknion’s Toronto showroom earned WELL Silver certification.

today locates workstations within view of the windows so that occupants have proximity to natural daylight, which is now understood to influence the sleepregulating circadian rhythm.

This explains the arrival and growth of building certifications that recognize work and other places that support occupant health. As more and more organizations look to whip their corporate interiors into shape, they have at least two certifications paths to choose from.

DIFFERENT PATHS TO WORKPLACE WELLNESS

W

ell-being in the workplace is not the equivalent of a fad diet or fitness craze, according to its advocates. The trend is here to stay, they predict. More than that, it will continue to grow.

“They’re expecting human health and wellness to be the next trillion-dollar industry,” said Andy Delisi, architecture and design rep, Envirotech Office Systems, speaking earlier this year at an IFMA Toronto event.

As countries such as Canada and the U.S. grapple with the prevalence of chronic diseases, the places where adults clock 40 hours or more during their work week have come under increased scrutiny.

The research bears out that various features of corporate interiors can profoundly affect the people within, for better or for worse. For example, the typical floor plan

The pioneering WELL Building Standard has just launched its second version, v2.

When it arrived on the certification scene more than three years ago, WELL created a blueprint for developing healthy new and existing commercial and institutional buildings and interiors, as well as core and shell projects.

“I like to think of WELL as this nutritional label for your building that essentially provides transparency for the built environment for your employees and for your clients who spend time in that space,” said Delisi.

WELL v2 adds three new categories of strategies for boosting occupant wellbeing: materials, sound and community.

These categories, referred to as ‘concepts,’ join the original roster, which featured air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind.

Strategies, referred to as ‘features,’ are distinguished as either a pre-condition (mandatory) or an optimization (voluntary). To become certified, projects must satisfy the mandatory pre-conditions, as well as the points-minimums to achieve

“I like to think of WELL as this nutritional label for your building.”

10 CFM&D | Part of the REMI network | www.REMInetwork.com

silver, gold or platinum status. Under WELL v2, the voluntary optimizations that help add points to a project’s scorecard are designed to offer greater flexibility.

The introduction of WELL v2 follows the arrival of Fitwel in Canada. The relatively recent entrant to the field of building certifications comes from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and General Services Administration. Fitwel is designed to combat chronic disease by targeting avoidable risk factors, such as lack of physical activity, in workplaces, among other environments.

Strategies under Fitwel are broken down in two ways: 12 categories describing focus areas, including entrances, stairwells and work spaces, and seven categories describing intended outcomes, such as reducing absenteeism.

Each strategy is assigned points based on the size of its impact, for a total of up to 144 possible points. Projects that meet the minimum 90 points to become certified are rated one, two or three stars under Fitwel, depending on their score.

Speaking prior to the launch of WELL v2, Delisi, who is both a Fitwel ambassador and a WELL AP, said which wellness certification path to choose really boils down to what an organization is looking for. On the one hand, he said, WELL may demand a higher level of effort and investment to achieve, but it’s also held in commensurately high regard. On the other hand, he said, Fitwel may not be as exhaustive, but it’s also more economical and offers more flexibility.

Delisi observed that the ability to choose which points to chase under Fitwel give it particular appeal to existing buildings, where he said the air-quality requirements under WELL have been a barrier to uptake.

“The biggest value of Fitwel is all of the strategies are voluntary (no preconditions, no pre-requisites), which makes it a fantastic solution for existing buildings,” said Delisi.

WELL v2 offers customization in an effort to make the certification process more accessible and equitable, including for existing buildings.

FITWEL REVEALS UNDETECTED NEED

That doesn’t mean achieving Fitwel certification is easy, especially not a high score. Jon Douglas, director of sustainability for Menkes, said he was pleasantly surprised by its rigour.

Even at the celebrated 25 York St., which already had BOMA BEST Platinum and LEED Platinum bragging rights, it took some effort to achieve Fitwel certification.

When it completed the process last summer, it became the first office building in Canada to do so.

Menkes’ path to Fitwel certification began with the property management company considering what it could do in its capacity to promote wellness in the workplace. Douglas pointed out that its influence is limited compared to tenants, who have the ability to adopt HR policies and track vital statistics.

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[ fm ergonomics ] “Tenants have access to data that is amazing — they can look at absenteeism rates, hiring rates, all those things,” he said. “None of that data is really ever going to be available for a property manager, so we realized we needed some way of measuring our progress and really seeing how we can benchmark ourselves to the tenants with a third party to make sure we’re credible.”

“The biggest value of Fitwel is all of the strategies are voluntary.”

Douglas said Menkes ultimately decided to pursue Fitwel certification because it lined up with its goals and it was practical. The effort was guided through a tenant-engaging program called Healthy Spaces, which focused on promoting

Toronto Construction Association

mental health, nutrition, physical health and preventative health.

Some strategies, such as encouraging occupants to choose the stairs over the elevators to boost their physical activity, were straightforward, but they nevertheless required careful consideration, said Douglas. He explained that the risk of an occupant getting injured in an area that was impractical to cover with security cameras called for safety rules. Not all of the rules were intuitive either, such as cautions about using the stairs while wearing bifocals, which can cause depth-perception issues.

Douglas recalled that the top pointsscoring item on the Fitwel checklist, lactation rooms, was very nearly passed over until a survey conducted by tenants at the urging of Menkes revealed a startling finding: Mothers to infants were reportedly stealing away to the accessible washroom stall to find privacy to breastfeed. The property management company is now looking for spaces to locate lactation rooms.

“For us, that’s a very important wellbeing thing, but it’s also a very important women’s rights thing to have access to these kinds of spaces,” said Douglas.

One option may be to embed the amenity in fitness centres, he said.

Another option may be to ask tenants who provide the amenity to open it up to their neighbours.

25 York St. easily racked up points on the Fitwel checklist for bike infrastructure and proximity to transit, but Menkes decided to go one step further to promote physical activity. It’s currently mapping out and timing routes to nudge occupants to travel beyond their lunch spot to discover new destinations within their work neighbourhood.

“I don’t get any points under Fitwel for that, but it came out of the process of us doing this,” said Douglas.

WELL V2 CONSIDERS ACOUSTICS, MATERIALS

Tracy Backus, director of sustainability programs at Teknion, views Fitwel as a 12 CFM&D | Part of the REMI network | www.REMInetwork.com Chirco_half-island_ad_2018.indd 1

2018-02-16 11:12 AM

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Since earning WELL Silver certification at its Toronto showroom, Teknion has earned WELL Gold certification at its Boston showroom.

