Building February March 2016

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66 01

what’s on BUILDING.ca

READ > Hiring the ‘Right’ Commercial Construction Developer and Design/Builder Ryan Regina gives tips for vetting construction managers and design/ builders.

CONTENTS

FEATURES

14 > The Rise of the Intelligent City /

While still nascent, Canadian cities are being re-created – or is it e-created?

– by the digital age. By Rhys Phillips

22

20 > Smarter Thinking for Smart Cities /

Technology offers some incredible opportunities to revolutionize urban infrastructure. By Alan Mitchell

22 > A Beaver in Bulldog Country /

READ > The Making of “SemiSpecialized” Facilities Ron Segura discusses steps in making a facility more sustainable.

Canada House merges old with modern to create its own eye on London. By Rhys Phillips

26 > Maple Leaf Kimchi /

How Dundee is bringing their recreational and mixed-use real estate development experience to South Korea. By Peter Sobchak

28 > CORrect Response /

EXPLORE > LEAF Awards 2015 The U.K.-based program recognizes innovative international architectural design projects.

Does your company need to be COR certified? Overcoming the misconceptions about this national safety requirement. By Adrian Bartha

IN EVERY ISSUE

6 > Editor’s Notes 8 > Developments 10 > Market Watch 12 > Legal 30 > Viewpoint

ABOVE IMAGE:

The Queen Elizabeth Atrium unites Canada House with adjacent 2-4 Cockspur Street.

Photo by Ben Blossom

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Volume 66

06

01 Number

The future is coming!

Editor / Peter Sobchak

These days, when you attend a conference or seminar that brings together professionals and prognosticators to discuss “the future” and how we are going to “build the future,” you hear a lot of similar refrains: that future urban infrastructure will be (or already is) intelligent, connected, and aware, and multiple factors are converging simultaneously (many of which have been in place for a while now), enabling rapid change to city infrastructure and services.

I attend as many of these conferences as I can: they’re exciting and optimistic perspectives that counteract so much of the malaise that permeates our current zeitgeist. When I go to one, I am often reminded of retro-futuristic, Jetson-style films that Disney made in the 1950s: between driverless cars and robot maids, they surprisingly got a lot right. But then I remember that we are living in that future right now, which means they missed a lot too, such as inactivity, obesity, and a growing socio-economic divide.

The Internet of Things tells us that everything is connected, but what is this extreme connectivity actually doing: bridging or expanding that divide? Is it transformative or just another layer? When I attend these Smart City summits I come away with as many questions as answers. Will a smart city improve the quality of life for all inhabitants, offering good education, healthcare, housing, transportation and sanitation, low crime rates and clean air? Can a city’s “smart” infrastructure support a thriving economic base offering employment and entrepreneurial opportunities?

Fundamentally, cities are at their core about organizing people, mainly for shared interest. But what happens when other people start organizing people, which is what we are seeing in new “disruptive technology” platforms that are always cause célèbre at these events, like Uber or Airbnb. As a result of technological shifts, are we seeing a shift in roles? Where governments used to be the ones organizing people, now we are seeing private enterprise organize people…

Think Airbnb: if it has become more profitable to rent out your property on a nightly basis instead of a monthly basis, and as a result you see a housing stock that gets used only three months a year instead of 12 months a year, which means a portion of a city’s housing stock effectively disappears, how does – or should –a city respond with policy in a time when housing affordability is such a thorny issue? Or think UberPool: basically carpooling but effectively “transit,” it starts as a six person minivan, but why not a larger van and then a larger… eventually becoming in effect public transit. But isn’t that the role of government?

Our economy is being re-created by the digital age, and it’s only just begun. Every piece of our world will soon be online, transforming government, business and innovation. Intelligent buildings have been built for decades, but now their real advantages are when they are connected to smart infrastructure, utilizing analytics, sensors and big data. How will the Internet of Things shape how we build our cities, how we operate and govern them and the future of everyday city life? This is what we should constantly be questioning, instead of just being awed by what the newest watch gadget can do.

Art Director / Roy Gaiot Legal Editor / Jeffrey W. Lem Contributors /

Adrian Bartha, Richard Joy, Gabriella Lombardi, Alan Mitchell, Rhys Phillips, Gregory G. Southam

Customer Service / Production Laura Moffatt 416 510 6898 Circulation Manager circulation@building.ca Sales Manager Faria Ahmed 416 510 6808 fahmed@building.ca Senior Publisher / Tom Arkell President, iQ Business Media Inc. Alex Papanou Building magazine is published by iQ Business Media Inc. 80 Valleybrook Dr. Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Telephone: (416) 510-6845 E-mail: info@building.ca Website: www.building.ca SUBSCRIPTION RATE: Canada: 1 year, $30.95; 2 years, $52.95; 3 years, $64.95 (plus H.S.T.) U.S.: 1 year, $38.95 US, Elsewhere: 1 year, $45.95 US. BACK ISSUES: Back copies are available for $8 for delivery in Canada, $10 US for delivery in U.S.A. and $15 US overseas.

