The Scrivener - Summer 2019 - Volume 28 Number 2

Page 24

THEME Fiona Famulak

Green Building Policies Set to Catalyze Construction Innovation and Create $3.3 Billion in Business Opportunities

W

ith a rich history dating back to 1929, the Vancouver Regional Construction Association (VRCA) is the largest of four regional construction associations in British Columbia and fifth largest in Canada. It serves the general and trade contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, and professional services providers that operate in the industrial, commercial, institutional, and high-rise residential construction industry in the Lower Mainland. VRCA’s member companies are part of an industry that delivers $15 billion completed projects, e.g., schools, hospitals, and other essential infrastructure, on an annual basis; provides 9 per cent of BC’s wealth; and employs almost 250,000 men and women, making it the largest employer in BC’s goods and services sector. The industry is very large and contributes in myriad ways to our communities and economy. It also has some challenges ahead. At VRCA’s 2019 Construction Leadership Forum in Whistler, Monte Paulsen, Passive House Specialist

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

with RDH Building Science Inc., made the statement, “By 2032, every BC builder will face a simple choice: Build like Passive House or build somewhere else.” His statement caught my attention. We know that the construction industry in British Columbia and, in particular the Lower Mainland, has some key milestones ahead, whether it be navigating the skilled labour shortage through 2021 and beyond, when demand for construction services is at an unprecedented level, or building to support Metro Vancouver’s projected population growth of one million newcomers by 2041.

Building “greener” includes the need to adapt to new, high-performance building standards. Monte’s statement wasn’t directed at the supply of labour or population forecast, however. He was referencing the process of construction and specifically the need for all new residential and commercial buildings in Vancouver to be built to zero-emissions standards by 2030 and for all new buildings in BC to be net-zero-energy-ready by 2032. Such milestones require the construction industry to build faster, greener, and more productively than ever before. Building “greener” BC Notaries Association

includes the need to adapt to new, high-performance building standards. What I hadn’t fully acknowledged until that moment in Whistler is the risk of not adapting to those standards . . . the risk that a company might find itself out of business if it doesn’t change. While the pace and scale of BC’s construction market transformation is daunting, it has several positive qualities. First, the provincial government’s Energy Step Code—a voluntary provincial standard enacted in April 2017 that provides an incremental and consistent approach to achieving more energy-efficient buildings that go beyond the requirements of the base BC Building Code—and the City of Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan—a strategy for staying on the leading edge of city sustainability— provide a clear road map of code changes and their timing. There’s no guessing what’s required and when. What’s more, the policies will help to catalyze construction innovation in an industry that is ripe for change. Second, the City of Vancouver, recognizing that the industry needs help to meet the former’s 2030 milestone (and 2025 stretch milestone), seed-funded our Zero Emissions Building Exchange (ZEBx), the first and only in Canada, for the purposes of expediting Volume 28  Number 2  Summer 2019


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Articles inside

TECHNOLOGY

6min
pages 76-77

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

2min
page 73

TAXES

7min
pages 70-71

BC Notaries Speak Your Language

2min
page 69

WILLS AND ESTATES

9min
pages 66-68

TRAVEL INSURANCE

5min
pages 64-65

MEDIATION

4min
pages 62-63

2019 BC LAND SUMMIT

5min
pages 60-61

SURVEYING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

5min
pages 58-59

SPOTLIGHT ON GOOD WORKS

4min
pages 54-55

BRITISH COLUMBIA LAW INSTITUTE

4min
pages 56-57

The BC Notary Foundation Joins over 50 Partners in the Access to Justice BC’s Triple Aim Initiative

1min
page 53

Address from the Graduating Class of 2019 . . . We Are on Our Way

2min
page 50

Message to the New Notaries from The President of The Society of Notaries Public

2min
page 49

The Notary Pledge

2min
page 48

Address to Our BC Notary Graduates from The Honourable Chief Justice Hinkson

3min
page 47

Congratulations, BC Notary Class of 2019

1min
page 46

PROFILE OF A BC NOTARY

6min
pages 38-39

Greenstreaming” of Factory-Built Housing

6min
pages 30-32

BC Notaries Spring Conference 2019

4min
pages 40-43

Tiny Homes: The Cube

1min
pages 36-37

Energy Use and Savings in Strata Homes

9min
pages 33-35

Green and Sustainable Building Practices in BC

4min
pages 28-29

Green Building Policies Set to Catalyze Construction Innovation and Create $3.3 Billion in Business Opportunities

4min
pages 24-25

Renaissance Man

25min
pages 11-19

Editor’s

2min
page 23

KEYNOTE

1min
page 10

ENERGY SYSTEMS

3min
page 22

INTERIM CEO, BC NOTARIES ASSOCIATION

4min
page 9

PRESIDENT, BC NOTARIES ASSOCIATION

2min
page 8

PRESIDENT, THE SOCIETY OF NOTARIES PUBLIC OF BC

2min
page 6

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE SOCIETY OF NOTARIES PUBLIC OF BC

2min
page 7
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