> SOCIAL MEDIA COLUMN Sponsored by MediaEdge

good launching pad for wellness initiatives in the workplace.

“In the States, there are a lot of conversations about the fact that Fitwel should be a basis of design; it should be become building code as it is the minimum the built environment should demand for employee well-being, where WELL is going a bit deeper,” Backus observed.

Backus said Teknion decided to make WELL its human standard when the issue of wellness emerged, much like it made LEED its building standard. LEED actually helps to pave the way for WELL, as there is some crossover between the certifications, which are administered by the same organization.

“Several of the credits within LEED v3 gave us the ability to meet similar features in WELL,” said Backus.

Access to light and connections to nature, which are known to produce cognitive health benefits and reduce stress, were already staples of Teknion’s spaces when it embarked on the path to WELL certification.

The contract furniture company began with its Toronto showroom, where it earned silver-level certification in an existing building.

Next, Teknion brought the lessons it learned through the course of the process to its Boston showroom, where it earned its now-standard gold-level certification, also in an existing building. Its new Dallas and New York showrooms are expected to achieve WELL certification soon, and its new L.A. showroom is also registered for WELL and considering v2 of the standard as a possible option.

“What you’re going to see happen in v2, is there are going to be 10 concepts,” said Backus.

“They’re going to basically raise the bar on materials and they’re

going to raise the bar on acoustical comfort.”

Backus said that Teknion has been reducing and educating others on the role of chemicals in raw materials and their impact on human health for several years now. In fact, the company already discloses the ingredients in its products using the Declare label, which meets the requirements of LEED, Living Building Challenge and WELL. The WELL certification process also led Teknion to adopt some new initiatives. For example, its Toronto team now climbs the CN Tower biannually in an exercise that blends fitness and philanthropy. Backus said engaging employees in this type of effort, with support from HR and management, is just one of the ways to exceed the mandatory preconditions of silver-level WELL certification and set projects up to strive for gold or platinum status.

THE FUTURE OF HEALTHY BUILDINGS

Whichever certification path organizations choose, staging the types of workplace interventions prescribed

by Fitwel and WELL has the potential to deliver broad benefits across a range of stakeholders. For employees, there’s the promise of better quality of life; for employers, there’s the promise of higher productivity; and for society at large, there’s the promise of lower burdens on health-care systems.

With all these wins, it’s not surprising that Backus foresees wellness building certifications having an even fartherreaching impact than green building certifications, which she attributed to the comparative visibility of efforts to promote employee health.

“I think it’s going to eclipse what we did with LEED,” she said. | CFM&D

Want to stand out on social media?

Don’t fake it

By Steven Chester Let’s face it, we all want our businesses to be social media rock stars, and we know it ain’t easy.

It’s becoming more prevalent that some of the most popular social media platforms have been infiltrated by those who game the system.

This includes those that buy fake followers and “likes” in order to create the illusion that their social media profile is more popular than it is.

These fake followers are predominantly bots – accounts run by software designed to look and act like real people.

New services are also popping up that allow authentic social media accounts to become part of the bot game. By signing up for the service, the user authorizes their account to automatically like, follow and randomly comment on other users’ posts, and in turn they trade that fake engagement with other users. Sound harmless enough? The thing is you have no say in in the message your account is spreading or where it ends up.

Ask yourself this: What’s more important, having 50,000 cosmetic followers, or having 500 followers who are in your target market that actually want to hear from you?

As a consumer, it’s even simpler, as deceptive tactics are easy to spot. If you’re using underhanded methods to promote your business, this can be viewed as a reflection of your product or service. Your integrity is at stake.

This is one of the more complex topics that can’t be fully covered in this space. As always, I invite you to stay social and continue the conversation on Twitter at @Chestergosocial where I’ll share a link to the full article.

Steven Chester is the Digital Media Director of MediaEdge Communications. With 15 years’ experience in cross-platform communications, Steven helps companies expand their reach through social media and other digital initiatives. To contact him directly, email gosocial@mediaedge.ca.

June/July 2018 CFM&D 13

[ technology ]

BY CAROLIN WOLF

VISITOR MANAGEMENT ON THE MODERN CAMPUS

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MAKING GUESTS FEEL WELCOME

Having details such as the dietary restrictions of guests at hand can help hosts make visitors feel welcome.

Post-secondary institutions turn to software to meet safety and security requirements

M

any campuses are vast in size — the University of British Columbia, for example, occupies more than four square kilometres of land. Within these campuses are research facilities, student housing, private housing, event centres, theatres and a myriad of other specialized buildings.

Managing visitors within these spaces can be challenging. Contractors, guest lecturers, event attendees, and other

unfamiliar individuals enter the doors every day.

Universities are expected to offer a great visitor experience all while tracking guests and ensuring safety on campus.

Compounding these expectations are the rigorous standards of data management that universities are required to uphold.

With the size and population of today’s campuses, post-secondary institutions are turning to technology, specifically cloud-based visitor management software (VMS), to meet these requirements.

14 CFM&D | Part of the REMI network | www.REMInetwork.com

Providing a great visitor experience relies on making the guest feel welcome. Hosts should know who visitors are, why they’re visiting and any other critical pieces of information.

In its guide to hosting international visitors, Virginia Commonwealth University urges staff to “be aware of religious considerations and dietary restrictions.” This is a great example of the kind of detail that is needed to demonstrate to visitors that their presence is valued and that can be made available to staff within a centralized platform through VMS. Providing a personalized experience is the most sure-fire way for postsecondary institutions to demonstrate that visitors matter to them. Post-secondary institutions can use VMS to deliver personalization in a number of ways: • Create a sign-in process that is relevant to each visitor, implementing different processes for guest lecturers versus contractors.

• Remember important facts about visitors by customizing the data captured on sign-in forms, which is valuable for other communication and operational purposes.

• Store check-in data so repeat visitors don’t have to re-enter their details on subsequent visits.

• Invite event attendees to pre-register so they can quickly check-in with a QR code.

• Look for VMS platforms that offer multilingual service to accommodate international visitors in their native language when they sign in.

