Canadian Property Management * November 2019

F O R B U I L D I N G O W N E R S , A S S E T A N D P R O P E RT Y M A N A G E R S

VOL. 34 NO. 5 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

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Editor-in-Chief Barbara Carss barbc@mediaedge.ca Publisher Sean Foley seanf@mediaedge.ca Contributors Katharine Burgess, Blair Feltmate, Elizabeth Foster, Cheryl Mah, Natalia Moudrak, Jiri Skopek Senior Designer Annette Carlucci Wong annettec@mediaedge.ca Web Designer Rick Evangelista rickr@mediaedge.ca Production Manager Rachel Selbie rachels@mediaedge.ca National Sales Kelly Nicholls kellyn@mediaedge.ca

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editor’snote ONE OF THE PRIME RISKS worrying the overseers of USD $120 trillion worth of balance sheets actually does double duty as an opportunity. Participants who have thus far signed on to the global Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) are grappling with the physical, social and transitional upheaval that volatile and extreme climate conditions could present for market stability and asset value.

The burgeoning initiative is meant to support players at the core of economies worldwide — banks, asset managers, pension funds, insurers, credit rating agencies, accounting firms, shareholder advisory services — in identifying, monitoring and sidestepping these risks. Meanwhile, a forceful proponent of the analytical framework is blunt about the potential winners and losers.

"Firms that align their business models to the transition to a net zero world will be rewarded handsomely," Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, predicted earlier this fall at the TCFD summit in Tokyo. "Those that fail to adapt will cease to exist."

Yet, there's good reason why the popular buzzword is "disruption" rather than "easypeasy". As we explore in this issue, the commercial real estate industry is making noteworthy progress along some areas of the transitional path and feeling a bit winded on others.

On the technology front, Jiri Skopek advises hesitant capital planners and building operators that they could be farther along than they think, as he traces how building automation systems can be a solid first step to smart operations and predictive maintenance. The International Energy Agency is similarly optimistic that digitalization and connectivity will mine greater energy savings, albeit while acknowledging that the steady upsurge of devices is a growing energy load of its own.

We also report on recent setbacks for energy efficiency programs in Alberta and an ambitious new global initiative targeting a 3% annual increase in energy efficiency.

Cheryl Mah describes how the new home for Simon Fraser University's sustainable energy and environmental engineering program is fittingly a work of design and construction innovation.

Data analytics, embodied carbon and new considerations for outdoor/indoor air integration also figure in this issue's discussion of how buildings affect, accommodate or withstand the natural environment and their human occupancies. In particular, data might be seen as the embodiment of transition — emerging as a foundational component of interpretation, modelling and, perhaps most radically for the economy, the replacement of many forms of time-consuming labour.

Sometimes, though, owners and managers of an asset class that is literally embedded in the environment face more immediate and dangerous situations than an economy in transition. Physical climate-related hazards are typically episodic — for now at least — intense, destructive and potentially ruinous or life-threatening. We look at recently produced guidance related to flooding, extended heat waves and risk profiling.

Barbara Carss barbc@mediaedge.ca @BarbaraCarss

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 3

contents

Focus: Green Buildings, Sustainable Management & Operations 6 Three Percent Club: Global coalition connects energy efficiency to climate action.

12 Alberta Plug Up: No provincial funds will be flowing to conservation and demand management programs.

18 Flood Threats: Commercial real estate operators embrace resilience strategies as risks rise.

25 Urban Heat Islands: Intensifying summer heat brings stressors for building occupants, systems and materials.

28 Next Gen Operations: Building automation systems enable transition to smart operations, data-driven learning and predictive maintenance.

30 Fast-track Build-Out: Precise coordination and committed collaboration meet challenging construction deadlines on Simon Fraser University's Surrey campus.

34 Saddledome Demolition: Embodied carbon overlooked in the cost calculations.

38 Harnessing Digitalization: Connectivity can achieve more end-use efficiency, augment demand-response resources and support energy value.

42 Climate Risk Profiling: Geospatial and hazard data informs how and where assets could be vulnerable, but it must still be collected and synthesized from disparate sources.

44 Healthy Investment: Real estate contributes to and can benefit from the well-being of building occupants.

46 Ventilation Standards: ASHRAE updates focus more on outdoor air quality.

4 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

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OPEN CALL FOR ENERGY EFFICIEN Three Percent Club Recruits Members for Climate Action

By Barbara Carss THERE’S NOTHING EXCLUSIVE about the Three Percent Club launched earlier this fall at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York.

The new global coalition of nations, businesses and non-gover nmental organizations (NGOs) is welcoming all joiners to harvest the energy savings achievable through the deployment of existing technology and passive design considerations.

Based on research from the International Energy Agency (IEA), club pledges will be challenged to deliver a 3% annual increase in energy efficiency. On a global scale, that’s projected to be a low-cost curb on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that could meet 40% of the reduction target envisioned in the Paris Agreement.

“Energy efficiency is an energy resource that all countries share in abundance, and it can help reduce emissions while enhancing their peoples’ well-being,” maintains Fatih Birol,

Executive Director of the International Energy Agency.

Few signatories to the Paris Agreement have specifically listed energy efficiency targets in required national plans for meeting their commitments so Three Percent Club founders see plenty of room to capture untapped emissions reductions.

They reiterate that easily implementable energy-efficient appliances and lighting, building materials that reduce reliance on energy-intensive heating and cooling systems, and district energy in place of in-building boilers and chillers would reduce operation costs and create economic benefits through job creation and avoided spending on additional power generation capacity and other more costly interventions to mitigate climate change. It’s projected the targeted energy efficiency advancements could translate into USD $500 billion in annual energy savings for households worldwide by 2040.

6 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

“If it’s 3% on each prior year’s saving, 10 years from now the reduction would be 26% from today. In 30 years, it would be a 60% reduction from today,” advises Andrew Pride, an engineer who consults on energy management, sustainability and strategic conservation planning. “It’s a big target, but it is needed and it could be achieved cost-effectively in Canada.”

PROVINCIAL ROLE Neither Canada nor the United States are among the 15 countries that are initial signatories, but industry associations and public interest groups in both countries are aligned with supporting NGOs like Alliance to Save Energy and EE Global Alliance. That includes Efficiency Canada, a non-governmental organization promoting the dual economic and environmental benefits of energy and water conservation.

Prominent business members of the coalition include: Johnson Controls;

NCY Signify (formerly Philips Lighting); two major HVAC players, Danfoss and Trane; Portugal’s national electricity utility, EDP; Italian electricity and gas provider, Enel; and Inter-America Development Bank, which provides financing to Latin America and the Caribbean. Honduras, Argentina and Colombia comprise the western hemisphere contingent in the initial list of nation members, making the commitment along with India, seven European and four African countries.

Canada’s constitutional quirks limit the scope of federal action on energy efficiency largely to: setting standards fo r e q u i p m e n t a n d a p pl i a n c e s ; devising the model national energy code; offering tax incentives; and dispersing funds for other levels of government and agencies, such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, to administer. Although revenues collected from carbon pricing have been earmarked for energy efficiency upgrades in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New

Brunswick, that’s only in the absence of those four provinces invoking their own carbon pricing strategies.

Provincial/territorial governments devise programs and set targets, creating a cross-Canada patchwork of mandates and oversight. Various agencies — such as Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator, Energy Efficiency Alberta (see story, page 12), Nova Scotia’s EfficiencyOne, Efficiency Manitoba and dedicated divisions of some provincial electricity and gas utilities — front the task, but receive instructions from their applicable Ministry of Energy.

“Many provi nces a re cu r rently attaining from just under 0.5 to almost 2% annual gains in energy efficiency through very cost-effective measures.

It would be feasible to push that up to 3%,” Pride submits. “And that comes with significant job creation and domestic economic growth.”

For example, Toronto-based energy management consultant Scott Rouse

points to commercial office clients enrolled in an Ontario incentive program with a prerequisite for annual energy savings of at least 5%.

“We have surpassed $700,000 in verified electricity savings alone across 12 properties and without capital investment,” he reports.

“Future savings will grow exponentially as capital investments are made, creating greater efficiency and local jobs to support our economy.”

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE BARRIER Looking to the United States, Lindsay Audi n, a n engi neer a nd energy management consultant with a 40-year career history of promoting energy efficiency, contemplates the potential and the challenges.

“Overcoming the capital expenditure barrier has always been the first step to securing the resulting savings,” he reflects. “The discussion needs to address the dollars that will be involved in securing that $500 billion in annual

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 7

energymanagement DELINEATING THE CHALLENGE In light of ambitious targets, the hard numbers for global energy efficiency may seem disconcerting. The International Energy Agency's newly released annual report on energy efficiency trends and progress highlights a slowdown in the savings rate. The following excerpt looks at some of the contributing factors – Editor.

In 2018, primary energy intensity — an important indicator of how much energy the global economy uses — improved by 1.2%, the slowest rate since 2010. This was slower than the 1.7% improvement in 2017 and marked the third consecutive year the rate has declined.

On the demand side, energy-intensive industries in China and the United States (among others) increased their share of industrial production and pushed up demand for all primary energy fuels. Weather also played a role. In the United States, a cooler winter and a warmer summer drove up energy use for both heating and cooling. In Europe, a milder winter cut gas demand for heating, which was a major factor behind a 2% improvement in energy intensity, up from 1.4% in 2017.

On the supply side, after three years of flat growth or decline, coal power generation increased in 2017 (3%) and 2018 (2.5%) to supply stronger electricity demand growth.

More fossil fuel-based electricity generation increases primary intensity because energy is lost when these fuels are converted from primary to final energy.

In residential buildings, structural changes, such as increased device ownership and use, and a significant growth in average per capita residential floor area in all economies, have consistently matched or outpaced efficiency gains since 2014.

Growth in the coverage of mandatory efficiency policies was marginal in 2018, and almost exclusively due to existing policies. The strength of mandatory policies increased by less than 0.5%, still below the five-year historical average, indicating more can be done to ensure mandatory policies are effective.

Levels of investment targeting efficiency have remained largely unchanged since 2014. At USD $240 billion, incremental efficiency investments across the buildings, transport and industry sectors were about 1.6% higher in 2018 than in 2017, but still well below the levels required to capture the cost-effective opportunities available.

The complete text of the International Energy Agency report, Energy Efficiency 2019, can be found at https://webstore.iea.org/marketreport-series-energy-efficiency-2019.

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savings by 2040. Estimates to zero out just the U.S. carbon footprint may require upfront spending in the range of USD $10 to $20 trillion. Programs a l r ea dy suggest e d by sever a l presidential candidates ranged from $5 trillion to over $16 trillion. We have to honestly confront that level of spending if we a re to avoid the impending damage from climate change.”

Perhaps helping to make the case, t h a t d a m a g e i s p r oj e c t e d t o b e considerably more costly. Escalating annual climate-related insured losses — hitting a global record peak of USD $140 billion in 2017 — are just one incomplete marker since it’s estimated the same year saw $200 billion in uninsured losses.

Strategists are striving to grasp and respond to potential direct, indirect and induced impacts in every sector of the economy. Supporters of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), including banks, asset managers, pension funds, credit rating agencies, accounting firms and sha reholder’ advisor y ser vices worldwide, represent USD $120 trillion in financial interests and are working to avert what’s been termed a “climatedriven Minsky moment” triggering the sudden collapse of asset prices.

