11 minute read
Condos Tap into the Global Wellness Movement
BREATHE EASY
Two developers tap into the growing global wellness movement
AKRA Living. PHOTO BY NORM LI.
Residents of up-and-coming condos
BY REBECCA MELNYK
won’t have to escape their urban homes for fresh air and water. In an industry hesitant to embrace new technologies, two developers are bringing smart health innovations to the forefront of their amenity offerings.
The team behind AKRA Living—a retreat-like condo rising 22 storeys near Toronto’s busy intersection of Yonge and Eglinton—is filling the high-rise with clean air technology, including Covid-fighting devices that aren’t prevalent in multi-residential living.
“In a post-pandemic world, wellness and access to highquality fresh air is no longer a nice-to-have; it's a feature that residents and condo purchasers will actively seek out,” says Jesse Speigel, senior vice-president at Curated Properties. “I’d be surprised if we didn’t see more widespread adoption.”
Radio Arts will rise at 206 King Street West by the Hamilton LRT. Image by Drawn in Depth.
didn’t see more widespread adoption.”
The non-profit Global Wellness Institute measured the wellness industry at $4.4 trillion in 2020 and predicts it will reach $7 trillion by 2025. Wellness real estate is currently estimated at $245 billion and growing. Canada is now second in the world when it comes to growth, as the market ballooned 240 per cent from 2017 to 2020.
Projects like AKRA are fuelling momentum. Inside the 211 suites will be increasingly popular technologies: fan coil units will be equipped with energy recovery ventilators for dedicated fresh air supply and high-efficiency HEPA and MERV filters. In the common areas, the plan is to equip the air makeup unit with fresh air, and also install heat recovery ventilation units so specific amenity spaces, like the fitness centre and lobby, have their own fresh air supply.
Then, there’s a more novel addition that Curated Properties actively sought out with the pandemic in mind. Aura Air is a system developed in Israel and currently installed at the country’s Sheba Medical Center. The technology was clinically proven to eradicate more than 99 per cent of viruses, including Covid-19 particles through six stages of air purification and disinfection that includes UV-C LEDs.
There aren’t similar devices on the market being used in Ontario’s multi-residential spaces as it stands. “We’re quite excited about the technology and keen to build it into the design of our high-traffic common areas,” says Speigel.
“People are still a bit hesitant to be mixing with other residents in common areas unmasked—that behaviour will likely persist,” he further predicts.“As developers, it’s our responsibility to future-proof these buildings as best we can and respond to residents’ wants and needs.”
Unchartered Waters
About an hour away by car, in Hamilton, Ontario, there’s a growing population looking for healthy spaces to live among the brick-and-beam aesthetic of the city’s industrial past.
On the former CHIQ radio station site, the Radio Arts condo is bringing such a place forward. Vernon Shaw, founder and president of Canlight Realty Corporation, hopes to do as much as possible inside the 14-storey building.
“It’s a very budget-conscious business and you have to look at where every dollar goes, but I like the idea of trying to provide a low-cost, healthy living environment,” he says, alluding to some anticipated amenities.
Among them are high air quality for the common elements, via Aura Air, and fresh drinking water from a purification system called Atlantium, which produces 99.99 per cent microbiologically pure, pharmaceutical grade water at the property.
A company called Clear Inc. is integrating both indoor health technologies into the building’s plan and maintaining them, with real-time tracking of air quality and the UV treatment of water for residents to monitor. It’s described as an affordable and holistic approach, which distinguishes the service provider in the condo sector. In most cases, Clear says it’s able to do this work for under one dollar per unit per day.
where we spend the majority of our time.”
The social lounge, with interiors by Baudit Interior Design. Image by Drawn in Depth.
In a Zoom interview, Clear’s Chief Operating Officer Ryan Merkur holds up a plastic bottle of water. “The concept was how do we produce this without the plastic waste and still protect people,” he says. “There is water contamination and limited air quality in the buildings we live in and that’s where we spend the majority of our time.”
Water contamination has long been documented. A report from the Environmental Protection Agency profiled the risk two decades ago, stating that various types of microbes have demonstrated the ability to survive in the distribution system. Some are able to grow and produce biofilms, which may become a breeding ground for viruses, bacteria and parasites to cultivate and propagate. This potentially causes disease in healthy individuals or facilitates infection in people with underlying conditions.
While water is said to be treated to high standards across North America, the pipes it flows through are often old and decrepit. According to Health Canada, as pipes age, they become prone to leaks and breaks, which leads to the intrusion of microbial contaminants, and corrosion and development of biofilm.
“The issue really isn't about how cities clean the water; it's that we run this clean water from the treatment facilities several miles through 60- to 80-year-old piping infrastructure that is filled with biofilm and can re-introduce harmful microbes as it travels to our properties,” says Merkur.
Over the past few years, there have been increased building outbreaks across the globe. Legionnaires and E. coli are among approximentaly 250 microbial variations that can make people sick from drinking water, but a gap in testing isn’t telling the whole story.
Samples aren’t always collected directly after events that can cause microbe levels to fluctuate. “Sampling today might come back with OK results,” says Merkur. “Sampling after a storm, heavy rainfall, construction or leaks—you could get very different results.”