SECURING THE CAMPUS

While visitors deliver a lot of value to universities, they also bring inherent risks alongside them. Universities are obliged

to protect students, faculty and any other concerned parties from potentially harmful activities by visitors. They also need to provide that same level of security to the visitors themselves. Understanding who visitors are at every stage of their visit is a critical success factor in maintaining campus-wide safety and security.

Protecting campus residents requires thorough identification of visitors and clear parameters that define the spaces they are permitted to access, which can be denoted using colour-coded badges produced using VMS systems.

It’s also possible to integrate VMS systems with criminal watch lists and government databases to screen guests in real time. This particular use case is especially relevant to university campuses, which have a multitude of access points and a decentralized staff working across campus.

In the event of an emergency, visitors need to be kept informed and accounted for. VMS systems can be used to send emergency alerts directly to visitors and view roll-call, which allows security and administrative staff to quickly visualize which visitors are on campus.

Protecting campus residents requires thorough identification of visitors and clear parameters that define the spaces they are permitted to access.

Equally important, organizations need robust data governance systems as data privacy regulations become more rigorous. Post-secondary institutions can use VMS to consolidate and configure the data they collect to adhere to compliance standards. Keeping that data within a centralized platform makes it possible to export a full report in the event of a data audit.

VISITOR MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE ON TODAY’S CAMPUS

The challenges of visitor management in modern universities and colleges are going to grow more pronounced over time. Unlike physical guestbooks and other manual processes, VMS will scale alongside campuses, remaining viable even as new facilities are built and more visitors and students appear on campus. | CFM&D

Carolin Wolf is the product marketing manager at Traction Guest, a developer of cloud-based visitor management systems (VMS). She has shaped business and brand strategies for large enterprises and smaller ventures, with a focus on the tech sector. She can be reached at cwolf@tractionguest.com.

PROTECTING AND MANAGING DATA

The other piece of the security puzzle pertains to protecting sensitive information such as intellectual property.

VMS can be used to help streamline processes that protect sensitive data such as material held within research facilities.

During the initial visitor sign-in process, universities can require an e-signature to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or other legal documents.

Universities are also expected to comply with government policies that regulate data management.

For example, some provincial governments in Canada require organizations to use local data centres to secure and protect customer/ constituent data. There is a current shortage of data centres in Canada, but that is changing as VMS companies launch new data centres to help organizations comply with data residency regulations.

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June/July 2018 CFM&D 15

FACILITY DESIGN

BUILDING KNOWLEDGE Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture brings lessons from the classroom to life by highlighting, rather than hiding, the way it was constructed

BY MICHELLE ERVIN

S

tudents of Canada’s newest architecture school won’t have to venture far to see lessons from the classroom come to life. The latest addition to Laurentian University’s real estate portfolio highlights, rather than hides, the way it was constructed.

“The whole idea behind the facility was to make the entire building

structure part of the pedagogy of the school, so we’ve exposed the structure to all the buildings, both old and new, so the students can see how buildings go together,” said Brad Parkes, associate vice president of facilities.

Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture brings together facilities constructed from masonry, timber, concrete and steel, and engineered wood on a satellite campus

16 CFM&D | Part of the REMI network | www.REMInetwork.com

spanning 72,849 square feet. Completed on a budget of $42.6 million, the project delivered classrooms and faculty offices through the adaptive reuse of two historic buildings in its first phase and an auditorium, design studios, a lecture space and library through the addition of a new building in its second phase.

NORTHERN ONTARIO CONTEXT

The new architecture school — Canada’s

IMAGES BY BOB GUNDU

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The new building at Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture combines cross-laminated timber (CLT) and steel.

once met, giving it both local and national importance. Not only did these transportation routes connect the country from coast to coast, but the local construction of the CPR unearthed the resource wealth that would precipitate Sudbury’s meteoric rise in the global mining industry.

Reminders of this storied past were preserved through the adaptive reuse of the site’s two existing buildings, a masonry building that originally served as a CPR telegraph and ticketing office and a timber rail shed that was used to transfer goods from CPR boxcars to trucks and wagons. With the addition of concrete flooring and heating and cooling, the rail shed became workshops, while the upper floor of the former telegraph and ticketing office was transformed into faculty offices and meeting space.

CONTEMPORARY TECHNOLOGIES INTRODUCED

first in decades — is differentiated from the country’s 11 existing architecture schools by its curriculum, which is rooted in its northern Ontario context.

This mandate is exemplified by its facilities, which also bring lessons to life by reflecting local history, resources, climate and cultures.

McEwen School is located in downtown Sudbury, roughly seven kilometres off of Laurentian University’s

main campus. Parkes said selecting this site was a deliberate decision made with the post-secondary institution’s municipal, provincial and federal project partners. The goal, he said, was to breathe new life into the city core with the energy of the up to 400 students that the facilities can accommodate.

The triangular property is also where the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and Trans-Canada Highway

“The new building that we introduced was a combination of CLT and steel, and part of that was to demonstrate two more contemporary technologies doing what they do best,” said Janna Levitt, founding partner of LGA Architectural Partners, “so the spans and the thinness of the steel versus the thickness and the span of the CLT building — materials that you can leave exposed and structural materials that you have to enclose because of thermal bridging.”

The addition of the L-shaped, twowing building offers students a study in contrasts between these two modern June/July 2018 CFM&D 17

FACILITY DESIGN

construction methods, as well as between 19th-century-style timber construction and 21st-century CLT construction. Levitt said CLT was a natural choice considering the importance of timber and wood resources to northern Ontario, although there was little precedent for its institutional application in Canada at the time, much less on this scale.

“Everybody thinks an institutional building is supposed to be no wood, but because of the style of wood

— heavy timber — it’s okay under code,” said Parkes.

He explained that at the time the new architecture school was in design, the Ontario Building Code limited the heavy timber construction of assembly buildings to two storeys, adding that this height restriction has since been lifted, paving the way for taller heavy timber assembly buildings.

George Brown College, for example, expects to break ground in 2021 on a 12-storey mass timber

“Everybody thinks an institutional building is supposed to be no wood, but because of the style of wood — heavy timber — it’s okay under code.”

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building at its waterfront campus. The University of Toronto, meanwhile, expects to break ground as early as late 2019 on a 14-storey building that will combine CLT and concrete at its downtown campus.

CLIMATE-SPECIFIC SUSTAINABILITY

McEwen School is also intended to be instructive for students in terms of how to achieve sustainable design in the north. In this geographic context, it’s not as simple as following a template provided by established standards for producing green buildings, such as LEED. As an example, Levitt pointed to the way the new building lowers the demand placed upon its mechanical systems by taking advantage of solar heat gain — a phenomenon that would need to be tempered on a traditional LEED project.