Founders of the Three Percent Club are promising immediate action to adopt, promote and continue to innovate energysaving measures and practices.

“We are proud to have achieved energy intensity improvements exceeding 4% annually since 2002 and look forward to sharing our best practices, technologies a n d s olut io n s w it h p a r t ic ip a t i ng countries and partners,” says George Oliver, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Controls.

“Energy efficiency is the stealthy hero of climate action,” suggests Three Percent Club member, Andrew Steer, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the World Resources Institute.

However, ot her proponents now favour the overt.

“We know that energy efficiency accounts for more than 40% of the carbon reductions required to meet the Paris Agreement,” reiterates Efficiency Canada’s Executive Director, Corey D ia mond. “It’s t i me to get more aggressive.” zz For more information about the Three Percent Club, see the website at https:// eeglobalalliance.org/three-percent-club.

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INCENTIVE

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No Funding in Sight for Energy Efficiency Alberta

By Barbara Carss

IT’S HARD TO miss Energy Efficiency Alberta’s message in the wake of the cancellation of provincially funded energy efficiency programs. The move concluded the process begun five months earlier when the newly elected United Conservative Party government repealed the carbon tax and eliminated the funding source for the incentives, but the provincial agency stressed a critical qualifier as it delivered the news.

“Rebate programs now closed; Energysaving opportunities still available,” proclaims the announcement, released after the Alberta budget was tabled on October 24.

For some landlords and facility managers with projects in progress, the dictum comes with tighter deadlines for

finishing the work or, for those who have hired an on-site energy manager, a diminished subsidy that will cover only one year of his or her salary. Meanwhile, energy efficiency advocates remain hopeful that the savings realized since incentives for residential households, businesses and not-for-profit organizations became available in mid-2017 will help sustain burgeoning momentum in a province that was one of the last jurisdictions in North America to introduce such programs.

“Our continued focus will be to deliver excellent service to Albertans with approved applications and work toward the designing of new programming,” Energy Efficiency Alberta states. “We’re excited about the province’s energy efficiency potential.”

12 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

That said, the agency’s response to presumed Frequently Asked Questions arising from the shutdown, notes: “New energy efficiency programs for the commercial and industrial sectors have not been confirmed.”

SWITCHED FOCUS The Alberta budget reiterates the government’s previously announced intention to focus greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction spending on carbon capture and technologies that can be directly applied in the production of fossil fuels. Research and development initiatives will be supported via the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund, drawn from levies charged to large industrial emitters with an output of more

energymanagement

than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) annually.

“Between 2000 and 2017, the emission intensity of oil sands operations has dropped by 28%. This is the result of made-in-Alberta technologies and is a real outcome in the effort to reduce global emissions,” Alberta Minister of Finance Travis Toews stated, as he introduced the budget. “TIER builds on this success and keeps the focus on large industrial emitters responsible for half [estimated elsewhere in the budget at 48%] of the emissions in Alberta.”

While also offering incentives aimed at curbing the energy intensity of industrial and resource extraction processes, Energy Efficiency Alber ta’s distinct but compatible mandate targeted the other

“New energy efficiency programs for the commercial and industrial sectors have not been confirmed.”

52%. The agency’s 2018-19 annual report estimates programs have thus far generated $692 million in energy savings, stimulated $ 850 million worth of economic growth and resulted in avoidance of 5.7 million tonnes of GHG emissions.

Landlords, facility managers and condom i n ium cor porations made most use of the Business Energy Savings program, which provided up to $25,000 per building annually for the installation of designated energyefficient products, including lighting,

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 13

energymanagement

Ontario Enjoys Industry Confidence Conservation and demand management (CDM) incentives were downscaled in Ontario earlier this year and it's still unknown what will happen after December 2020 when the mandate for current programs expires. However, energy management specialists are confident that more than a dozen years of programming have made a forceful impression on the commercial and multiresidential real estate sectors.

That’s reflected in a deep pool of resources, such as service providers and in-house energy managers, and in measurable achieved savings that have won industry confidence and buy-in. In contrast, Alberta energy efficiency programs have had little time to capture public or capital planners’ attention.

"Not all of our members were even aware of any rebates,” Donna Monkhouse, Executive Director of the Alberta Residential Landlord Association (ARLA), reported last spring when the carbon tax was first cancelled.

“Generally, it can take six months to adequately engage customers and 12 to 18 months to transact due to most organizations’ budget and procurement cycles,” observes Andrew Pride,

speaking from his experience as the former Vice President, Conservation, with the Ontario Power Authority and a key contributor to the design of Ontario’s CDM programs.

“It takes probably a year just for the market to start to understand what’s available, let alone react to it,” concurs Eric Chisholm, an engineer and Principal/ Co-founder of the green building services firm, Purpose Building Inc. “In the real estate realm, it’s not at all shocking to have a two- to four-year budget timeline for what seems like fairly simple projects.”

Based on Ontario evidence, he also hypothesizes that Energy Efficiency Alberta's savings achievements were on track to improve. Ontario's annual progress reports, first released in 2009, show a steady upward trajectory.

“In 2017, we conserved 300% of what we conserved in 2009,” Chisholm notes.

“But in every single year, the cost to conserve energy was lower than the cost to produce it. Ontario’s conservation programs have saved money for endusers and saved money for provincial power grids. Without them, our high cost of electricity would be even higher.”

“When the rebate programs were announced, that was a no-brainer.” lighting controls, HVAC and domestic hot water equipment and load-sensing plug strips.

“When the incentives were first rolled out, there was such pent-up demand in the market, even for something as simple as light bulb retrofits, because Alberta had really lagged on this front,” says Graham Halsall, Calgary-based manager for the

smart building analytics firm, Energy Profiles Limited. “I think the appetite was even better than was initially anticipated.”

IN-PROGRESS PROJECTS The final slate of proponents, preapproved in late April, were given until October 31 to submit proof the work was

14 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

completed. However, that aligns with the six-month timeline that had always been in the program’s rules.

“This deadline had previously been communicated with all Business Energy Savings participants and represents the natural end of their pre-approval. It was posted on the website as a reminder,” affirms Ameera Shivji, Manager of Media and Public Relations with Energy Efficiency Alberta.

A smaller number of commercial and multifamily building owners/managers along with facility managers in the health care and education sectors are navigating the shutdown of the Custom Energy Solutions program, which was introduced later in 2018. Some members of that group faced a November 23 cut-off for completing engineering studies, scoping audits and re/retro-commissioning (RCx) investigations required as a first step for pre-approval. Those already at the next step will have one year from their preapproval date to submit proof of project completion in order to claim the incentive.

Although more complicated to undertake, custom programs came with a cash injection powerful enough to influence capital spending decisions.

Commercial real estate operators, typically falling into the category of emitters producing less than 10,000 tonnes of CO2e annually, could secure up to $250,000 per year for upgrades in a single building or up to $500,000 for upgrades in multiple buildings, based on a dollars per resulting tonne of GHG avoidance formula. Larger emitters (10,000+ tonnes CO2e annually) could obtain up to $1 million for a single facility or up to $2 million for multiple facilities.

Energy management specialists commend the program’s intent — suggesting that it’s in sync with the evolution of strategies elsewhere, which typically begin with measures to capture relatively easy energy savings and then become more sophisticated and capital-intensive in pursuit of more intractable consumption and emissions. Now, with the program halted at its embryonic stages, it’s difficult to gauge its traction in the market.

“When the rebate programs were announced, that was a no-brainer. You could do the math and figure out that your payback would go from two-tothree years down to one year. From the more conceptual side of things, like incentives tied to emissions reductions,

energymanagement

you don’t yet see that metric on a utility bill,” Halsall reflects.

For the proponents possibly scrambling to make the new deadlines for claiming incentives, Energy Efficiency Alberta suggests they should also consider inherent returns on the investment.

“Scoping audits, engineering studies and RCx investigations provide valuable data to companies to support energy efficiency decision-making,” it advises. “We hope that participants see a value for the benefits of the study outside the program and continue to complete the work.”

CONTINUED ADVOCACY AND GUIDANCE The Alberta budget is largely silent about energy efficiency goals, but Schedule 21 in the fiscal tables chapter indicates that 34 staff positions at Energy Efficiency Alberta will be retained for 2019-20. In addition to administering in-progress projects, the agency will continue to promote green loan funds and financing schemes.

That includes urging municipalities to adopt PACE (property assessed clean energy) financing strategies that provide low-cost loans for energy upgrades that

are repaid, incrementally, via a surcharge on property tax bills. As well, the agency will continue to offer incentives for technical training, and guidance for developing skills and strategies that support energy savings.

Albertans also got a slightly longer extension to qualify for online rebates for smart thermostats, energy-efficient clothes washers, refrigerators or furnaces.

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Approaching facility services from an employer-contracted employee perspective, however, establishes a more meaningful, measurable, and ultimately more valuable partnership from the start.

Therefore, he adds, it’s important to seek facility service teams that can capture that information at the source and help property owners and managers apply it to good use: “When we demonstrate to our clients that we’re using this data effectively, identifying alternative actions with alternative returns, it demonstrates that we’re actively contributing to their business, not just an expense.”

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value to your operations. Doing so means setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and other metrics that can be used to gauge the long-term impacts of their work.

Similarly, O’Connor adds, there are advantages to aligning with facility service professionals who understand the value of collecting and synthesizing building data that can be used to design long-term strategies and drive sustainable outcomes: “You can get someone with a license to come in and perform some tasks for you, like changing a filter or fixing a boiler component, but there’s a massive amount of building information that can be gathered during that exercise which can help facility managers with important decision making.”

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service professionals, consider who is willing and able to stay in contact throughout their work to ensure your KPIs are being hit, your goals are being met, and that any surprises are dealt with at the source.

“It all goes back to viewing facility service professionals like you would your employees, not a product you would purchase,” insists O’Connor. “At the end of the day, you want someone who will report to you and provide some measurable demonstration of their production, so that you know they’re doing the job you want them to do and you don’t have to micromanage them. When providers attempt to meet the goal of a purchasing exercise, they will feel driven to minimize the delivery.”

It’s an old saying, but it’s true...

What are the deliverables? How is the work managed and reported on? How can we measure the outcomes and not just the input?

Ultimately, the adage is true: you really do get what you pay for. If the lowest price is your priority, you will get labour and materials; however, you may be missing out on deliverables that save you money and contribute to your need to make good decisions and avoid major disruption and cost. Interview your potential hires and ensure they make a financial case for their hire rather than just how little they are willing to be paid for their work.

environmentalextremes

IMMERSIVE INTERVENTION Responding to Rising Flood Risk

By Natalia Moudrak and Blair Feltmate

Recognizing that "extreme weather has become the new normal", two prominent Canadian commercial real estate organizations — REALPAC and BOMA Canada — are joint sponsors of the newly released guide, Ahead of the Storm: Developing Flood-Resistance Guidance for Canada's Commercial Real Estate. Lead researchers/authors from University of Waterloo's Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation consulted widely with key stakeholders who own, manage, insure and provide professional services to the buildings that literally house the workings of Canada's economy.

The resulting compendium of practical measures that can be readily implemented before, during and in the aftermath of extreme weather events is available for download, free of charge. The following excerpt sets out the rationale for proactive preparedness – Editor.

F L O O D I N G I S N O T a n ew phenomenon for owners, managers and tenants of commercial real estate (CRE) in Canada. They are well aware it leads to property damage, business interruptions and lost work hours.

