VIEWPOINT
BUILDING
BACK BETTER By Steven Paynter
A matter of weeks ago, Justin Trudeau made his
After a couple of days of reflecting on it, and after many discussions with our
Speech from the Throne to open the second session
clients, I started to feel disappointed by the idea. It looks like the majority of this
of Canada’s 43rd parliament. In a modern era unlike
money will disappear into mechanical rooms over the next five years, and while
any other, as the second wave of COVID-19 begins to
we may feel the benefit eventually, it will be, at best, existential for most people.
grip the nation and we eagerly await further economic stimulus, the Prime Minister vowed that Canada would
It turns out $2 billion is spread across the country. It’s just a little over $10 mil-
emerge on the other side of the pandemic and “Build
lion per city in Canada, with maybe each town seeing upgrades to a few minor
Back Better”.
projects1. This also translates to roughly $3,500 of projected fee per registered architect meaning it’ll have almost no impact on the industry.
While normally, these speeches have little impact on the design profession, this year was different.
How will this stimulus translate into creating a more sustainable built environ-
Having not had the time to watch it live, I have to
ment? Maybe the money truly will go into mechanical upgrades, or maybe we’ll see
admit that the first story I read was about how angry
the occasional facade upgrade if we’re lucky. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was. “Not a single word in the speech discussed the oil industry,” he
What if the money, which I know is enough to tip some projects over the line
raged, insisting that it was full of “kooky” objectives!
and into construction, was tied to a bigger, even more sustainable cause? What if
Suddenly, I was interested.
we incorporated that funding not only to the performance of the building, but also to its wider socio-economic impact? What if we tied it to creating better neigh-
So, what were these “kooky” plans? The main plank
bourhoods, and design something that could truly be a catalyst for wider change.
of the “build back better recovery” involves a huge injection of cash and loans for sustainable infrastruc-
It’s a simple idea. If developers want part of the $2 billion pot, then they have to
ture projects such as green transit and clean energy,
invest double that into other building upgrades that serve the local population. It’s
but the one that really piqued my interest, and I’m sure
a win/win because there are literally hundreds of landlords and developers out there
caught the attention of many others in the design pro-
itching to do this. I’ve spoken to many of them over the course of writing this, and
fessions, was the confirmation of $2 billion from the
they all agreed that taking the cash sink that is MEP upgrades off their plate would
Infrastructure Bank of Canada to pay for sustainable
definitely help get things moving.
upgrades to existing buildings. What would this mean in practice? Well it could mean that a struggling local At first, this sounded like an amazing opportunity to
mall becomes a new beacon for sustainable repositioning with physical changes
finally get some projects moving, as the funding could
that improve the quality of the experience there. This is important because
easily unlock repositioning deals for those projects
we need those obvious changes, we need things to be clear to us, so they can
that just didn’t quite make economic sense to trans-
become inspirational and drive change.
form in the wake of COVID-19.
Concepts of the revival and repositioning of Detroit’s downtown core.
1There are approximately 200 cities in Canada with a population over 10,000. On Statistics Canada’s 2016 census list, Toronto ranks 1st and Kenora ranks 200th.
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