BOMA Edmonton - March 2014

Intelligent Real Estate Solutions

BOYLE STREET COMMUNITY SERVICES

BY JULIAN DALY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Downtown Proud Crew

A

couple of years ago I made a presentation to a group of Parliamentarians who were touring the country to learn more about poverty in Canada. I told them that the people we work with seek a recognition of their worth; of their value as human beings. That they seek a revitalization of their spirit.

At Boyle Street we recognize that maybe we can’t end poverty, but we can make our centre a place of warm welcome where people can seek out services, where they can feel empowered to take control of their lives, where they can recapture their cultural identity…and where they can feel valued without being judged.

We have a variety of programs aimed at supporting our clients or, as we call them, our community members. That’s the name we use because we recognize that we are all part of the same Edmonton community.

We’re a 40-year-old agency, and we have programs that help people get housed, or find support for their mental health or addiction issues. We have a drop-in where people can find warmth and good food and access counseling and cultural services. We have more than 30 programs, in fact, together with four residential group homes and offsite housing – and each year more than 9,000 people visit Boyle Street for some sort of support. About 75 per cent of those people are Aboriginal.

One of these programs is called Water Wings – and it helps people get jobs. It does this in two ways: by supporting them in taking trades exams and correspondence courses and by helping them to look at job options, prepare for interviews, get safety tickets and develop resumes.

Lots of our community members don’t have much formal education and some don’t have basic computer skills.

Edmonton

IndustrIal

Vac a n c y 2013 - Q4

Overall-Vacancy:

2.8%

Edmonton-Vacancy:

2.8%

Southeast: Northwest: Northeast: Central:

2.6% 3.1% 1.3% 3.9%

Surrounding-Vacancy: Acheson: Spruce-Grove: Stony-Plain: Sherwood-Park: Nisku/Leduc:

2.9% 0.6% 0.7% 0.0% 0.7% 4.8%

2013 Industrial Absorption Edmonton: 793,041-sf Surrounding: (30,945)-sf Total: 762,096-sf

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So we give them a lot of one-on-one support, including with basic literacy. But their success is based on the fact they want to find work. Their determination, with Water Wings programming, helps them achieve that goal.

Water Wings is a fairly new program. But its successes are already impressive: • More than 50 safety tickets are being secured by clients every month.

• We have had 600 participants • Between September and December, 93 clients found jobs Tickets which can be obtained include the Construction Safety Training System, H2S, first aid, forklift, basic food safety, confined space, fall arrest and transportation of dangerous goods.

It’s a great moment when one of the “graduates” of Water Wings, someone who may have been homeless and unemployed for several years, finds a job which supports him in his desire to be an equal and contributing member of our society.

We have, happily, many such moments.

We have also partnered with the Downtown Business Association and, with the support of 15 corporate and government sponsors, we are now in our fifth year of a social enterprise program called Downtown Proud!

Five Boyle Street community members – all previously homeless and unemployed - clean up a 30-square block area in

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March 2014 | BOMA Edmonton Newsletter | www.bomaedmonton.org

the downtown. And they have done so consistently five-days-a week, three-hours-a-day in all kinds of weather.

They will probably collect about 144,000 litres of litter and garbage this year. The crew has been stable during the last 12 months and has taken on a number of additional assignments, including litter clean up during MacEwan University and Norquest College’s welcome back to school event, Alberta Culture Days and the Christmas Tree Light Up event sponsored by the Downtown Business Association. They also continued collecting recyclable bottles from two condos in the downtown area.

There are plans to increase the hours of the crew, and, with anticipated funding, this should happen soon. In fact, BOMA has offered to help in many different ways including putting a fundraising committee together so we can work full time during spring, summer and fall. If we raise $58K from the private sector, the City will provide $50K. Recently, we have developed a partnership with Progressive Waste Solutions (also known as BFI Canada). They will be providing new carts for the crew as well as work clothing, toques, gloves and pickers.

Our crew members continue to report how meaningful the work is to them. This is especially the case as business owners and pedestrians continue to offer words of encouragement to the crew as they do their work, offering coffee and even meals, at times. This feedback is priceless and really adds to the sense of self-worth.