Following the June 2013 floods in Alberta, 150,000 to 180,000 people could not access office buildings located in downtown Calgary for approximately two weeks. This resulted in 5.1 million lost work hours, equivalent to a $500-million GDP loss to the province.

More recently, the August 2018 flood in Toronto disrupted business in several key buildings including City Hall, Scotia Bank Arena, Union Station and Rogers Centre. Even more concerning, two tenants were trapped in an elevator in a commercial building and nearly drowned as the elevator was stuck at the basement

level, filling with water.

As the number of severe f lood events rises in concert with a changing climate, tenants are beginning to ask building managers if their buildings are prepared for extreme weather. In turn, owners are asking the same of their third-party managers.

In February 2019, Canada's Office of the Super i ntendent of Fi na ncia l Institutions (OSFI) noted that climate change poses physical, investment and liability risks. It stated that while the insurance industry is “well positioned to manage physical risks in the mediumterm, there is growing concern about the potential longer term impact of climate change. A continued increase in the frequency and magnitude of weatherrelated claims can create price-setting issues for insurance products.”

18 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

Insurers were urged to quantify their exposure and develop strategic approaches for managing climate risk. Already in some residential areas in Canada where repeated flooding has occurred, home f lood insurance has become more expensive or is limited/no longer available.

That can be seen as a warning sign for CRE owners and managers. Even when properties are insurable, premium increases, higher deductibles and coverage caps may mean that the total amount of potential damage covered by insurance will decline in concert with growing flood risk

PRESSURE FOR PREPAREDNESS CRE owners and managers can be exposed to the legal risk associated with flood damages. Following a 2009 flood (related to a leaking pipe) in the building

environmentalextremes

complex now known as Brookfield Place in Toronto, Marsh Canada and other tenants affected by the flood, filed and settled a lawsuit against Centennial Plumbing and Heating Limited.

Consequently, Centennial Plumbing sought to be reimbursed by Brookfield Properties Limited, responsible for management of the property, claiming the damage was a result of Brookfield’s negligence. Although it was ruled that Brookfield was not liable to reimburse Centennial Plumbing in 2017, this case illust rates the potential for lawsuits to a r ise when f loodi ng impacts commercial tenants.

In Canada, where flooding is the most common and costly extreme weather risk impacting properties, it is prudent for CRE owners and managers to investigate the degree of flood preparedness in the cities and provinces they operate. If the creditworthiness of the city is falling due to flood exposure or lack of preparedness to withstand flood events, so might the property values and tenancy rates. Indeed, global credit rating agencies, including DBRS, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s are beginning to examine climate change risks and potential impacts on ratings of tradable assets, including municipal bonds.

Tenants are beginning to ask building managers if their buildings are prepared for extreme weather.

Owners are asking the same of their third-party managers.

In 2017, the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial D i s c l o s u r e s ( T C F D ) p r ov i d e d recommendations for companies to disclose their climate-related financial risk to investors, lenders, insurers and other stakeholders. TCFD disclosures are voluntary and include physical, liability and transition risks associated with climate change, which would be material to investors.

I n 2018, GR ESB, the leadi ng environmental, social, and governance (ESG) global benchmark for real assets, added a resilience module to its longstanding real estate and infrastructure

assessments. The resilience module was broadly a lig ned with TCF D recommendations.

“Real asset investors are particularly exposed to weather-related disaster issues, as the value of their long-term of t e n illiquid physical assets is intrinsically linked to energy systems, transportation infrastructure, and social and environmental circumstances,” GRESB states.

Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) issued CSA Staff Notice 51-333, Environmental Reporting Guidance in 2010, stipulating that issuers must disclose material information pertaining to

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 19

environmentalextremes environmental matters. As per CSA: “Information relating to environmental matters is likely material if a reasonable investor’s decision whether or not to buy, sell or hold securities of the issuer would likely be influenced or changed if the information was omitted or misstated.”

A subsequent 2018 CSA study (CSA Staff Notice 51-354: Report on Climate Change-Related Disclosure Project), examined climate change-related risk disclosure provided by Canadian issuers. It found: 90% of Canadian issuers disclosed regulatory, policy or legal risks associated with climate change (e.g. impacts of carbon tax on profitability); 43% disclosed physical risks; and 33%, 31% and 18% d isclose d ma rket, reput at ion a nd technology risks, respectively.

Disclosure of physical risks is expected to gain traction in step with the new climate reality. Pension funds, which take a long view on their real estate investments, are particularly beginning to pay attention to how extreme weather risks may affect returns. For real estate assets located in f lood-prone areas, disclosure regarding flood protection and resiliency measures implemented will likely be deemed material.

CLIMATE RISK ASSESSMENT Climate risk assessment gives CRE owners and managers the means to identify properties that are the most vulnerable to flooding and have the greatest need of flood protection (e.g., high-value properties, critical facilities, heritage sites and properties housing vulnerable populations). Climate risk assessments can be conducted internally or with the aid of external expertise. Guidance documents, such as BOMA Canada’s Resilience Brief and the Urban Land Institute’s Guide for Assessing Climate Change Risk also provide insight.

Relative to flood, risk assessments typically include determining propertylevel exposure to fluvial (i.e., riverine) and pluvial (i.e., urban) flood hazards to understand what f lood levels are probable (e.g., 100-year flood) and what flood levels are possible (e.g., 500-year flood). These risk assessments should take into account current and future climate projections.

Relative to commercial real estate assets, flood resilience measures can reduce the potential for property damage, business disruption and flood-related loss of life stemming

from extreme precipitation events.

The focus of these measures is on proactive planning and preparedness activities that can be executed across office towers in Canada.

It is important to acknowledge that flood damage can arise in the absence of extreme precipitation events — for example due to city infrastructure failures (e.g., water main breaks), domestic water and hydronic system leaks.

To b e ef fe c t ive, m a ny f lo o d resilience measures rely on regular maintenance activities. To this end, inspections, testing and documentation processes comprise an important part of risk management activities. Qualified professionals who are responsible for inspections and testing must therefore receive training on flood risk assessment and resilience measures. zz The complete text of Ahead of the Storm: Developing Flood-Resilience Guidance for Canada's Commercial Real Estate and more information about the work of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation can be found at www.intactcentreclimateadaptation.ca.

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2019-03-20 12:01 PM

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QMC PROUDLY CELBRATES 25 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE From a founding team of four members, to a thriving organization of 60, QMC has come a long way...

A leader in Canada’s utility submetering space, QMC began its journey in a small office in Vancouver as the distributer of Quadlogic Controls electricity submeters, introducing local commercial building owners to smart meter systems long before the term was ever used.

Today, the visionary tech and data experts provide submetering solutions to hundreds of customers across North America, helping building owners and occupants conserve utilities and save money on electricity, water, thermal energy and natural gas. Step by step, QMC manages it all—from developing metering plans and procuring hardware, to deployment and installations, to data collection, billing and analytics.

To say it has been an exciting journey is an understatement.

"Over the past two decades, we have always looked ahead to address the changing needs of the marketplace and our customers," said James Easton, President and CEO. "This forward-thinking approach has helped position us as a leader in the industry, and continues to fuel our growth. What an amazing twenty-five years it's been!"

With six offices in Canada and a brand new office in Palo Alto, California, QMC has overcome many challenges in its quarter-century lifespan, and enjoyed numerous achievements along the way.

Among them are: getting to work with QLC in 1996 toward their first Measurement Canada Multi-Customer meter approvals; receiving Measurement Canada

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QMC is proud to p r o m o t e “Sustainability T h r o u g h Accountability”— the practice of using metering equipment, energy management software, direct utility billing and tenant engagement to help building owners achieve their energy reduction and corporate sustainability goals. QMC solutions provide precision reporting on utility consumption for electricity, water, gas and thermal energy, allowing for accurate billing and energy monitoring, targeting and reporting—all of which contribute to sustainable and accountable building management.

MeterConnex web-based software QMC’s dedicated reporting platform, MeterConnex, is another reason to celebrate.

The web-based software takes data from daily meter interrogation and turns it into a simple, easy-to-understand report. Best of all, it’s compatible with any type of meter, making it a top choice for building owners and operators.

Accreditation as an Authorized Meter Service Provider in 2006; opening its Toronto office in 2014; and welcoming countless key team members. Of course, being listed three times by Business in Vancouver as one of the fastest-growing 100 companies in B.C. is something the team is proud of too.

But none of it would have been possible if it weren’t for the valued clients QMC has been fortunate to have worked with since the beginning—Ivanhoe Cambridge, Morguard, GWL, Oxford, Cadillac Fairview, Shape Properties, Bentall, Oakville Hydro, Enercare, Provident, PowerStream Energy Services, Priority, West Edmonton Mall, Fortis, and CMHC, to name a few.

Similarly, the future wouldn’t be nearly as bright if it weren’t for trusted manufacturers and suppliers like GWF, Triacta, QLC, Badger, Elster, Accuenergy, Obvius and Tehama.

“At QMC, we believe in growing partnerships and delivering hands-on experience in our field," said Mike Easton, VP Sales. "This, in tandem with our technical knowledge and expertise in data and utility systems, has given us a real advantage in the marketplace."

As the next chapter in QMC’s inspiring journey begins, becoming North America’s leader in submetering solutions at the forefront of innovation, the team is committed to making utility management more intelligent and user-friendly than ever before, helping building owners achieve greater efficiencies while contributing to a better, cleaner tomorrow.

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Costa advised that he no longer wished to occupy his role as president. The emergency meeting took place at the defendant’s (MTCC 1292’s) premises.

At the emergency meeting, the plaintiff and Mr. Da Costa entered into a heated argument, which led Mr. Da Costa to “lose it” and strike the plaintiff on the head with a chair. Mr. Da Costa was charged by the police and received a conditional discharge for assault with a weapon. iff commen The plaintiff commenced a civil action against Mr. Da Costa fo for his use of force as well as MTCC TCC 1292 for fo failing to ensure her safety and nd failing to employ security meet measures at board meetings.

MTCC 1292 brought a motion summary judgment otion for su to dismiss the plaintiff’s plaintiff’ claim against it nly opposed by Mr. Da Costa which was only given his crossclaim MTCC 1292 ossclaim against ag on and indemnity. inde for contribution

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their premises reasonably safe for those who enter it. But what about when an individual commits assault while at one of these meetings? Should the occupier or organizer of the board meeting be liable for failing to ensure the safety and security of those lawfully on the premises?

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shareholders, town hall, or any similar type of meeting) can attest to the tension that often arises. The law is clear that occupiers have a duty to maintain

T H E

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In Omotayo v. Da Costa, 2018, the defendant occupier, Metro Toronto Condominium Corporation 1292 (MTCC 1292), was successful in dismissing the plaintiff’s claim and the assailant’s crossclaim when a member in attendance at a condominium board meeting struck another meeting attendee with a chair.

Justice Nishikawa found that the duty the condominium corporation owed to the plaintiff did not include preventing an assault that occurred during their condominium board meeting.

Facts of the case T he plaintif f, J ac queline O mot ayo, was a resident and former chair of the condominium corporation. The defendant, Jose Da Costa, was also a resident and former president of the condominium corporation. An emergency board meeting was held on Oct. 4, 2011, to discuss the future organization of the board as Ms. Omotayo had recently been removed from her position as chair and Mr. Da

By Steven Chester

SERVING THE FACILIT Y CLE ANING & MAINTENANCE INDUSTRY

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.