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We welcome your feedback. Send your questions and comments to psobchak@building.ca FEBRUARY MARCH 2016

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MENTS

DEVELOP-

News Ontario not losing agricultural land: Fraser Institute TORONTO | Ontario farmland is not being converted to non-agricultural uses at unprecedented or alarming rates, according to a study released by the Fraser Institute. “There’s a wide-spread public perception that Ontario is rapidly losing agricultural land to urbanization. Quite simply, these fears are unjustified,” said Glenn Fox, an agricultural and natural resource economist, professor at the University of Guelph, co-author of An Economic Analysis of Rural Land Use Policies in Ontario and Fraser Institute senior fellow.

Building upon analysis by two Western University professors in the 1980s, the new study finds that the area of cropland in Ontario – land that’s used to plant crops – has been essentially constant since 1951. Moreover, when you add-in the fact that technology has advanced and farmers are becoming more efficient, the land is becoming more productive (i.e. more food is actually being produced with a similar land mass).

“Unfortunately, the false belief that we’re running out of cropland has fueled a demand for land-use regulation that keeps agricultural land from being converted into non-farm uses. Ultimately, this reduces the supply of land for housing and drives up home prices,” Fox said. The study also examines government land-use policy over the past several decades including the controversial Greenbelt Act and Plan. It finds that many of the policies implemented by the Government of Ontario ignored basic economics. For example, most rural land-use policies assert that land that is best suited for agriculture be reserved for agriculture. However the land that is best for agriculture is often also best for residential use, for infrastructure, or for other development. “To have an absolute advantage policy that says that if land is best for agriculture, it has to stay in agriculture ignores the economic trade-offs of comparative advantage,” Fox said. “While the land may be good for agriculture, we’re giving up on other potential benefits from that land – things like wildlife habitat, development or infrastructure projects and affordable housing.”

B.C. construction industry hiring workers back from Alberta VICTORIA | Strong activity in British Columbia’s construction industry is draw-

ing skilled workers back to the province from Alberta and more young people are entering the trades, according to the 2016 Construction Industry Survey released by the B.C. Construction Association (BCCA), in partnership with Progressive Contractors Association and Construction Labour Relations. The survey found that 45 per cent of employers hired a worker last year that came directly from working in Alberta’s oil and gas sector. The number of youth going directly into the construction trades from high school is up 15 per cent since 2014.

While key economic data in the 2016 survey confirm a healthy and expanding sector, storm clouds continue to loom on the horizon for B.C.’s $8.1 billion construction sector. Two-thirds of workers in skilled trades are now over the age of 45 and in their wake there are not enough new people entering the field. These demographic trends and a projected increase in construction activity are forecast to create a 15,000 worker shortfall. “To avoid labour shortages that could stunt economic growth, industry and governments need to continue to work together to skill-up B.C.’s workforce,” said BCCA president Manley McLachlan.

The 2016 survey also provides the most complete picture to date of trade wages and salaries in B.C.’s construction sector. “Skilled workers are the backbone of the industry, and tight supply is making it a worker’s market. Employers need to focus on retaining the talent they have,” said McLachlan.

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Key findings include: 94% of B.C. construction employers say they are planning to hire in 2016. These will be predominantly fulltime, year-round jobs; 50% of employer respondents reported offering higher wages than 2015; 88% of entry-level workers are happy with their wages; 44% of apprentices received a raise in 2015; $56,170 is the average annual salary of a B.C. construction industry worker.

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2016 Ontario budget “signals ongoing commitments to infrastructure”

New Projects New design announced for the Canadian Canoe Museum rejuvenation

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TORONTO | “The 2016 provincial budget shows ongoing commitments to build up Ontario’s infrastructure,” noted Patrick Dillon, business manager of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario. “The $136 billion pledge towards capital investments for roads, utilities, transit, schools and PETERBOROUGH, Ont. | Heneghan peng hospitals will help the skilled construction workforce grow and prosper over Architects of Dublin, Ireland together the next 10 years.” with Toronto-based Kearns Mancini “As these infrastructure pledges support 110,000 jobs each year, we want to Architects have won the international make sure that those investments benefit the workers who construct and maincompetition for the new $45-million tain our infrastructure,” Dillon pointed out, adding that “the best way to do that Canadian Canoe Museum, to be locatis to update and expand Ontario’s Fair Wage policy.” A Fair Wage policy requires ed at the 1904 Peterborough Lift Lock bidders on publicly-procured construction projects to pay their employees preNational Historic Site. vailing wages which are based on the most-identifiable, best-documented wage Curving out from the drumlins berates in each discipline of the construction sector. side the Trent-Severn waterway and The budget document also talks about “strengthening the Ontario College of dominated by a serpentine glass pavilTrades (OCOT), the industry-driven body responsible for promoting and modion graced by a two-acre rooftop garden, the Museum will house the world’s ernizing skilled trades,” reaffirming Premier Kathleen Wynne’s address to the largest collection of canoes and kay58th Annual Building Trades Convention in which she said that “a strong, susaks. The heneghan peng/ Kearns Mantainable College has always been our goal and that means making changes in cini plan is imbued with sustainability partnership with the College itself.”