The idea behind the water technology at Radio Arts is to destroy pathogens on site to eliminate any risk factors of contamination. When water flows into the building, it will be treated with UV disinfection directly in the mechanical room, with real-time water quality monitoring.
While this technology has been around for more than a decade, it hasn’t proliferated in the capacity of multi-residential real estate, but there’s the potential for widespread adoption.
“Health, wellness, and ESG are all major topics now in real estate and we are seeing more companies get behind the movement,” says Merkur. “The pandemic, along with shifting public priorities, has only expanded people's awareness of the concept of healthy properties and the value it brings.” 1
IS YOUR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE GROWING YOUR BUSINESS (OR HOLDING YOU BACK)?
Mark Bush, Vice President - Business Development
Ask anyone in property management if they use property management software, and they will all property management software, and they will all answer “yes.” However, ask what they use it for, and you will likely get more varied answers, often regarding which software they use; in some instances, that property management software is used by the property management company and not at all by the property managers that work for them. property managers that work for them.
I was recently at the REMI Conference in Toronto, I was recently at the REMI Conference in Toronto, where a property manager for a large Toronto company confi ded in me that he generates purchase orders by hand. This was a bit of a shock – especially in our modern age and for a manager of a larger operation modern age and for a manager of a larger operation that was not a small, mom-and-pop shop. I wondered that was not a small, mom-and-pop shop. I wondered how this could be, and my conclusion was that the required tools to eff ectively manage condominium buildings are fragmented across many platforms. Not only that, but the decision as to which issues require software tools often lies with the property management company, not with the property manager. It is common, then, that property management companies invest fi rst in a management system that can automate (if not somewhat) the processing of fi nancial transactions while ignoring or undervaluing software that improves client satisfaction or adds greater effi ciencies to a property manager’s job.
So, is your software holding your company back? Ask yourself if your software is: • A place that stores documents versus a place for sharing information. • A repository of data versus information to support decision-making. • Reactive versus proactive. • Manual versus automated. • Only for the management company as opposed to something that provides client self-service. • One which you have outgrown rather than a property management software that grows with you.
If you agree to one or more of the above, the answer is “yes.”
A SYSTEM FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS
If you are looking for project management software to help your business grow and will grow with you, then there are a few aspects to keep in mind.
For one, is the software web-based so it can be accessed anywhere? Furthermore, does it have a mobile app that brings functionality to the manager on the road and the ability of self-service to your owners, residents, and tenants? The software should be to condominium management what ATMs are to banks.
Secondly, does your software have the tools you need to manage a condominium, and are they integrated to remove duplicative work? In general, the system should have a comprehensive set of tools to manage the fi ve basic areas required to manage and administrate a condominium building, including Accounting and Finance, Communications, Administrative, Operational, and Technical.
Thirdly, does your property management software allow for multi-level security over access and functionality? Moreover, does it provide for full transparency of information with complete drill-down capability from fi nancial statement line item to an electronic copy of the actual invoice, purchase order and any associated expertise report? If so, then it should also: • Provide direct access to real-time fi nancial information and budget to actual forecasting from the accounting and fi nance module, including electronic payments and digital signatures. • Make performance statistics available to managers to share with board members in regard to the number of services requests opened and closed or how long a request has remained unresolved. It should also allow for the direct reservation of common amenities and broadcast messaging through the communications module. • Generate certifi cate transfer packages for notaries for the sale of a unit, as well as automated meeting convocation tools from the administrative module. • Contract and authorized supplier database with renewal and expiration reminders, again generated by the operational module. • Support the technical documentation of your building – What engineering systems are present, what type and model, where are they located, and track modifi cations and replacements, warranties, and linked it to purchase orders to facilitate generation of accurate reserve fund studies and annual operating plans.
Fourthly, functionality should exist that places the expertise within the system. For example, you should not have to be an accountant to enter a special charge for a co-owner infraction. Basic information should be entered by administrative personnel through dropdown menus, and the system should generate the accounting transactions to aff ect the charge.
Lastly, is your property management software easy to implement and use and does the software provider off er high quality customer support, online training sessions available to subscribers that not only shows how the software works, but how to use it to accomplish your daily work within the regulatory framework required.
FIT FOR PURPOSE
The above criteria make an excellent system for providing management services to your clients. However, what does your property management software do to help you run your business? Depending on the size of your condominium management company, you may have many property managers, and consolidated backoffi ce functions for administration, accounting, and operation services to provide those operational services that do not require a trip to the building.
For example, let us look at the sale of access keys and remotes and updating the intercom system. Your software needs to be able to establish work assignment parameters so that work is automatically routed to the best person to fulfi ll the request. These workfl ow management tools increase effi ciency that allows you to grow your business without adding additional backoffi ce personnel. It also provides a payback on your software investment, and let us be honest, it would be nice if your software paid for itself?
In conclusion, property management teams need an all-in-one property management software - one that is integrated, accessible to all, anywhere at all times, and provides full transparency. Moreover, you need a system that your business will not outgrow and pay for itself over the long run. If this is not the property management software you have, then perhaps it is time to look for a better alternative.