APRIL/MAY 2017

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.

CARING FOR FRAGILE FLOORS

Summary judgment motion udgment m positi MTCC took the position that its duty w is confined confine to the physical under the law condition of the premises premise and foreseeable e unforese risks, not the unforeseeable conduct of individuals in attendan attendance. Meanwhile, Mr. Da Costa that MTCC 1292’s a argued th s to having rules of conduct duty extends s, policies re for meetings, relating to abusive l an gu a g e, thre at s aan d intimid atin g d a duty to h behavior, and hire and supervise competent professional professionals to oversee its luding, if appropriate, ap business (including, security Cos further argued personnel). Mr. Da Costa ult was foreseeable fore that the assault given the M quarrelsome nature of MTCC 1292’s board nd a prior unrelated u meetings and incident involving the plaintiff and another member of MTCC 1292 wherein the police was 292 wherei called. ng her dec In reaching decision, Justice Nishikawa looked Coleiro v. Premier ooked to C s where summary sum Fitness Clubs judgment d in favour of the defendant was granted

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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?

REMEDYING FOUR COMMON CARPET As a consumer, it’s even simpler, as PROBLEMS 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.

SCENT OF

SUCCESS 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.

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Climate Change and Urban Heat Islands Intensify Summer in the City

By Katharine Burgess and Elizabeth Foster Spiking summer temperatures cause discomfort everywhere, but often present a particular challenge to populations more accustomed to cooler weather. Researchers with the Urban Land Institute's Urban Resilience Center recently examined the impact of extreme heat waves on commercial real estate and its occupants, and reported on design, operational and policy responses. The following is an excerpt from their findings and conclusions – Editor.

IN THE FIRST MONTH of 2019, 33 hottest temperature records were broken around the world while no coldest-temperature records were surpassed. Many communities are likely to experience the trend toward higher-temperature days, longer, more frequent heat waves, and intensified impacts in cities. Three distinct but related phenomena — climate change, heat waves and urban heat islands — contribute to extreme heat.

Real estate developers, designers a n d p o l i c y m a k e r s i n c r e a s i n g ly acknowledge the consequences of extreme heat and are seeking solutions to make buildings, neighbourhoods, pa rk s a nd out do or spa c es mor e adaptable to environmental conditions

a nd c om for t able for o c cupa nt s.

Although managing extreme heat has no one-size-f its-a l l approach, particularly given different humidity levels and other local conditions, a suite of potential options is available, many of which also build amenity value and address other environmental needs such as stor m water management.

Broadly, developments can prevent the absorption of heat with lightcoloured sur faces a nd mater ials, provide direct cooling with increased shade from built and natural shade ca nopies, a nd b et t er c op e w it h extremes through heat-aware building envelopes and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) choices

that stabilize indoor temperatures even during power outages.

Extreme heat compromises human c a r d iova s c u l a r a n d r e s p i r a t o r y systems a nd causes t he g reatest damage in populations with other vulnerabilities, such as pre-existing health conditions or lack of available c o p i n g s t r a t eg i e s . C o ol d e sig n st rateg ies combi ned wit h publ ic he a lt h a nd ef fe ct ive emergency responses ca n offset heat-related mortality to a significant degree.

Potential impacts for commercial real estate relate to the durability of building materials, energy demand a nd consumption, outdoor space design, consumer location preferences and amenity expectations, regulation

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 25

environmentalextremes

“It’s not just excessive heat, it’s the extreme swing in temperature from one day to the next. That sudden difference in temperature wreaks havoc on mechanical systems and facade materiality.” a nd t a xat ion, a nd pract it ioners’ insurance costs and professional l i a b i l it y r i s k s . M a ny of t h e s e implications could ultimately impact real estate development projects’ net present value.

Leading developers and designers are focused on creating ways to make b u i ld i ng s si mu lt a n e o u sly m o r e adapt able to exter na l h igh temperatures and more comfortable for occupa nts. T her ma l com for t design approaches include: increasing sh a d e t h r oug h bu i lt o r n a t u r a l c a n o p i e s ; c h o o s i n g r e f l e c t i ve mater ials ; integrating vegetation cover onto buildings; implementing energy efficiency strategies; and usi ng pa ssive co ol i ng, w i nd cha n nel l i ng, a nd somet i mes a i r conditioning. Some industry leaders are designing for heat projections for the 50-year lifetime of a building, t a k i n g i n t o a c c o u n t p r oj e c t e d temperature increases caused by climate change and urbanization.

H oweve r, s o m e i n t e r ve n t io n s add ressi ng ext reme heat ca n be counterproductive to long-term heat

resilience. If the default extreme heat response is more widespread air conditioning, it will be costly for d evelop er s a nd c on su mer s. A i r conditioners give off heat, and may i ncrease loca l temperat u res a nd perpetuate climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases.

SYNERGISTIC FACTORS Distinct but related climate- and we a t h e r-r ela t e d p h e nom e n a contribute to extreme heat: • Rising global temperatures (a longterm increase caused by humaninduced climate change); • Heat waves (relatively short-term periods of abnor mally hot and humid weather); and • Urban heat islands (areas of hotter temperatures created by local, urban conditions).

The relative change in temperature causes more damage — to people and infrastructure — in cooler places and where fewer adaptation strategies (such as air conditioning or shade trees) are in place. Urban heat islands

26 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

( U H I ) a re a major factor i n t he temperature rise.

In the United States, cities are 2° to 6° F (1.1° to 3.3° C) warmer on average than their surroundings and, in extreme weather, because they absorb the sun's energy, can be as much as 22° F (12° C) hotter. That's in addition to the background 1° to 2°F (0.5° to 1.1° C) rise in global temperatures that has already occurred because of climate change. Climate change is also altering the characteristics of extreme heat events.

“It’s not just excessive heat, it’s the extreme swing in temperature from one day to the next,” says Rives Taylor, Principal and Co-director of Resilience with the design and architecture firm, Gensler. “That sudden difference in t e m p e r a t u r e w r e a k s h a vo c o n m e c h a n ic a l s ys t e m s a n d fa c a d e materiality.”

The frequency of heat waves, their duration, and the temperatures during them are all becoming more extreme.

Cities today have on average 10 more extreme heat events per year than they did in the mid-1950s.

environmentalextremes Heat waves also manifest differently indoors than they do outdoors. Early research results indicate that, when a heat wave occurs, indoor temperatures spike later than outdoor temperatures and last longer — likely because it takes time for heat to transfer indoors and, once there, it is trapped inside.

Four factors contribute to urban heat islands. Land use, including the removal of trees and green space and the addition of heat-absorbing materials, is a key determinant of temperature change in cities. Waste heat (mainly from energy use in buildings and transportation) increases temperature, while air pollution and heat islands intensify each other.

The latter creates ideal conditions for smog formation.

Smog then acts as a heat-trapping barrier, exacerbating the effect. It's estimated heat islands are responsible for 20% of urban smog formation.

Finally, urban geometry, meaning the characteristics of a city and its buildings, influences temperature and heat distribution. The texture of a city — the pattern in which its streets and buildings are arranged — as well as the size and shape of a city are drivers of heat island intensity.

Many building types can both contribute to and mitigate the urban heat island effect. For example, tall buildings create shade (cooling effect), but also trap heat between them and slow or block wind speeds (heating effect). An urban area’s density, layout and building types influence local extreme heat dynamics, along with local climate, geog raph ic feat u res a nd t he su r rou nd i ng nat u ra l environment.

BOLSTERING RESILIENCE Developers, owners, proper ty ma nagers a nd thei r professional service providers are urged to assess and monitor long-term risks from extreme heat over the lifetime of a building, development, or city to understand the likely impacts on users and community members. The following are considered effective heat-resilient actions and policies: • Strategically maximize shade, through built or natural cover, for all buildings and public spaces.

• Tactically encourage airflow for optimum ventilation inside and around a building or development.

• Prioritize the preservation of green space on new development parcels.

• Create green space on new and existing development parcels if appropriate for local climate conditions and water availability.

• Install green or light-coloured roofing.

• Consider design strategies, such as operable windows or cooling systems connected to backup power sources, that help maintain safe indoor temperatures during hotweather power outages.

• Evaluate the need for air conditioning and, if warranted, install the most environmentally friendly option available to minimize GHG emissions.

• Use energy-efficient equipment and principles to minimize heat gain, reduce energy use, and manage waste heat.

• Contribute to community preparedness and response strategies for extreme heat.

• Organize or otherwise support events that contribute to company and/or community neighbourliness so that users have a social network and are aware of resources before an emergency occurs.

• Develop, test, a nd regula rly update emergency response and business continuity plans.

• Track the impact of extreme heat mitigation and adaptation strategies and share lessons learned.

The real estate and land-use sectors have the potential to alleviate many of the negative consequences of extreme heat — supporting heat-resilient buildings, open spaces, infrastructure and cities that keep residents cool and safe. Implementing mitigation strategies that reduce temperatures and adaptation strategies that increase coping ability may help future-proof real estate i n v u l n e r a b l e m a r k e t s , r e d u c e o p e r a t io n s a n d ma nagement costs, i mprove tena nt a nd occupa nt experience, and otherwise differentiate real estate projects. zz Katharine Burgess is Vice President, Urban Resilience, and Elizabeth Foster is Senior Associate, Urban Resilience, with the Urban Land Institute. The preceding article is excerpted from their 2019 research paper, Scorched: Extreme Heat and Real Estate. The complete text can be found at https:// a m e r i c a s . u l i . o rg / re s e a rc h / c e n t e r s - i n i t i a t i v e s / u r b a n resilience-program/extreme-heat.

From Boiler Room to Boardroom

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

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 27

smartadvancements

SMART TRANSITIONS Getting to Next Generation Operations and Maintenance

By Jiri Skopek SMART BUILDING OPERATIONS di f fer f rom bui ldi ng automat ion systems (BAS) in the ability to selfanalyze and diagnose problems from multiple data sources. BAS help faci lit y owners save energy a nd optimize performance with controls that a re based on th i ngs li ke scheduling, occupancy and

m a i n t a i n i n g s e t- p o i n t s . S m a r t bu i ld i ng op er at ion s r ep r es ent a facility's ability to learn from that data and change operations accordingly.

The key is the data acquisition, a n a ly t ics a nd d iag nost ics. Next generation sma r t operations a nd maintenance are about using smart

28 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

Internet of Things (IoT) technology to ensure that buildings operate at close to 100% efficiency at all times.

Sma r t buildi ng operations a nd maintenance capabilities cut energy consumption a nd ca rbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, reduce maintenance costs and extend equipment lifetime.

Va r ious systems offer actionable

smartadvancements insights, driving fewer complaints from occupants, decreasing the need for unscheduled maintenance, saving energy costs and reducing carbon emissions.

For some, the idea of a sma r t building may conjure the image of a building with complex IoT applications that only a cadre of highly trained professionals can understand and operate. It's worth remembering that the fi rst generation of buildi ngs equipped with BAS inspired similar apprehension. Yet today, it would be difficult to find a new larger building that does not have a BAS or an owner/ manager who doesn't appreciate the s i g n i f i c a n t e n e r g y s av i n g a n d operational benefits it provides.

For owners with robust BAS in their facilities currently, moving to a smart building need not be difficult. The transition to smart operations can be gradual and phased.