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Left to right: An auditorium and library find their home in the CLT wing; design studios are overlooked by a mezzanine (top); workshops occupy a former rail shed (bottom); exposed wood offers warmth as an interior finish; and a steppeddown space offers flexibility.

“We had to make sure that the building could operate for two or three days without any heat if some of the HVAC machinery broke down, because that’s how long it takes to get something from Toronto shipped up,” she explained.

In addition to taking advantage of heat gain during the cold but sunny winter months, the new building buffers the property from harsh northerly winds with strategic siting.

During the hot summer, operable windows make it possible to take advantage of the breeze that is typical in the area at that time of year.

“I’m a firm believer in free cooling, and the more we can use it, the better,” said Parkes. “If I don’t have to turn on a fan or an air-conditioning unit, great.”

When air-conditioning is needed, the buildings run on energy-efficient HVAC

equipment selected for its durability and adaptability. Parkes said he eschewed systems with 12 to 15-year lifespans in favour of systems with lifespans of 25 years or longer, citing the perennial “battle for deferred maintenance.” At the same time, said Levitt, it was important to be able to upgrade equipment as technology improved. The labelled “plug-and-play” components that were used will make it easy for the facilities department to replace parts and for students to see how the systems work.

BROADER COMMUNITY WELCOMED

McEwen School of Architecture’s facilities have been up and running as intended since the fall of 2016, when their doors were opened not just to students, faculty and staff, but to Sudbury at large.

Externally, the new building gave

back to the broader community by including in its programming muchneeded public venues — namely, an auditorium and a theatre. Internally, the adaptive reuse of the telegraph and ticketing office considered the unique needs of the community by allocating offices to Indigenous elders. This was among several culturally sensitive provisions aimed at being inclusive of the tri-cultural community, which also has large French and English populations.

As is the case with most projects, the work isn’t entirely over. A ceremonial fire pit is still to come in the interior courtyard, as is a “storefront” slated for the ground floor of the former telegraph and ticketing office, where the broader community will be invited to bring its architecture questions, providing a place to share lessons beyond the classroom. | CFM&D June/July 2018 CFM&D 19

[ fm education ]

These pages sponsored by

BOMI

BY PETER GREAVES

C A N A D A

EMPOWERING END USERS THROUGH VISUALIZATION ENABLING HUMAN-CENTRED DESIGN

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Virtual reality has been used to supplement design presentations.

3D printing, robotics and virtual reality are improving insight into possible solutions during early project phases. How collaborative design, rapid prototyping and ‘optioneering’ are enabling human-centred design

T

he needs, movements and preferences of building occupants can’t be considered only after a building has been constructed. A building

that has been designed for the end user doesn’t just happen.

People-focused strategies need to be followed at every stage of the project, from design right through to construction and operation.

20 CFM&D | Part of the REMI network | www.REMInetwork.com

During the design phase, everyone from facility managers to the staff that will be using the building should be included in workshops so that designers and engineers understand their unique challenges, pain points, and daily tasks. Leveraging visualization and community engagement, expanding the application of design models, and understanding the end-user sentiment requires an agile design approach.

Visualization also enables stakeholder engagement to be managed around the effect of massing and how a proposal fits into the existing environment and allows groups to come together to be bold and achieve a solution for all. For instance, visualization was used to explain building access and operation to the facilities management team for a building in the Oman Across Ages Museum.

Human-centred design is enabled through collaborative design, rapid prototyping and ‘optioneering,’ or the engineering of options. When the right stakeholders are brought in during the concept and design phase and ideas can be made tangible and quick feedback can be collected from the people that are being designed for, then the building designers and engineers can learn through producing.

Prototypes don’t have to be perfect from the get-go, they need to represent a concept that’s open to adjustments and optimization. This type of optioneering allows ideas to be tested within a continuous feedback loop to make sure they are on the right track. It’s essentially a practical, repeatable approach that will help to achieve truly intelligent, human-centred buildings.

Theory in action: JMCO Accommodation, Townsville, Australia

The Joint Movement Control Office (JMCO) Accommodation design team used virtual reality to supplement a design presentation at Lavarack Army Barracks in Townsville. Using interactive controls, people measured space and clearances, inquired about the objects’ properties, nudged and moved the objects, and marked up and commented directly in the views. The immersion sped up the approval process, as well as resulting in overall time and cost savings.

Theory in action: Sydney Airport T1 Northern Reclaim Project, Sydney, Australia

The Sydney Airport Northern Reclaim project involved the creation of two new baggage reclaim carousels to cater for the larger A380 aircraft using the International Terminal T1. New plantrooms had to be constructed, and existing services diverted, to allow the expanded baggage system to serve the new carousels.

To assist design coordination, Sydney Airport provided a point cloud survey of all the existing spaces that were affected and solid 3D models were developed of the existing and proposed services.

The 3D models were used effectively to inform the baggage designers of the available space for their conveyors and platforms.

The model was used for detailed clash detection, which was INVESTIGATING VISUALIZATION OPPORTUNITIES Emotionally intelligent buildings will demand that design undertaken as part of the coordination exercise. | CFM&D data are better leveraged and communicated in different types of visualization scenarios, especially with regards to Peter Greaves is Aurecon’s Buildings of the Future leader. daylighting, indoor environmental quality and acoustics.

A chartered electrical engineer with more than 20 years’ Some examples of this include auralization, where international engineering experience, Peter is passionate about acoustic modelling is used to simulate noise to optimize creating intelligent buildings that are not only technologically building designs and influence sound-masking within innovative, but also emotionally intelligent. He believes that buildings, Computer Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis to buildings of the future will be intrinsically connected to human understand the efficacy of a building’s façade and HVAC behaviour, enabling them to effectively operate in a changing system, for example, as well as digitized wayfinding and environment. pedestrian modelling solutions.

While these visualization options could be deemed This article is an excerpt from Buildings of the Future: People at costly, it must be put into the context of the overall cost the Centre, first published on the Aurecon website. of buildings of the future to translate a better return on investment for owners and developers.