One of our relatively new crew members recently sat down with his partner and realized that with the regular work he has with us and the steady employment income that they could actually afford an apartment. This means not staying in a shelter and now having a home. This was a moment of complete joy and relief – and we have yet another community member who is housed as a result of working with Downtown Proud!

Employment programs such as these, and the ever growing support of the greater Edmonton community, go a long way to help our community members recognize their own worth and revitalize their spirit.

But there are still more than 2,000 people who are homeless in Edmonton and we at Boyle Street will continue to build on programming, and seek out partnerships which will help those still out there to move from their daily battle for survival to the richness of a life which is fully inclusive.

Since 2008 Julian Daly has been the Executive Director of Boyle Street Community Services, an inner city organization working with Edmontonians who are experiencing extreme poverty, mental health challenges, addictions and homelessness.

Born in Ireland, Julian has over 23 years experience working in nonprofit, government and private sectors in Canada, the UK, Indonesia and his country of birth. He has managed programs and projects that have focused on a range of areas including housing, poverty reduction, community engagement, health, education and children and family services.

LOOKING TO AVOID GETTING SOAKED DURING SPRING THAW?

Fully integrated tenant solutions

Preparation is key for Edmonton businesses.

BY ANDREW MACKECHNIE, EDMONTON AREA BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, FIRSTONSITE RESTORATION

WE HAVE A STRONG NATIONAL PRESENCE TO HELP SERVE THE DIVERSE NEEDS OF OUR TENANTS

L

ast summer’s floods were a wake-up call for Albertans.

Images of Highway 1 washed away, entire towns cut off, and the Scotiabank Saddledome submerged are still fresh in our minds. Though geographically removed, Edmontonians contributed everything they could − supplies, funds and boots on the ground − to our neighbours in the south. As if we didn’t know it already, the provincial government called it the worst flooding in the history of the province.

Many Albertans will also remember the massive strain placed on construction, trades, and restoration suppliers. The demand stretched local capacity to the absolute limit, and required huge amounts of imported additional support. FirstOnSite experienced this degree of resource pressure when responding to the Slave Lake wildfire a few years ago. Then, as was the case this past spring, we were able to draw on and mobilize equipment, manpower and resources from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, in order to scale up and meet the disaster’s enormous needs.

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Fast forward to 2014 in Edmonton, and the impending spring thaw. It could be a memorable one. If the ten-foot snow drifts and ice damming don’t convince you, maybe this will: Environment Canada has said that 2013 was the third worst year for snowfall in Edmonton since 1996. It snowed 37.2 centimetres in December and 45 centimetres in November. This is double what Edmonton usually expects in the last two months of the year.

Very simply, when temperatures warm, snows melt and water starts flowing. We would be wise to be wary as we look ahead - with this season’s amount of snowfall, a city’s drainage system could be put to the test. If it is overwhelmed both residential and commercial properties are in danger of flooding. And lots of it.

It is, of course, impossible to predict the future, which is why it’s important for commercial businesses to have an emergency plan in place - one that takes their unique business considerations into account. By developing an emergency response plan, businesses will be better prepared to survive when the next disaster strikes. By taking planning one step further, and including a partnership with a restoration company in that plan, several things can be achieved: • The restoration partner is already familiar with the site and its important stakeholders before an event takes place −

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March 2014 | BOMA Edmonton Newsletter | www.bomaedmonton.org

very important to an efficient restoration effort.

• Restoration response time will be reduced and work started more quickly as a result of the pre-planning, ultimately saving costs and minimizing business interruption.

• Property managers have a partner on speed dial when their property is in need - and significantly – receive priority service in times of major crisis.

It’s very easy to push emergency planning aside when things are running smoothly. But having a plan in place that will ensure the smoothest management possible through a disaster will ultimately maximize business continuity. It’s time well spent that will pay off if disaster strikes.