The very first step is to install smart met er s to col le ct nea r-rea l-t i me energy usage data about how much energy is used, when and, in some cases, at what price. This, on its own, has the advantage of improving a building operator’s insights on saving energ y a nd re duci ng cost s. T he systematic tracking and optimization of building energy consumption along with visual dashboards can also help to change the behaviour of building occupants.

BDA AND FDD The next step is to install sensors to monitor building performance in real t i m e. T h e t e ch nolog y t y pic a l ly consists of a cloud-based analytical engine that receives and analyzes building data and communicates the diagnostic i n for mation, typically through a series of working orders.

This is collectively known as Big Data Analytics (BDA) and Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD).

These are the terms used to describe the process of tracking and analyzing building performance and energy efficiency continuously and in real time of: heat i ng, vent i lat ion a nd a i r conditioning (HVAC) systems; lighting, for example daylight saving and shutting of lights in unoccupied zones; indoor air quality (IAQ) monitor ing; sma r t elevators; and so forth.

As more and more data is collected, the analytics will mature and lead to the discovery of patterns and feedback mechanisms that will enable the development of data-driven knowledge and operations.

Collected data triggers alerts to bu i ld i ng op er ator s of fau lt s or inefficiencies within the building systems. Algorithms can be employed to prioritize the most pressing work orders to ensure operators aren't overwhelmed with too many notifications.

Fau lt d et e c t io n a nd d ia g no si s enables timely a nd ta rgeted interventions in cases of faulty or under-performing building equipment.

This equates to continuous c o m m i s sio n i ng. Sm a r t b u i ld i ng sensors go beyond energy usage problems to address other systems — for example, identifying water leaks or waste bins that need emptying.

As more and more data is collected, the analytics will mature and lead to the discovery of patterns and feedback mecha nisms that will enable the development of data-driven knowledge and operations. Similar to self-driving cars, this may lead to self-operating buildings, but not many buildings are yet in that stage.

In the longer term, BAS will become less important, as more and more equipment will be manufactured with integrated controls and sensors that can be wirelessly connected to the network and driven by a smart building software platform — like plug-and-play.

PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE The same integrated sensors that provide performance data — historical and in real time — support a more predictive maintenance program by detecting failures before they occur.

For example, the data may show that a fan coil unit has been running at 100%

output for more than one month, and t h e r efo r e r e q u i r e s m a i n t e n a n c e activities earlier than planned.

A review of the work orders that have been issued for each piece of equipment will clearly identify the e q u ip m e nt t h a t m ay s o o n n e e d replacing. This may be included in the capital plan. Scanned parts within the facility inventory can automatically tell the system to order a replacement at the time they are taken out for use and/or inform a list of spare parts recommended to be kept on hand.

L o ok i ng t o t h e f ut u r e, m a ny buildings and their systems will be replicated digitally via a so-called digital twin, either as detailed graphic representations or in the form of data.

Thus, whatever occurs in the building wi l l b e visible a nd cont rol lable virtually and in real time. Until then, even incremental investments in smart building systems and their operation and management offer good returns.

In the short term, the energy-savings potential of strategically chosen smart building features, which also keep track of service history and asset condition, bolsters the business case for smart buildings. This enables more efficient scheduling of maintenance activities and accurate maintenance logs to ensure that operators only pay for work that was actually completed. zz Jiri Skopek is an architect, planner and advisor for smart, green buildings and sustainable communities who serves as c h a i r o f t h e b o a rd o f d i re c t o r s o f Sustainable Buildings Canada.

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 29

smartadvancements

CAST FOR

THE FUTURE SFU's New Hub for Sustainable STEM and Business Studies

By Cheryl Mah

WITH ITS DISTINCTIVE facade of precast concrete panels and reflective glass, Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) new hightech Surrey Campus building is turning heads. Located adjacent to the current SFU campus at Surrey’s Central City Mall complex, the Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering program (SE3P) building is the first phase of a three-part expansion for the university in the city.

The sustainable energy engineering programming, Western Canada’s first, offers an interdisciplinary approach to energy engineering by integrating science, environmental and business courses. The programs will prepare students to work in clean technology sectors.

The 220,000-square-foot, cast-in-place concrete building includes underground parking and features modern wet and dry teaching labs, classrooms, study spaces, faculty offices, meeting rooms, a central atrium space and a 400-seat lecture hall to serve SFU as well as the broader Surrey community.

TIGHT SCHEDULE, TIGHT SQUEEZE Bird Construction broke ground on the 30-month project in September 2016 with substantial completion on March 13, 2019.

At peak of construction, 300 workers were on site.

To meet the schedule, budget and quality of the project, it required very careful

30 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

planning and a highly strategic approach.

The fast-track schedule was the single biggest challenge, according to Bird Construction project manager Sean Gribben.

“We knew the challenge going in,” he recalls. "We had to meet certain milestone dates. We hit the ground running and we didn’t take our foot off the gas.”

The project was made possible with partial funding through the federal government’s Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) and matched by the Province of British Columbia. The $90 million in government funding was tied to a hard April 2018 deadline for interior and exterior components — creating a variety of logistical and physical challenges.

The project was definitely not a typical build-out, requiring extensive coordination and cooperation among the team members which included more than 70 sub-trades.

“We wer e doi ng c on st r uct ion backwards. Typically you don’t do finishes until you do your envelope.

Typically you have the design before you build… so definitely one of our most challenging projects,” says Gribben.

Nine different tender packages were issued to help keep construction on track with the fluid design.

The accelerated speed needed to carry out the building’s construction meant interior work had to proceed while the building exterior was also being completed.

A temporary roof system and a hoarding system were installed to facilitate the unusual construction process.

“We had a hoarding wall system constructed around the perimeter of the building, 10 feet in from the envelope to

smartadvancements Spanning five storeys, the building program is organized around the light filled atrium with its sweeping staircase and live trees at varying levels. The material palette is minimal with the focus on the people to provide colour and animation.

“Our design always starts with people — the main focus is the people. Improving quality of life for students was key,” explains Kokalov. “In this case, we wanted to create this park in the middle [of the building] where students can socialize, interact and come together. It wasn’t originally part of the program.”

Nature and transparency were prioritized, with glazing used at the building’s ground plane to extend the outdoor landscape into the interior public space.

CERTIFICATION AND AWARDS Targeting LEED Gold certification, SE3P is tied into the city’s district energy system.

Other efficient mechanical systems include a heat recovery chiller and displacement allow crews to work,” Gribben recounts.

“This was all done throughout the winter as well so if you can imagine — snow, driving rain — and we’re doing all these interior finishes with no envelope.”

The tight site required just-in-time deliveries with all trades working together to manage materials and laydow n a r ea s. Con st r uct ion of a neighbouring high-rise (eight inches away) was also a major challenge.

“Coordination between us and the new high-rise next door was difficult and extremely challenging,” notes Gribben. “We shared one ramp going into the parkade, and our tower cranes overlapped one another so there were lots of logistical and safety issues.”

PEOPLE-FOCUSED DESIGN Designed by Revery Architecture (formerly Bing Thom Architects), the building features an eye-catching facade composed of white precast concrete sandwich panels and reflective glazing.

The 330 custom panels were supplied by Surespan Structures, derived from importing white cement powder from Mexico and white sand from Ontario.

The panels were cast using several specialty liners that follow the lines of the panel, creating a wave pattern. Surespan Construction installed the panels on the building using multiple cranes as panels had to be rotated on site prior to being hung from the building.

“We were doing construction backwards. Typically you don’t do finishes until you do your envelope.”

“It’s not one-of-a-kind, but the system itself is quite unique,” says Gribben.

The prefabricated components, such as the precast concrete elements for the facade, were key to closing the building quickly and meeting the tight construction schedule. Inspiration for t he faca de wa s d r aw n f rom t he geometric pattern of electrical circuit boards, heralding the subject matter being taught inside.

“The reflective glass also catches the blue sky and the concrete looks like clouds,” says Venelin Kokalov, Revery design principal.

To address the challenging schedule, the design team was divided into three groups — to manage approvals and permits; design and documentation; construction and administration — that forged a shared dynamic.

“No time to make mistakes,” Kokalov asserts. "Everyone had to have a common goal and support each other.”

ventilation. The atrium is designed as a large return air plenum.

The building design and construction achievements have not gone unnoticed, earning a Canadian Precast Concrete Architectural Recognition Award, several 2019 Vancouver Regional Construction Association (VRCA) Silver Awards of Excellence and capped with the VRCA Gold Award, presented at an October gala.

“Everyone was under the gun. Everyone had to really work together to ensure we met the target goals,” says Gribben. “Now there’s an outstanding building for the students and the community. Bird is very proud of this project and the effort put in by our subs.” zz Cheryl Mah is MediaEdge Communications' Vancouver-based Managing Editor. The preceding article is reprinted from the September/October 2019 issue of Construction Business.

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 31

SPONSORED CONTENT

SAFETY AT

ROMA BUILDING RESTORATION LTD. SHARES INSIGHTS FROM ITS COR CERTIFICATION JOURNEY

There is no higher priority than employee health and safety; and for many organizations, that focus can lead towards COR certification. Getting certified is a challenge, but it’s one that the team at Roma Building Restoration Ltd. were proud to take on. Here to share their experience and insights from their journey are Marcello Battisti, President; Ricardo de Leon, Principal; and Curtis Alcide, Safety Manager.

Why did you decide to become COR certified?

Marcello: From the start, my brother Joe Battisti, our vice president, and I have made it our job to make sure everyone who works for the company comes home safely at the end of the day. For us, the decision to call up the Infrastructure Health & Safety Association (IHSA) and go after COR certification was more about taking what we were already doing to the next level.

Rick: It’s also what our clients were expecting. We had already proven ourselves successful in tackling a large

SPONSORED CONTENT

THE

patience. For example, we introduced a mobile app that helps us keep track of inspections, compliance, and safety procedures, but that means a bit more work from our people out in the field.

It also means holding them more accountability than before.

COR range of projects requiring a wide range of specialized skills, but more and more of our clients were looking for reassurances that they were working with partners who put the safety of their employees first. We were already doing that, but this was a way to show it.

After you decided to become COR certified, what next?

Curtis: The first step was to develop a health and safety program that was tailored specifically to our business, which is providing a broad range of building science, restoration, and renovation services. We already had a number of health and safety measures in place, but this was a more formalized process which required us to perform a gap analysis and align all our safety-related procedures, policies, assessments, and inspections to comply with the COR program.

Rick: It wasn’t just about writing everything down in a binder and shelving it away, either. It was about proving to the IHSA and ourselves that we had the resources in

place to execute and monitor our plan, and that we were actively making health and safety part of our workplace culture.

Curtis: That’s why we ran the program for a year to get everyone familiar with it. After that, we submitted our health and safety plan to the IHSA. They gave us a score, came back to perform an external audit, and later awarded us COR certification in December 2018.

How have you maintained that safety culture?

Marcello: It absolutely comes from the top and showing employees that this is something their company president, supervisors, and project managers believe in and practice themselves. It can’t be something you do just to get a piece of paper; it has to be something you believe in. When employees see that this is being done to benefit them, that’s when they’ll really buy in.

Curtis: And that is the message our employees hear from me, from Marcello, from Rick, and everyone. That message of working safely is

always part of our company meetings, social events, or even our barbecues.

Rick: That said, you do need to have the checks and balances in place to manage that culture.

You can’t just say, “Here are our procedures, now follow them.” You need to back that up with ongoing training, open feedback, and corrective actions so that all these things we’re talking about become a habit over time.