Theory in action: Wynyard Station, Sydney, Australia

When Wynyard Station was undergoing an upgrade, an unconventional solution involving 3D printing and virtual reality was used to create a simulated station environment to test possible design options that were unconventional or had only achieved limited success in the past. In this case, prototyping and visualization allowed the project team to take the client and stakeholders along the journey, starting from collaboration right through to a physical demonstration of the solution that all the stakeholders had collectively devised. The exercise used robotics, offsite construction and technology to create a more defined product without any added actual design costs.

From Boiler Room to Boardroom

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN DESIGN AND OPERATIONS

During the construction and operation phase, data insights and sensors can be used to gain valuable feedback and target specific problems. These rapid insights can be used to justify larger, more costly adjustments to the design.

When building systems are installed, the ways that machine learning will eventually be able to take data derived from these systems and enable a building to manage itself need to be investigated.

A professional association focused on advancing and promoting the FM community. Join IFMA Toronto Today at ifma-toronto.org

June/July 2018 CFM&D 21

[ management memo ]

BY MICHELLE ERVIN

HARD QUOTAS UNLIKELY IN GENDER PARITY PUSH

PHOTOS: KRIS FROSTAD, CREATIVE CIRCLE

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An audience takes in a ULI Toronto panel discussion hosted on International Women’s Day.

Senior leaders eye soft targets in efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the real estate industry

H

ard quotas appear to be an unlikely tool in the growing push to promote gender parity in the real estate industry if commentary at a panel hosted by the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Toronto chapter on International Women’s Day is any indication.

A movement to set, measure and track soft targets for diversity and inclusion has only emerged in the last few years. The success to date seen by early adopters of this strategy suggests that looking at how an organization is faring in promoting women at all levels, and then establishing goals, may be enough to realize gender parity.

The Ontario government, for example, announced in 2016 that it would aim to fill at least 40 per cent of appointments at all provincial agencies and boards with women by 2019. At least one provincial agency, Infrastructure Ontario, has already surpassed that target, reaching gender parity in both the boardroom and the C-suite.

Speaking at the ULI Toronto panel,

Toni Rossi, president of the real estate division at Infrastructure Ontario, credited the leadership of its board chair in driving action on diversity and inclusion. However, Rossi said that there is more work to be done, noting that middle management is one part of the organizational chart where the provincial agency has struggled to move toward gender parity.

“We’ve been very deliberate about progressing a measured baseline,” she added. “I personally have a visceral feeling when I hear the word quota.”

Rossi may not be alone in feeling this way. Aspiring leaders have expressed to at least one real estate executive that establishing hard quotas may diminish merit-based promotions.

“The feedback that we get from our strongest people is: ‘Please don’t put a quota in there because who wants to be that person who’s looked at as: You have two spots; therefore, I’m one,’” said Blake Hutcheson, president and CEO of Oxford Properties Group, speaking at the ULI Toronto panel.

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Also speaking at the ULI Toronto panel, Leslie Woo, chief planning and development officer at Metrolinx, added that there are alternatives to quotas in the push for gender parity that have yet to be used. Woo has pressed recruiters to go back to the labour pool after they’ve sought out female candidates and come up short.

She said Metrolinx, another provincial agency, has set a goal of reaching gender parity from the manager level up within three years in an effort to reflect the demographic composition of the region it serves, the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Its 14-member board of directors has a 50-50 split between men and women and its executive team has a 60-40 split that favours women, but it has some ground to make up from the manager level up, where it currently has 28-per-cent female representation.

“Part of what we’re trying to do in our organization is to call it, and enable people to call it when they see it,” said Woo. “When I go into a boardroom or meeting, I take a picture and I show everybody: ‘Did you notice what our boardroom meeting looked like? Let’s mix it up a little bit.’”

Metrolinx is also turning to its women’s network and diversity and inclusion council for ideas. Woo said organizations need to determine what their status quo looks like in order to know where to place their focus. She had to approach the HR department for demographic data when the women’s network was being formed.

REALPAC, a national trade association representing the largest real estate companies in Canada, started to track diversity and inclusion statistics, including gender, in 2017 as part of its annual compensation and benefits survey. “Collecting data on male-tofemale breakdowns within organizations

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Participants of the panel on gender parity in real estate pose with members of ULI Toronto’s Women’s Leadership Initiative as well as its executive director. From left to right: Richard Joy, Meg Davis, Sheila Botting, Leslie Woo, Blake Hutcheson, Gabriella Sicheri, Toni Rossi, Michael Brooks and Ornella Richichi.

will establish a baseline from which to chart trends,” said Michael Brooks, CEO of REALPAC. REALPAC’s move to track male-tofemale ratios comes as part of a broader initiative, led by an advisory council and a staff committee, launched last year to promote diversity and inclusion in the industry, including gender equality.

Brooks said a scan of global best practices showed the Canadian real estate sector is trailing its counterparts in the U.S., Europe and Australia. Male members of the Property Council of Australia, for example, have pledged not to participate in ‘manels’ (all-male panels).

The statistics currently available suggest the real estate sector is also trailing the Canadian economy at large on gender parity. Women in the real estate sector may find the top rungs of the corporate ladder harder to reach compared to some of their peers in other sectors, an analysis of Canadian Property Management’s 2017 Who’s Who in Canadian Real Estate Survey revealed.

“It’s been a journey, and I’ll admit that we’re not getting this right — not as a society, not in this industry, and not at

Oxford,” said Hutcheson, “but I have been a huge champion of both inclusion and diversity, and I’ve just watched the company evolve over nine years.”

“We make better decisions when we have a diverse group in the room,” he said.

Hutcheson was also recently appointed CEO and chief pension officer at OMERS, which, similar to Metrolinx’s diversity and inclusion efforts, provides forums for women’s and LGBTQ groups. He said the impetus to promote diversity and inclusion isn’t limited to social responsibility, citing research coming out of Harvard University that shows it drives shareholder value.

What’s more, a new index from MSCI Canada that tracks a sample of publicly traded entities that meet criteria to be considered leaders in women’s diversity saw higher returns than a broader investable market index over the span of a year and a half.

Recognizing the research that exists, Rossi said she worries about the ability of the real estate industry to attract top talent in the future, having looked around the room at one of the biggest

conferences of the year and not seen a lot of diversity.

In the classroom at Ryerson University where Brooks teaches the capstone real estate course, he sees plenty of women and visible minorities preparing to enter the sector, but he said that the industry needs to change the signals it’s sending.