FirstOnSite’s PREP Program can help businesses prepare before a disaster takes place, and provide businesses priority service in times of crisis. Please contact Andrew MacKechnie at amackechnie@firstonsite.ca or 780.733.3399 for more information. As we say in the restoration business: “Plan for the worst, and you’ll come out the best.”

CLEAN AIR IS ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY The Filter Shop helps its customers achieve BOMA Building Environmental Standards practices.

BY ROBERTA MACGILLIVRAY, PRESIDENT, THE FILTER SHOP AT B.G.E.

T

he question of Environmental Responsibility is something we face every day in all aspects of our lives. From how we dispose of our garbage to leaving our car idling too long. The question is raised… “What are you doing to help the environment?” Building owners, property managers and building operators face this daily challenge of trying to meet the health and comfort needs of their tenants while at the same time trying to meet energy efficiency and environmental sustainability objectives.

The Building Owners and Managers Association of Edmonton (BOMA), introduced the BOMA BESt (Building Environmental Standards) program to provide a set of best practices to assist and recognize buildings that have those best practices in place and have achieved environmental excellence in their building objectives.

The BOMA BESt is a certification program that recognizes excellence in energy and environmental management and performance in commercial real estate through a questionnaire and survey based as-

www.bomaedmonton.org | BOMA Edmonton Newsletter | March 2014

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sessment spanning 6 areas: energy, water, waste reduction, emissions and effluents, indoor environments and ultimately their overall environmental management system.

A BOMA member since 1986 and a proponent to the BOMA BESt program, B.G.E. Service & Supply Ltd. (The Filter Shop) has been a trusted advisor to help with all things related to clean air. We’ve worked with numerous property managers and building owners/managers across western Canada in achieving their BOMA BESt certification.

When it comes to clean air, the proper filter goes a long way to taking the guess work out of ensuring buildings offer clean air to the tenants. The steps to achieving clean air are:

SURVEY A thorough air filtration system survey always uncovers important information about the existing air filtration system and helps identify areas of concern from filter integrity to source contaminants or even indoor building activities such as renovations or construction. Also, the survey technician verifies the filters are doing their job when it comes to providing a building and its occupants with clean air.

REMEDIATION From the survey, The Filter Shop technicians identify

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March 2014 | BOMA Edmonton Newsletter | www.bomaedmonton.org

contaminants that need to be removed and prevented from polluting fresh outdoor air sources. They also search for other contaminated sources such as fouled coils, worn-out equip-

ment and the many other variables affecting air quality. This is a daunting task especially in an aging building. In partnership with the building manager and their team, the technician can advise where remediation is needed and sometimes even get involved in the remediation restoration process.

PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE As we all know the best way to protect the building is with a consistent preventative maintenance (PM) program.

A filter PM program is no different. The Filter Shop helps ensure the right filter choice, the right frequency of filter inspections and change outs while reducing overall energy consumption.

The single largest cost of electricity for a building, approximately 36 per cent, is heating, cooling, conditioning and moving air in the building. It’s important the building has the right combination of air filters (stages of filtration) to ensure a reduction in energy costs while still maintaining overall indoor air quality. The cost of a filter (including installation and disposal) is only a fractional cost of your overall energy spend but can have a significant impact in overall energy consumption, making air filters a key component of a building’s conservation program.

MONITORING Once the building has determined the right filters and has a PM program in place, it is important to verify that indeed clean air is being delivered to the occupied space. Filter Shop technicians help the building manager conduct periodic particle counts and indoor air quality monitoring to verify that the filters are working and that clean air is being delivered to the tenant space. The technicians also help prove energy savings from the filter choices.

These steps will help building managers achieve the BOMA BESt certification and will provide environmentally friendly air quality for the tenants. Clean Air is BESt! B.G.E. Service & Supply Ltd. (The Filter Shop) is a family owned and operated Canadian business. Since 1968 it has been headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta where it is also home to our manufacturing and distribution warehouse operations. With 8 locations across Western Canada, The Filter Shop understands the unique climate and dust holding conditions that play a factor when building and plant managers are trying to keep the air clean for their operations. Give us a call today if you would like to know more about Clean Air Everywhere and our quality products and services.

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