At the end of the day, that’s the goal: to keep communicating that message of health and safety, and to keep holding people accountable and teaching by example, so eventually it becomes second nature.

What challenges did you encounter when pursuing COR certification and strengthening that safety culture?

Curtis: Any organizational change is a challenge. We were asking our employees to do things that were a little more intensive and demanding than what they were used to, so it took

Rick: Having that app in place is great in terms of being able to record everything we do, analyze the numbers, see the trends, and be more accurate in our auditing. Again, though, making that mobile app part of the everyday job was something new for our team.

That’s why we took the time to do the training, answer questions, and keep an eye on things so we knew they were being used properly.

Curtis: Change is difficult, but that’s why you need to keep the communication going and, again, lead by example.

What are your next steps?

Marcello: COR requires you re-evaluate your plans every season, so we’re always looking at how we can better ourselves and our team and what new tools or procedures we can bring into the company to do that. Every year is a new challenge.

Curtis: We also want to continue being ambassadors for safety. When we work with other contractors, we want to try to pass some of those best practices along and share what we’re doing. That’s why we take any opportunity to go out to other companies, talk to them about safety and what we’re doing. This isn’t just about protecting our employees, it’s making sure everyone on the project makes it home safe.

Marcello Battisti, Ricardo de Leon, and Curtis Alcide are with Roma Building Restoration Ltd., serving clients in Canada since 1981. For more, visit Roma-Restoration.ca.

BUCKING TRANSPARENCY Saddledome Demolition Costs Disregard Life Cycle Assessment

By Barbara Carss

THE UPFRONT COST to demolish the Calgary Saddledome has been projected at $13.8 m illion. T he env i ron ment a l r ep er cussion s of disma ntling a nd disca rding a 474,000-square-foot concrete and steel structure are more difficult to peg.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) — which ca n help to gauge a bui ldi ng’s envi ron ment a l foot pr i nt f rom construction through to its end of life — accounts for four distinct sources of embodied carbon as a building is taken out of useful service: deconstruction/ demol ition ; t ra nspor ti ng debr is ; processing waste; and final disposal. In this case, abandonment of the now 36-year-old facility ahead of its designed lifespan will trigger those impacts.

“From a structural perspective, it probably is premature. The question is, is it premature from an economic perspective? The decision whether a building is deconstructed, demolished or preserved is almost always going to

be economic,” muses Jamie Meil, Research Principal with the Athena Institute, a not-for-profit provider of l i fe cycle a ssessment resou rces, including free software for estimating t h e e nv i r o n m e nt a l fo o t p r i nt of building materials and pavement.

“The number one reason buildings get torn down is economic versus whether they have outlived their usefulness.”

T h e c i t y o f C a l g a r y ’s communications around a proposed new event centre — envisioned as a $550-million joint development with private sector partner, Calgary Sport a n d E n t e r t a i n m e n t C o r p o r a t io n (CSEC) — aligns with that observation. A list of 27 presumed questions of interest posted on the c it y’s we b s it e b eg i n s w it h t h e statement: “The City of Calga r y remains committed to the economic recovery of our city on behalf of citizens, communities, businesses and customers.”

34 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

“The Event Centre is more than an arena,” it asserts. “The Event Centre is a catalyst for attracting private sector investment into the area and the development of under-utilized lands.”

Meanwhile, three references to the Saddledome farther down the list in questions number eight, 10 and 22, repeat the same message: “It has served Calgary well, but is aging.”

In other documentation, the city manager’s July 22 summary of the details of the development partnership includes a section with the heading, “Social, Environmental, Economic”.

Yet, only the potential economic and social spinoffs are itemized.

“I wouldn’t say: Don’t redevelop the site.

But I’m all for being open about the impacts.

If they quantify it, maybe they’ll be able to offset it to a certain extent,” urges Ryan Zizzo, an LCA practitioner who is founder and Chief Operating Officer of the climate impact consulting firm, Mantle. “There needs to be transparency.”

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embodiedcarbon

“I’m all for being open about the impacts. If they quantify it, maybe they’ll be able to offset it to a certain extent.”

UNEXPLORED EMISSIONS TALLY The oversight is not the city of Calgary’s alone. Efforts to measure and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the buildings sector have been largely focused on operational emissions from energ y c on su mpt ion a nd wa st e production directly within buildings.

Whereas, embodied carbon is the tally of indirect GHG emissions tied to the ex t r a c t io n , m a n u f a c t u r i n g a n d transportation of building materials and to construction, renovation or demolition processes.

It’s generally estimated that embodied carbon will account for 80% of the envi ron ment a l foot pr i nt of new const r uct ion for 10 yea rs a f t er completion, but proportions will vary at the individual building level depending on operational performance and the carbon intensity of the power supply.

Heavy reliance on fossil-fuel-fired electricity generation tends to skew the split.

“In Alberta, embodied carbon may not be as big a percentage of the impact, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be lower,” Zizzo says.

Under the terms of the deal, the city of Calgary will cover 90% of Saddledome demolition costs — a share estimated at $12.4 million. Although CSEC is allocated the remaining 10%, the agreement also caps the company’s contribution at $1.5 million. The Saddledome’s parkade will be left in place and eventually transferred to the Calgary Stampede’s ownership.

A May 2017 consultants’ report — released later in the year to the filers of a Freedom of Information submission — calculates that demolition costs could be kept in the range of $23 to $27 per square foot if 90% of recyclable metals are recovered, and if all concrete is crushed

and stored on the Stampede grounds for later use.

“Note that repurposing of concrete would provide for cost savings in the millions and, in general, would show a strong commitment to sustainability by the City and Stampede,” it recommends.

Since diesel-powered demolition equipment typically expends 45 to 50 megajoules (MJ) of energy per square met re (m 2 ), Meil esti mates that component, alone, would produce about 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) for a building the Saddledome’s size. Emissions from transporting recovered materials or debris offsite, and the embodied carbon in materials destined for landfill, would also have to be factored into the tally.

W hile the suggested target for recapturing metals may be realistic, Meil notes that typically only about 50% of c o n c r e t e i s r e c ove r e d f r o m a deconstruction project and it’s generally then “downcycled” to a lower form of use, such as for roadbed.

“Canada is still at a point where almost 20% of landfill deposit is comprised of used construction materials. It was worse, at almost one third,” observes Marc Denhez, a lawyer, heritage building advocate and former Ontario Municipal Board adjudicator. “You won’t find any recognition of that in public policy. We have policies to reuse items as small as pop bottles, but when it comes to reusing items as large as buildings, or even neighbourhoods, the public record is essentially dead silent.”

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS Vancouver is now at the vanguard of addressing embodied carbon at the construction stage. It was identified as one of six “big moves” in the Climate Emergency Response actions City

36 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

Council endorsed in the spring of 2019.

That sets a target for a 40% reduction in the embodied emissions from new buildings and construction projects, compared to 2018 levels, by 2030.

Looking to the United States, the Buy Clean California Act will enforce standards for acceptable global warming potential (GWP) for structural steel, carbon steel rebar, flat glass and mineral wool board insulation used in that state’s public construction projects, beginning in 2021.

Building proponents everywhere can also take up the voluntary options in programs like LEED, Living Building Challenge and Carbon Smart Building.

The latter organization sets a goal for the lifespan of existing buildings to reach at least 100 years — a notion that is wildly incongruous with the r e c ent h ist or y of venues for professional sports teams.

In the past 25 years, 17 cities have built new facilities for their National Hockey League teams a nd 14 have then demolished vacated arena complexes.

Meil cites the example of the Seattle Kingdome, former home to the city’s professional football team, which was demolished, via implosion, just 24 years after it opened and 15 years before the bond used to finance it was repaid.

Many of those venues were consigned to dest r uct ion b ecause of t hei r pur portedly unworkable suburban locations, but that’s not the issue in Calgary. “The Saddledome is already downtown,” Meil reiterates. T he proposed replacement is also expected to have approximately the same 19,000seat capacity.

Given the ample past evidence, Meil suggests new venues could at least be developed with an eye to possible early obsolescence. Criteria for design competitions and requests for proposals could prioritize materials and structural components that could be disassembled and recovered.

Meanwhile, a life cycle assessment of the Saddledome demolition footprint could give Calgary taxpayers better insight into the impacts.

“That might add to the demolition costs, but there are also costs attached to not addressing it,” Zizzo maintains.

“The question is: what numbers are they including and what numbers are they just ignoring?” zz

The 25th Annual Su rvey

of the Canadian Real Estate Industry’s Major Players & Portfolios

Who’s Who 2020

Here’s how to participate in the 25th annual Who’s Who in the Canadian Real Estate Industry survey.

Please take a moment to complete this questionnaire and fax it back to (416) 512-8344 by February 17, 2020.

Your participation ensures the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the list so don’t miss the opportunity.

- Barbara Carss, Editor Note:

1. This survey pertains to Canadian properties only. Please do not report any properties outside of the country.

2. If your ownership interest in any property is diluted, i.e. by a partnership, joint venture or other structure, please report only your net interest.

3. Please print your responses clearly.

4. Please provide all estimates of space managed and/or owned in square feet.

Manage Only

Own Only

Both Own and Manage

Total Sq. Ft.

1. Office Properties 2. Apartment Properties (square footage estimate per unit: 900)

3. Condominium Properties (square footage estimate per unit: 900)

4. Industrial Properties 5. Retail Properties 6. Other Properties (Government, Health Care, Hotel, Educational etc.)

Total following information will not be released in the printed listing. It is, however, essential that you include this information should we need to confirm the accuracy of the estimates you are providing.

Name: ____________________________________________________ Title: __________________________________________ Company: _________________________________________________Email: __________________________________________ Telephone: __________________________________________________Fax: __________________________________________ Please sign and date this form in the space provided to authorize this submission. ______________________________ Authorized Signature

________________________________ Date

If you have any questions, please contact Rachel Selbie at 416-512-8186 ext.263 or by e-mail at rachels@mediaedge.ca Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 37

BALANCE OF DEVICES

Digitalization Figures in Energy Demand and Demand Response

While decrying evidence of stalled momentum (see page 8), this year's edition of the International Energy Agency's global energy efficiency report explores technologies and policies that could reinvigorate energy saving efforts. The following excerpt looks at the impact and opportunities of digitalization – Editor.

THE NET IMPACTS of digitalization on energy demand and efficiency are still uncertain. The growing prevalence of digital devices is pushing up energy demand, but the most energy-hungry of those digital devices, such as streaming video or cryptocurrency mining are largely unrelated to energy management.

In fact, the technical energy efficiency of digital devices, data networks and servers has been improving. Some studies have pegged the benefits of digitalization for energy demand and emissions at nearly 10 times greater than any negative impacts.

More evidence is needed on how digital technologies could combine to deliver system-wide improvements.

However, with it comes the need to examine how the continuing spread of

digital devices flows into increased energy use.

Digital technologies can increase energy efficiency as traditionally defined, by reducing energy used per unit of activity, known as end-use efficiency. They can also improve the energy efficiency of the entire energy system. In both cases, efficiency improvements are delivered by increasing connectivity.

CONNECTIVITY AMPLIFIES OUTCOMES Connectivity is vital for two reasons. First, it helps connect individual components that could achieve more end-use efficiency together than on their own. Digital technologies that connect components to form a network (such as a network within a building) may help to identify new ways that components can work together to increase end-use efficiency by operating

38 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

differently and overcome technical efficiency ceilings that components could soon reach.