“Put yourself in their shoes looking for a job at any organization in Canada — ‘I think I’ll check out the C-suite’ — and all you see is white men,” said Brooks. “That doesn’t send a reaffirming message about the future and what your opportunities are.”

There are encouraging signals to be found. ULI Toronto’s Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) recently marked an important milestone as it strives to do its part to promote gender parity in the local real estate and development industry through its She With He campaign. Having made a concerted effort to increase its female ranks, ULI Toronto now claims the highest level of women members globally — 36 per cent — among ULI’s district councils of comparable size. | CFM&D

June/July 2018 CFM&D 23

[ energy management ]

BY MICHELLE ERVIN

PASSIVE HOUSE POISED FOR INSTITUTIONAL UPTAKE A community centre set to rise in Surrey, B.C., is just one in a series of increasingly large non-residential projects targeting the building standard for extreme energy efficiency

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HCMA Architecture + Design is working on a number of institutional Passive House projects, including the Clayton Community Centre.

P

assive House, a voluntary standard for achieving extremely energyefficient buildings, appears to be poised for wider uptake in institutional projects in Canada. After being largely limited to residential applications, small institutional projects are starting to reach completion and a handful of requests for proposals (RFPs) issued within the last year suggest that large institutional projects are soon to follow.

“It really feels like we’re on the cusp of a big explosion of Passive House buildings, and interest in Passive House, as the

standard gets rolled out across all of our building stock, and not just residentialscaled projects,” said Jon Loewen, architect, Perkins+Will’s Toronto office.

LARGE INSTITUTIONAL PROJECTS ANTICIPATED

Loewen was one in a cohort of his colleagues to become a Certified Passive House Designer last summer as the architecture firm anticipates the standard gaining traction.

Perkins+Will, which specializes in civic and institutional buildings, is already vying to work on some large projects that could be among the first of their size and type to pursue this certification.

In one recent design competition, the architecture firm pitched the standard as a pathway to achieving net zero energy.

24 CFM&D | Part of the REMI network | www.REMInetwork.com

Passive House is expected to become an increasingly attractive proposition as governments roll out policies aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat climate change. Loewen pointed to the arrival of provincial carbon taxes and cap-and-trade programs as well as tightening municipal energy standards as compelling factors in the case for pursuing the standard.

“Institutions are much more sensitive to the cost of energy than they used to be, and Passive House lines up really well with that, because it’s all about reducing your energy consumption,” he said. “There are hurdles for clients to overcome in the way you think about building the building, and the way you think about operating the building, but it’s very easy for us to quantify the benefits.”

Loewen explained that achieving the Passive House standard means frontloading spending to realize long-term savings and tilting investments toward the building envelope and away from the mechanical equipment.

“We’re creating this high-quality envelope that can be maintained with smaller equipment, rather than a relatively weak envelope that requires a high level of mechanical equipment and complexity in order to maintain a comfortable interior environment,” said Rob Bernhardt, CEO of Passive House Canada.

“For things like the cooling load, for example — that’s the result of solar heat gain — the approach within Passive House is to ensure that the heat doesn’t get into the building — perhaps [using] external shading devices — rather than cooling the building once the sun has been allowed to enter.”

PASSIVE HOUSE IN CANADA

The adoption of the Passive House standard has been geographically uneven since it rolled out in Canada in 2010

after being formalized in Germany in the 1990s (although a house in Saskatchewan has been recognized as one of the earliest examples of this approach). Bernhardt said Toronto and Vancouver are currently leading the pack as the certification builds momentum across the country following slow uptake dominated by residential applications during its early years.

The Anglicization of Passivhaus to Passive House has contributed to the common misconception that the standard is strictly for homes, he said — the German word “haus” directly translates to “building” in English.

As institutions start to eye the standard for large projects, they may face some temporary challenges. Loewen noted that the Canadian market for highperformance building equipment and products is less mature than the European market, making certain items, such as triple-glazed curtain wall, more difficult to source locally.

However, big buildings have some advantages over small homes in pursuing the Passive House standard. For example, said Loewen, big buildings do not require as much insulation as small homes thanks to a lower surface-tovolume ratio. They also stand to have a greater positive environmental impact on the basis of sheer size.

In Penticton, B.C., the less than 5,000-square-foot Okanagan College Daycare has achieved Passive House certification, and a more than 5,000-square-foot community church, slated for construction in Doig River First Nation, B.C., is targeting certification. So is a more than 9,000-square-foot town hall containing offices, meeting rooms and support spaces under construction in Valleyview, Alberta.

B.C.-based HCMA Architecture + Design, which has completed a handful of residential Passive House projects, is now working on even larger institutional projects. Vancouver Fire Hall No. 17, a more than 20,000-square-foot facility, is slated to open before the year is out, and Clayton Community Centre, a more than 75,000-square-foot facility featuring arts and recreation programming is slated to open in Surrey next year. Once complete, Clayton Community Centre

�

Once complete, the Clayton Community Centre is expected to become Canada’s largest Passive House facility to date.

is expected to become Canada’s largest Passive House facility to date.

“A lot of the institutional buildings are built and operated by municipalities,” said Adam Fawkes, associate at HCMA Architecture + Design. “That’s where the owner-operators are going to see the benefit of paying a bit more on the capital costs, and then having lower operational costs.”

Fawkes added that they are likely to see lower maintenance costs as well, due to the durability of the building envelope produced through the application of Passive House.

PROCUREMENT CRITICAL TO SUCCESS

Kearns Mancini Architects, which has more than one million square feet of Passive House projects in the pipeline this year, are the compliance architect and Passive House designer for project output specifications for a large building planned for University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus. The 280,000-square-foot, mixed-use student residence stands to become the first of its building typology in the world to be completed and certified as Passive House.

Jonathan Kearns, co-founder and principal of Kearns Mancini, cautioned that it’s critical to get procurement right if Passive House certification is to be achieved. He identified construction management, design-build and IPD as preferred methods of delivery for projects targeting the standard.

Kearns said that high-performance buildings require a new procurement process, even for the design team.

“With the front-end design, typical procurement documents and scoring do not permit alternate design paths strategies which offer design success for the rigourous design standard,” said Kearns. “Also, until Passive House becomes more established in the marketplace, and you have lots of builders who know what Passive House is and know how to build it, we’re averse to stip sum (stipulated sum).”

Establishing an integrated team at the outset of such a project prevents the kinds of errors in execution that can occur when designs are handed off to contractors who are unfamiliar with the standard.

“All it needs is one careless tradesperson to put a hole in the air seal,” Kearns explained. “Then, you fail the air pressure test, and it might take days to find where that hole is if it’s a big building.”

He said that tender documents for projects that are proceeding as stipulated sum should prescribe Passive House training for supervisory staff and trades to avoid this risk.

Institutions interested in pursuing the energy-efficiency building standard on large projects will soon have further guidance. Kearns Mancini is in the process of writing a white paper on how to procure Passive House projects, which it expected to release this spring. | CFM&D June/July 2018 CFM&D 25

[ operations & maintenance ]

BY JOHN ENGEL

HOW TO PROTECT FLOORING ASSETS Freezing rain in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick this spring underscored the importance of year-round matting programs

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T

he bottoms of customers’ and employees’ shoes can spread wet mud, melting snow, gravel, salt and sand across a business’s floors. Any type of flooring, including tile, laminate, concrete, carpet and wood can be visibly soiled by these contaminants. Cleanliness, or lack thereof, can make a lasting impression on guests, as well as a business’s reputation and bottom line.

Freezing rain in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick this spring served as a reminder of the important role mats can play in limiting the amount of dirt and moisture that makes its way into facilities.

Floor mats strategically placed at entrances provide guests with a place to wipe their shoes, thereby keeping contaminants off of floors, reducing the need to constantly clean and minimizing damage to valuable

It’s important to consider design and material when selecting mats.

flooring assets. A year-round matting program can help keep melting snow, wet mud, gravel, salt and sand off the floors in commercial facilities and maintain a clean and welcoming image.

SEASONAL CONTAMINANTS

A surprising amount of debris is tracked from the outdoors into facilities throughout the year. In fact, the Institute of Industrial Laundries notes that 80 per cent of the dust, dirt and grime in public facilities is tracked in from the outside.

Spring and summer months can bring more frequent rain showers, and with that comes the increased opportunity for mud and water to be tracked onto floors.

Mud tracks are one of the most visible types of dirt on surfaces and can quickly create a mess across floors, especially in facilities with high foot traffic.

To prevent mud tracks from projecting a poor image and creating time-consuming clean-up, let mats

26 CFM&D | Part of the REMI network | www.REMInetwork.com

give customers a place to wipe their feet at facility entry points.

Fall and winter also provide challenges for facilities that want to keep floors in pristine condition.

Leaves in the fall and snow, salt and sand in the winter should be of utmost concern to businesses. As snow is tracked inside and melts, stagnant pools of water can collect on floors, creating unsightly puddles.

Repeated exposure to salt and sand can also damage floors, because they are abrasive like sand paper and wear away the floor finish. Floor damage increases maintenance and replacement costs for businesses while also disrupting daily operations.

Fortunately, mats can provide a barrier at the entrance of a facility so that outdoor elements are trapped before making their way across clean floors.

In addition to seasonal contaminants, businesses should also be mindful of contaminants that can be generated within their facility and spread across floors. For example, kitchens have grease and animal fats, while auto shops are frequently prone to oil and grease-covered floors. Mats strategically placed in areas where these messes can occur will help limit their spread throughout other areas of the facility.

TYPES OF MATS

Material and design are important considerations for mats and their ability to capture contaminants.

Scraper mats are ideal for outdoor areas because they remove moisture and debris from shoes with each step.

Look for mats with alternating blades in directional height and width, and deep channels and drainage holes that help keep the captured dirt and moisture away from shoes. A mat’s

weight will aid grip performance, helping the mat stay in place better.

Carpet logo mats can do double duty by promoting the business or a key message. Fibers in a carpet mat impact absorption — more absorbent material means less dirt and water reach floors. Similar to scraper mats, the rubber backing is important to provide weight and traction. Investing in heavierweight mats in high-traffic areas can help reduce mat movement.

To withstand foot traffic and trap contaminants in a kitchen, look for durable, 100-per-cent rubber mats for these indoor spaces. Kitchen mats with antimicrobial additives provide additional protection against bacteria, mold and biofilms. Rubber mats with drainage holes are often used in kitchen areas; also look for mats that are slip- oil-, water- and grease-resistant.

MAINTAINING MATS

Regularly laundering mats is essential to extending the life of floors.

Without consistent cleaning, mats may fail to properly trap dirt or can develop unpleasant odours. When mats collect a high level of dirt, this can result in an “inkpad” effect. This means that visitors’ shoes actually spread the contaminants across a facility like stamps leaving inky marks across a piece of paper.

Many facility managers assume that vacuuming is the best way to maintain mats. Although this tactic helps remove a small amount of dirt, industrial laundering provides a deep cleaning to remove embedded dirt and other contaminants. When

a service provider comes to collect dirty mats, they will replace them with clean mats at the same time so that floors are always protected.

YEAR-ROUND COVERAGE

Despite the rain, leaves and snow that fall outside, mats can keep the inside of a building looking its best when a year-round program is implemented.

Facility managers should keep material and design in mind and look for matting that can withstand foot traffic, prevent unpleasant odours and provide optimal coverage around entrances. To ensure high levels of cleanliness, mats needs to be properly maintained and the program requires appropriate oversight. | CFM&D

John Engel is director of marketing for the Facility Services division of Cintas. Cintas Canada Ltd. is a leading provider of facility services, uniforms, first aid & safety, flame resistant clothing and compliance training.

[ info guide ]

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FOCUS ON EDUCATION FURNITURE

HEAD OF THE CLASS Height-adjustable desks aren’t just for students anymore. The latest classroom-approved products include lecterns that let teachers to alternate between sitting and standing. This is just one example of the way education furniture is providing the flexibility required in modern teaching environments

Rainlight drew inspiration from the artist’s easel in designing Tabula for Koleksiyon. The writeable surface supports brainstorming, flipping from vertical with a slight recline to perfectly horizontal. When in table position, the splay of the legs of its base allow chairs to be tucked in.

KI’s new Ruckus Mobile Height-Adjustable Lectern gives teachers the ability to alternate between sitting and standing as well as the freedom to roam around the classroom. The lectern builds on KI’s efforts to support the changing roles of students and teachers, which began last year with the launch of the rest of the Ruckus Collection. Its surface is raised and lowered pneumatically and its base is set on casters. A bag hook, book basket, cup holder and modesty panel come optionally.