Second, connectivity also underpins new sources of demand response, which are increasingly valuable. The value of demand response is growing because the world’s energy systems are undergoing an immense transformation.

Variable renewables continue to be added to the grid, the electrification of energy consumption is increasing and “prosumers” — energy users that both consume and produce energy — are emerging. In this context, demand-side flexibility is increasingly important to ensure the energy system runs as efficiently as possible, with energy supplied when it is needed and consumed when it is available.

A large number of connected energyusing devices, vehicles, buildings and industrial facilities can provide significant and valuable demand response resources to the energy market. Demand response can provide two broad categories of value to the power system: energy value, derived from time-of-use arbitrage in energy

data&disclosure

Although efficient homes and commercial buildings could provide a permanent reduction in demand, they were unable to offer demand response services because most equipment and devices were unable to communicate.

It is no longer possible to view the two processes as being separate or in conflict.

By joining up end-use energy efficiency w it h d i s t r ib u t e d f l ex ibl e lo a d , generation and storage, digitalization is helping to redefine the term "energy efficiency" to encompass both end-use and system efficiency.

markets; and capacity value, derived from avoided capacity investments.

With increased variability and decentralization, further sources of value are being identified. For example, by resolving short-term imbalances in supply and demand, demand response can provide what's known as flexibility value. Additionally, demand response can offer network value, which is increasingly used at both transmission and distribution levels to avoid the costs of network reinforcement or expansion.

In the future, digitalization could enable a host of additional services, allowing the participation of demand response in distribution ancillary services.

The demand response resources that digital technologies make available, alongside improvements in end-use efficiency, can increase the efficiency of the entire energy system by reducing losses associated with producing and distributing energy, avoiding curtailment of renewables and avoiding investments in energy infrastructure. By offering both end-use and system efficiency benefits, digitalization is also reshaping views of energy efficiency and demand response.

ENABLING ACCURATE MEASUREMENT End-use efficiency has always had benefits for the energy system. However, these benefits have not always been recognized, or not recognized in a timely way that would allow decision-makers to consider the impacts of efficiency when planning generation and network infrastructure investments.

Pa r t of the problem has been measurement. It was often hard to predict or measure exactly what impact an intervention to increase end-use efficiency would have on the system until after planning decisions on new capacity and infrastructure had already been made. This meant that system operators often misjudged the impacts of energy efficiency, risking overestimating or underestimating how much grid infrastructure was required to service demand.

A lthough eff icient homes a nd commercial buildings could provide a permanent reduction in demand, they were unable to offer demand response services because most equipment and devices were unable to communicate. Therefore, system operators mainly sought demand response from large industrial facilities operators, who agreed to provide such services via contracts, signed well in advance of any events requiring demand response.

More recently, as decarbonization has become a priority for electricity system

planners, valuing energy efficiency improvements at times of the day when the electricity mix is more carbon-intensive has become a necessity to try and better align people’s energy use with the availability of low-carbon electricity.

Digitalization addresses these issues, offering a much more predictable and measurable type of energy efficiency that is easier for system operators to reward.

Today’s digitally connected energyefficient buildings, vehicles and equipment allow system operators to accurately predict and measure how an efficiency improvement can both lower demand and shift peaks in demand.

Equipped with software tools to quantify and predict the impacts of energy-efficient technologies and behaviours and “pay for performance” schemes to provide transparent measurements, system operators are able to more accurately value energy efficiency that helps decarbonize the grid.

This information can then be used to reward energy users for the benefits their actions have for the energy system — such as consuming energy during times when renewables are plentiful — in addition to the benefits they obtain themselves from increased energy efficiency. The whole process takes place over a much shorter timeframe (in the case of demand response, almost instantaneously) and results in much more accurate forecasts of future demand, allowing system operators to build only the infrastructure that is needed, and avoid overspending. zz The complete text of the International Energy Agency report, Energy Efficiency 2019, can be found at https://webstore.iea.org/marketreport-series-energy-efficiency-2019.

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 39

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THE ART OF SAVING LIVES

Parkade Installations Bring Innovative Solutions To Community Issue

A steel forest encircling the roof of the Edmonton City Centre East (ECCE) parking garage and a central column of cables spiraling upward in an intricate pattern are features that serve to add interest and beautify an otherwise average parking structure. Yet, while parkers and passersby might assume these features are merely artistic in nature, their true purpose is far more important.

These intriguing installations originated when ECCE owner Oxford Properties Group

(Oxford) asked RJC Engineers (RJC) for help in addressing a growing problem plaguing their facility. The ECCE parking garage had become the site of numerous suicide incidents and Oxford wanted prevention measures developed that did not detract from the parking garage’s appearance or function.

As RJC Principal, Daryl Prefontaine, notes, “Oxford didn’t want their parking structure to look like a prison… they wanted fe a t u r e s t h a t f u n c t i o n e d a s s u i c i d e

prevention barriers, but added to the aesthetic of the structure.”

This was uncharted territory for the RJC team charged with addressing the issue. The request was the first of its kind for Prefontaine’s team and no building codes or guidelines existed for non-typical suicide prevention barriers. It was a challenge RJC eagerly embraced and one that took shape following a serendipitous dinner gathering.

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Prefontaine was invited to a dinner meeting that included guests Jacob Dumler and James McDonough of LDW Experiences (LDW), a specialty zoo design firm. During dinner, the conversation turned to zoo projects and the unusual design challenges in this field.

“They began talking about designing enclosures for orangutans who are extremely strong, talented climbers and I quickly realized that LDW’s expertise could be applied to the challenge presented to our team,” Prefontaine recalls.

He asked Dumler and McDonough if they would be interested in applying zoo design principles to a new challenge. Intrigued, the design duo immediately began sketching ideas and, soon after, RJC and LDW Experiences were able to submit several design options to Oxford Properties.

Two designs were chosen to move for ward. The Forest Thicket Concept envisioned the installation of laser-cut, Corten steel trees of various shapes and heights around the perimeter of the rooftop parking deck. The connected branches block access and the shape of the trees do not provide sufficient foot or handholds for climbing. Additionally, the Forest Thicket adds a unique visual element to the parking structure, which is enjoyed by passersby and neighbouring office workers, including those within Oxford’s regional office in an adjacent building.

“A lot of people have expressed that the forest looks great,” reports Prefontaine. “We even have people taking selfies with it or photographing it as urban design. These people appreciate the Forest Thicket’s visual effect but do not realize its purpose, which we consider a success.”

The second design concept, the Descending Spiral, is an installation of crisscrossing cables descending the parking structure’s central ramp in a repeating spiral pattern.

Again, while seen by many as an artistic element, its actual purpose is to discourage jumpers by changing their perception of a potential free fall from the top deck.

Since completion in 2017, the two ECCE parking garage suicide prevention barrier projects have been embraced by the community and, at time of print, eliminated suicide attempts. Prefontaine notes that the project’s success is owed to LDW Experience’s creativity, Oxford’s strong support, and the RJC team’s commitment to bringing these innovative concepts to reality.

“This project was very fulfilling for the RJC team. I remember hearing my team members talk while they worked out the calculations and

comment that it was one of the best projects of their careers,” Prefontaine adds.

RJC’s Suicide Prevention Barriers have garnered industry recognition. In 2018, the project was awarded the BOMA Edmonton’s Pinnacle Award for Innovation. They have also inspired future suicide prevention measures projects within the Edmonton area.

In her remarks for the 2018 BOMA Awards, ECCE Property Manager Debra Edwards said, “Par t of our logo says ‘managed with pride’, and I can say that of all the projects I have been part of in my 17 years with Oxford, the Roof Top Barriers is the one I am most proud of.”

She added, “I believe this will truly be a signature project for both us and the city.” n Daryl Prefontaine is a Principal with RJC Engineers. Learn more at www.rjc.ca.

"This project was very fulfilling for the RJC team."

– Daryl Prefontaine, Principal with RJC Engineers

rjc.ca

DATA DEEP

DIVE

Risk Profiling Exercise Includes Collection Legwork

A RECENT REPORT FROM Global Property Index producer, MSCI, draws on geospatial and climate hazard data to identify where and how real estate assets could be vulnerable to extreme weather events and patterns. The work underscores the widening scope of resources that can be tapped to build increasingly sophisticated property profiles, as well as the challenges of that task.

“Data is fragmented. It’s difficult to obtain. It’s hard to patch together across portfolios,” Darryl Neate, Director of Sustainability for Oxford Properties Group, told a gathering earlier this fall

at the release of 2019 results of the G R E SB g lo b a l b e n c h m a r k fo r environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of commercial real estate portfolios.

MSCI’s effort began with geocoding to pinpoint the exact global coordinates of 23,771 properties located in Australia, South Africa, the United States, United Kingdom and the Netherlands. This was cross-referenced with various national and regional level geomatic, scientific and planning data to derive a picture of physical risks and mitigating factors in play at each address.

42 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

Three separate analyses were performed in line with generally recognized climaterelated concerns in the scrutinized regions: drought in Australia and South Africa; hurricanes in the U.S.; and flooding in the U.K. and the Netherlands.

“Climate risks vary widely across real estate markets, making it critical to define exposure by country and to focus on the hazards that are specific to each region,” advise the MSCI researchers, Gillian Mollod and Will Robson. “A market’s desirability may be affected both by its specific vulnerabilities and the climateresilient strategies that aim to mitigate risk.”

data&disclosure Climate risk profilers analyzed addresses in drought-prone zones using data from the World Resources Institute that captures seasonal and year-to-year variability in the water supply and the longer-term plenitude or diminution of groundwater resources, known as baseline water stress (BWS).

Collectively, these indicators provide a reading of the flow-through potential for water shortages, higher water costs and resulting implications for building operations and marketability.

Data to help plot vulnerability to hurricanes in areas exposed to the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts came from two sources: Munich Reinsurance Co.’s mapping of tropical storm intensity zones; and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) SLOSH model for projecting the height of storm surges.

The MSCI report also points to the dilemma of flawed data as extreme storms occur with more frequency.

“The insurance market has relied heavily on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 100-year floodplain maps, which designate as Special Flood Hazard Areas those with a 1% risk of flooding each year. Yet, as was made clear during Hurricane Harvey — after which almost three-quarters of the damaged homes were outside of the Special Flood Hazard Area, leaving thousands of residents and commercial land owners uninsured — these maps are now outdated,” Mollod and Robson recount.

The SLOSH (sea, lake and overland surges from hurricanes) model considers water depth, land elevation and water flow dynamics when projecting the height of storm surge. Whereas, FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Areas do not yet account for rising sea level, even though that translates into higher water levels in the path of coastal storms, increasing the threat of damaging and dangerous storm surges.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY For data related to flooding risks, researchers turned to the U.K. Environment Agency’s flood risk mapping and the national risk map in the Netherlands, known as risicokaart. Both countries provide easily accessible resources to the general public.

In the U.K., for example, petitioners can request a “flooding history” of any property, which is promised within working 20 days and at no cost if it requires fewer than 18 hours to compile. Anyone can find immediate online information about a property’s probability of flooding simply by

entering address information. In the Netherlands, the online risicokaart demarcates areas where flooding could occur and includes projections of how high the water could rise.

In contrast, Canada’s efforts are still in early stages. A Federal Flood Mapping Framework was published last year, under the auspices of Public Safety Canada, as part of a series of documents produced in consultation with provincial governments and stakeholders.