Global’s new Edventure™ collection of teacher desks, storage lecterns, student desks and study carrels is designed to combine classic aesthetics with contemporary performance. Its range of solutions is touted for delivering durability in budget-conscious, spacesensitive formats. The study carrels (pictured) are ideal for heads-down work that demands concentration. They can be used in groups or standalone and specified in several widths, with or without a daisy-chain power solution, LED task light, power and data block, and shelf.

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Levo Lecture Lecterns are among the products from the Vilagrasa Collection being brought to North America

by Peter Pepper Products.

The Mario Ruiz-designed lecterns come in adjustable and fixed-height models.

The height-adjustable model has a 25.75-inchwide, 23.46-inch-deep surface that can be raised and lowered between 40.35 inches high and 52.16 inches high. The fixed-height model has a 26.34-inch-wide, 23.46-inch-deep surface that sits at 48.23 inches.

Shared features of the models include a compact HPL reading shelf, a glossy methacrylate-finished front and a cast aluminum painted steel metallic base and structure.

Cesto is a new collection from Studio TK that gets its name from the Spanish word for basket. The range of seats and tables pairs functional tops, available in various materials, with basketlike bases upholstered in a fabric or knit mesh finish. Khodi Feiz designed the collection for flexibility and freedom in environments where collaborative, social work occurs, with stools fit for 29-inchhigh-tables, bench seating suitable for 26-inch-high tables, and lightweight, mobile poufs and tables.

io by United Chair, a Groupe Lacasse brand, is a collection of guest chairs and stools that recently earned a silver Best of NeoCon award in the category seating: stacking. Designed by Paolo Favaretto, the seating features polypropylene shells, which come in red, black or white and have slight flex in the backrest, and silver metal legs. The sturdy, yet lightweight seating is available with or without arms as well as with or without an upholstered seat pad.

Sandler Seating recently added the Simon Pengelley-designed Varya to its InClass range. Featuring chairs, armchairs, barstools and counter stools, the versatile collection has applications in education environments, among others. Varya combines a glass-fiber reinforced polypropylene shell with a metal or wood base. The base, which comes in stackable four-leg and sled options, is available in an epoxy paint or polished chrome finish. Offered in 12 matte finishes, the shell can be outfitted with an optional padded seat panel using COM, leathers or Sandler Seating graded-in fabrics.

Allsteel recently earned a Gold Award in the education solutions category at Best of NeoCon for its Rock chair. Its egg-like form answers the design features that have largely limited the application of rocking chairs to residential environments. Rather than a reclined posture, the chair supports an upright posture, and rather than the heavy metal base typical of this type of offering, the chair relies on its shape to allow a rocking motion, making it lightweight and easy to lift and relocate by its leather handle.

June/July 2018 CFM&D 29

[ last word ]

BY MARCUS SCHOLES

FM SOFTWARE KEY TO COMMUNICATION The case for replacing paper-based systems and spreadsheets with advanced technology

F

or organizations with ever-expanding, multibillion-dollar property portfolios, satisfying and retaining occupants is a top priority. Communicating important information between facilities teams, occupants, contractors, and finance departments is crucial to maximizing retention rates. Not only does it simplify working relationships, it also allows facilities managers to focus on completing tasks that keep spaces functioning to the highest standard.

When issues arise, it should be easy for an occupant to reach somebody that can resolve the problem.

Advancements in facilities management (FM) technology have improved organizational communication and can help businesses reduce maintenance costs while improving occupant satisfaction, building efficiency, and productivity.

In the past, supervisors scribbled job details into a work order book or onto a whiteboard, allocated it to a member of their team and passed it on to the assigned technician. However, scraps of paper can easily be misplaced. When companies have multiple facilities to maintain, crucial tasks can be missed, potentially leading to accidents or costly breakdowns.

Spreadsheet tracking for facilities maintenance is a step up from paper notes. But, spreadsheets are prone to errors, lack traceability and scalability.

As portfolios grow, having a software solution that can grow with the business is crucial. With a number of FM software solutions available on the market, users can receive and update work orders through mobile apps, text or email, providing a full audit trail of tasks that have been set and completed.

Systems can now automatically route requests to the right people, improving reliability as problems can be addressed quickly. Technicians can attach notes and documents to work orders using their smart devices, meaning management can receive updates immediately and take action if required. This ensures responses are timely and efficient, reducing the risk of inconveniencing occupants.

IMPROVING BUILDING EFFICIENCY

Performing maintenance to a high standard and addressing issues quickly ensures buildings run efficiently with a greatly reduced risk of equipment breakdowns. Storing and managing all resources, documentation, and contact details in one location ensures facilities managers can receive, allocate, and sign off work orders quickly, while also enabling them to check whether tasks are assigned to employees or contractors with the appropriate qualifications.

CLOSING THE LOOP

REDUCING COSTS

If facilities teams can keep their property management costs low, they can offer attractive rates to their occupants and establish a competitive advantage over opposing service providers. One of the key ways FM software can help reduce costs is by enabling organizations to make better-informed decisions.

Dashboards of key performance indicators (KPIs) provide live feedback on which areas of the business are most expensive to maintain. Selectable KPIs enable users to expand into more indepth data. This allows organizations to analyze when it might be best to dispose of existing assets and replace them with newer models. Data trends can help facilities teams identify when assets are at risk of failure and reduce equipment downtime, which often leads to reduced space and asset utilization.

Expensive breakdowns can also occur if important jobs don’t get completed due to miscommunication. If a highpriority fault occurs, immediate action can be taken to resolve it when jobs are prioritized in an online portal for reporting faults and submitting work requests.

Online portals for recording faults or logging work requests reduce administration and signal to occupants that their needs will be addressed promptly and efficiently.

When work request portals are connected to specific properties, spend can be monitored against allocated budgets and profit centres, simplifying budgeting. If information is requested about maintenance related to a specific building or tenancy, the facilities manager can quickly produce reports with relevant data, improving communication between the facilities team and accounts payable in particular.

Once work has been marked as completed, automatic alerts prompt accounts payable to raise invoices or purchase orders rather than the department having to wait for a paper trail to action payments.

Many organizations have large portfolios, imposing significant demands on facilities management teams to function at the highest level.

FM software has caught up with the demand for accountability, traceability, and instant communication channels, rendering spreadsheets and paper-based systems obsolete. | CFM&D

Marcus Scholes is managing director at Real Asset Management, an MRI software company and a provider of fixed asset management and logistics software and services.

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