“These are a series of evergreen guidelines that will help advance flood mapping activities across Canada. The publication of these documents will contribute to better addressing overland flooding — Canada’s costliest hazard — by strengthening flood mapping across the country,” the website states.

Knowledgeable observers note much of the existing information is in piecemeal documents from local planning and conservation bodies, and difficult for untrained users to grasp. In a 2018 policy brief for the Centre for International Governance Innovation, University of Waterloo Associate Professors Daniel Henstra and Jason Thistlethwaite highlight the differences between the flood hazard maps developed for land use planning purposes and flood risk maps like those available in the U.K. and the Netherlands.

“Flood hazard maps typically contain highly technical data, lack information on potential adverse consequences associated with flooding and fail to distinguish between different flood sources. These characteristics limit their ut i l it y for st reng t hen i ng publ ic understanding of flood risk,” Henstra and Thistlethwaite maintain. “Flood risk maps, by contrast, include information about assets at risk and potential adverse consequences associated with floods, typically denoted in terms of households affected, the likely impact on economic activity and so on. They are intended to support policy dialogue, promote public risk awareness and inform decisions about strategic interventions to mitigate flood risk.”

CAPACITY TO RESPOND Sustainability practitioners contributing to discussion at the Canadian GRESB results presentation concurred that a data-supported picture of climate risk is an imperative first step to inform other decisions about investing in preparedness or selling off assets.

“We know physical risk is a key risk to our real assets,” affirmed Derek Billsman, Director of Real Estate Management and Sustainability with the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP). “You can’t move that building.”

He described the two-part evaluation derived from a recently completed profile of HOOPP’s portfolio of commercial, industrial and multifamily assets. Each property now carries a score denoting the risk of its physical location — i.e. potential for inescapable extreme weather — and a score for capacity to respond.

MSCI researchers similarly accounted for mitigating factors such as levees in U.S. coastal zones, the Thames River barrier that provides flood defence in London, the Netherlands’ Room for the Rivers resilience strategy, and other local or regional codes and standards.

They also considered how the intensity and repercussions of climate-related stresses can vary for different property types. For example, water shortages are likely to be felt more severely in multifamily buildings.

Ste a dy a d va n c e m e nt s i n d a t a analytics make it more feasible to cross-reference all the details, but it ca n i nvolve col le ct i ng a nd coordinating insight from various disparate sources. Billsman reiterated the challenges of the task when, as in HOOPP’s case, assets are scattered across many jurisdictions in multiple countries.

“I am not going to say it’s easy and I’m also not going to say it’s cheap,” he reported.

Those logistical and cost hurdles are expected to dissipate. “All of these data systems are going to get better and better and better,” predicted Regan Smith, Director of Sustainability with Manulife Investment Management.

Nevertheless, MSCI researchers are mindful that openness to the data is an equal part of the equation.

“Real estate investors acknowledge that physical climate risk by itself is not enough to dissuade them from entering into an otherwise attractive real estate market,” Mollod and Robson observe. “However, this risk-reward calculation may evolve if the economic impact of a changing climate manifests itself.” zz The MSCI report, Climate risk in private real estate portfolios: What's the exposure?, can be found at www.msci.com/research.

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 43

HEALTHY DIFFERENTIATOR Well-being Tapped for Value Creation and Risk Reduction Health and well-being indicators were integrated into the core GRESB benchmark — assessing environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of commercial real estate portfolios — for the first time in 2019, drawing on lessons learned from a three-year voluntary pilot module. A recent report from Green Health Partnership and GRESB examines the underpinning rationale, trends emerging from the pilot and how they inform expectations for future outcomes. The following is an excerpt – Editor.

THE WORLD HEALTH Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.” The real estate sector has the ability to impact all three areas positively or negatively.

Physical health can be affected directly through toxic exposures and indirectly by the impact of real estate development on human behaviours, such as physical activity and healthy eating. Mental health is influenced directly by access to daylight, green space, biophilic design and indirectly by the impact that urban and building design have on social interaction and connection. The real estate industry also affects social health through its hiring practices, approach to procu rement, site select ion a nd community engagement.

Social, economic and environmental factors refer red to as the social determinants of health have a larger impact on health outcomes than clinical care (around 50%). These critical health determinants lie outside of the health care sector and require cross-sector partnership to promote improved health behaviours and outcomes.

As creators of physical environments, the real estate industry is well positioned to address key health determinants in its approach to r ea l est at e development a nd management. This includes aspects of the physical environment that directly impact health, including air and water quality, access to safe and affordable housing and transit, as well as aspects that impact socioeconomic factors

44 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

a nd hea lt h behaviou rs, e.g., availability of green space, healthy foods, employment opportunities, etc.

Human health and well-being are implicit components of environmental, s o c i a l a n d g o ve r n a n c e ( E S G ) considerations. However, the real estate sector over the past several years has begun to position health and well-being as an explicit area of focus.

For real est ate compa n ies a nd investors, health and well-being is an area of potential value creation and r isk reduction. The potential for value creation stems from increased m a rket d em a nd for su st a i n able, human-centric buildings and neighbourhoods.

Historically, risk associated with hu ma n hea lt h ha s b e en def i ne d

data&disclosure

du r i ng proje ct development a nd operation.

GRESB PILOT LEARNINGS The GRESB pilot health and wellbeing module, introduced and refined between 2016 and 2018, was an effort to assess a real estate company’s i nt e r n a l ap p r oa ch t o p r omot i ng health for its employees as well as its ext er na l ap p roa ch to p romot i ng health for tenants and communities through real estate fund management.

Volunteer pa r ticipa nts, including thirteen Canadian portfolios, were bench ma rked based on fou r components: • formal policies and leadership on health and well-being concerns • processes to understand health and well-being opportunities • s p e c i f ic s t r a t eg i e s t o a c t o n opportunities for health promotion • formal processes for monitoring the impact of their health promotion strategies

As creators of physical environments, the real estate industry is well positioned to address key health determinants in its approach to real estate development and management. primarily by human safety. The real estate industry is expected to create safe spaces that reduce the risk of injury and toxic exposure. However, a s gover n ment s a nd so ciet ies become more inclined to hold the private sector accountable for its impact on society, the real estate i n d u s t r y c o u l d b e ex p e c t e d t o intentionally consider the population health impacts of real estate projects

Three years of health and well-being benchmarks demonstrate that real estate companies and funds are capable of improving health performance quickly.

From 2016 to 2018, the number of participants with established internal and external health programs increased from 62 to 155.

Participants were more likely to have established internal processes for employee health promotion before

developing externally focused processes for the promotion of tenant, customer and community health. Real estate companies are beginning to integrate health into ESG frameworks and are elevating responsibility for health to senior management levels. Furthermore, funds that continuously participated in the health and well-being module were more likely to have complete processes for health promotion, indicating that sustained engagement can help companies and funds improve performance.

Data shows most participants have: • established clear internal leadership and governance related to health promotion; • conducted health needs assessments and established specific health goals; • i mplement e d hea lt h promot ion strategies through asset design, construction and operation; and • started collecting data about the impact of strategies on employee, tenant and customer health and well-being.

Health and well-being are emerging as a globa l leadersh ip a nd ma rket differentiation opportunity for property companies and funds around the world.

While health promotion has been a longsta nding value within green buildings, it is now becoming an i ntentiona l a nd i ncreasi ngly institutionalized focus across all sectors of the real estate industry.

Market leaders are prioritizing occupant experience and, in some cases, health promotion as part of value propositions. Mainstream ma rket pa r ticipa nts a re awa re of t hese opportunities and are looking for points of entry and engagement. The absence of consideration for health and well-being is one indicator that a company or fund lags behind its peers. zz The complete text of Health & Wellbeing in Real Estate, a joint report from Green Health Par tnership and GRESB, can be found at https://gresb. com/health-well-being-real-estate.

Canadian Property Management | November/December 2019 45

IAQ

FRESH ADJUSTMENTS Updated ASHRAE Standards for Ventilation and IAQ

By Barbara Carss

NEWLY RELEASED updates to the ASHRAE standards for ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ) in commercial and residential buildings underscore that outdoor air is not necessarily synonymous with freshness. 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.

“These standards have undergone key changes over the years, reflecting the everexpanding body of knowledge, experience and research related to ventilation and air quality,” says Jennifer Isenbeck, Chair of the ASHRAE committee overseeing the development of standard 62.1-2019, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality for non-residential buildings. “The purpose of both standards remains unchanged, yet the means of achieving this goal have evolved.”

For commercial buildings, that includes: new procedures and assumptions for calculating system requirements; criteria specific to certain types of occupancies, such as outpatient health care facilities, which weren’t singled out previously; new requirements for intake and integration of outdoor air; and a prohibition on aircleaning devices that generate ozone. Dew point temperature will replace relative humidity for expressing humidity levels, which is considered a more precise and appropriate metric.

The new regimen for natural ventilation is in sync with green and resilient building pressures to curb reliance on mechanical ventilation systems, while accounting for contaminants and other destabilizing factors outside buildings.

“Requirements for natural ventilation design instruct designers to consider outdoor air quality — whether smoke from wildfires or particulates, as is common in Beijing, London and other major cities — and to consider the i nt er a ct ion of out do or a i r w it h mechanically cooled spaces. Bringing in outdoor air in hot humid locations, like Dubai, for example, can create significant condensation problems in me ch a n ica l ly c o ole d i nt e r ior s,” explains Alex McGowan, an engineer a nd Senior Ma nager with WSP’s Building Sciences Group.

“The green building movement brought natural ventilation back to designs, perhaps with some disregard to outdoor air not being so fresh. We need to consider that windows will be closed and how to keep IAQ at a reasonable level for occupants,” says Andrew Pride, an engineer and energy management specialist. “These ASHRAE changes are a breath of fresh air, and I think they will complement smarter controls that understand when a space is occupied in order to trigger outdoor air ventilation.”

Li kewise, st a nd a rd 62.2-2019, Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Residential Buildings, reflects that energy-efficient multi-residential building design has evolved away from ventilation via corridor pressurization systems in favour of heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) or energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) in each suite.

“Cool innovations like HRV-fan coils started a new movement in Toronto condos, offering better IAQ and energy savings in one space-saving device,” Pride notes.

46 November/December 2019 | Canadian Property Management

The updated standard stipulates compartmentalized, in-suite ventilation in newly constructed multi-residential buildings and requires designers to consider outdoor air in the context of balanced — i.e. intake equals exhaust — and unbalanced ventilation. It also allows for an alternative compliance path with extra controls for particulate filtration.

“It will be important for property managers to service and clean the filters on a regular basis,” Pride advises.

“Positive intentions, such as good air quality from HRVs or ERVs, can be undone by poor service.”

As with other types of sustainable and energy-efficient features, McGowan projects that resulting operating cost savings should compensate for the likely higher capital costs to comply with the standards.

“Some items will be more challenging due to the additional design considerations, but, arguably, these things should always have been considered, if we have the right information,” he maintains. “At the same time, some design procedures have been simplified, which is good.”

Although ASHRAE’s pace in producing updated versions of its standards is famously faster than most building code cycles, McGowan suggests the 2019 iteration of the 62.1 and 62.2 standards could soon be referenced and show up in various building certification prerequisites or credits. “Some codes refer to the latest version of the pertinent standard, which keeps designers on their toes,” he affirms. zz For more information about ASHRAE standards, see the website at www.ashrae.org.

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