“The Ontario Building Trades are supfeatures such as geothermal heating/cooling and reduced energy costs due to portive of changes that in the Premier’s only the east and south glass walls exposed to the elements. The 80,000-sq.-ft own words will strengthen OCOT’s mansingle floor design is an organically-shaped volume banded on its top edge with local hardwood embedded within the site’s drumlins, allowing the museum’s date. We are hopeful that the College light-sensitive collections of historic birch bark canoes that date back to the will continue to be an arms-length in1780s and aboriginal artefacts to enjoy energy-passive, naturally dark spaces. stitution governed by and for tradesThe museum’s two-acre green roof will provide the community with the possipeople,” said Dillon. “Our Council will bility of creating edible gardens, native flower pollinators and aboriginal three work with the College, with government sister plantings while facilitating efficient management of storm water and and with construction employers to fantastic views to the Lift Lock. make sure that infrastructure investThe Irish-Canadian design team has experience in the design of high-proments achieve their desired effect of file museums and visitor centres: heneghan peng’s competition-winning Grand building Ontario up.”

Egyptian Museum is currently being constructed in Giza, Egypt; and Kearns Mancini’s work includes the Corten steel and glass Fort York Visitor Centre. b Canoe Museum

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MARKE T Spotlight: Construction

Growth in global construction industry gaining momentum in 2016

the authorities will attempt to support the economy with public investment and infrastructure programs. Construction output in Australia will pick up again in 2016, having suffered a sharp decline in recent years in the face of difficulties in the energy and mining sectors.

Construction in the U.S. soared to an estimated 6.4 per cent in 2015, bolstered by the rapid expansion in the residential market as well as spending on new projects in energy and power. Although still expanding, there will be a slowdown in growth in 2016 to more sustainable rates, but data on new construction starts will remain impressive, supported by the stronger state of the U.S. economy.

The size of the construction industry in Western Europe is still some 14 per cent smaller than it was before the financial crisis, but it is recovering and will post growth of 2 per cent in 2016. Construction works in the U.K. will expand by around 3 per cent, with government support for infrastructure and housing projects continuing. Having suffered contractions in output in 2015, the construction industries in France and Germany will return to positive growth in 2016, while in Spain there will be a continued recovery.

Eastern Europe suffered two consecutive years of decline in 2014 and 2015, with Russia’s demise having an impact on other markets in the region. The construction industry in Russia will contract further in 2016 in real terms, with the weak economy and low oil prices continuing to curtail investment The pace of growth in the global construction industry stagrowth. Nevertheless, other major markets, such as Poland bilized in 2015, standing at 2.7 per cent in real terms, unand the Czech Republic, will expand, contributing to growth changed from that recorded in 2014. There will be a slight of 1.6 per cent for the region as a whole in 2016. acceleration in output growth in 2016, with the pace of Latin America will remain the laggard in 2016, with its conincrease edging up to 2.8 per cent, supported in part by an struction industry expanding by just 0.8 per cent. Construcimprovement in global economic growth. These are the findtion output in the region fell by 2.5 per cent in 2015, with Braings in the latest market analysis from Timetric’s Construczil’s construction industry estimated to have shrunk by 8.5 tion Intelligence Center (CIC). per cent. Although works related to the 2016 Olympic Games The Middle East and Africa (MEA) region will post the fastin Rio de Janeiro will provide support, investment plans in est growth in 2016, at 5.9 per cent. However, this is a slight general continue to be undermined by the fall-out from the deceleration compared with the rapid growth of 6 per cent Petrobras scandal. and above in recent years. Moreover, it reflects the impact of Global construction equipment market the decline in global oil prices, which has a negative effect on to improve in 2016 public investment plans and also spending on construction Global sales of construction equipment are forecast to grow projects in the region’s energy sector.

3.9 per cent in unit terms in 2016, to 760,508 machines, acHaving suffered three consecutive years of slowing growth, cording to U.K.-based specialist economic forecasting and the Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for around 45 per market research consultant, Off-Highway Research. cent of the global construction industry, will expand by 4 per The expected improvement follows a weak performance cent in 2016. The slowdown in the region’s growth in the past in 2015, when global unit sales fell more than 10 per cent few years has been driven primarily by the weakness in China from the total of nearly 818,000 machines sold in 2014. In whose construction industry is estimated to have dropped 2016, growth is expected in the European, North American to 5.2 per cent in 2015, down from 6.8 per cent in 2014 and and Indian equipment markets. Off-Highway Research also 9.5 per cent in 2013. forecasts stabilization in China, where sales of construcAccording to Timetric, the industry in Asia-Pacific is not tion equipment have fallen from a peak of 435,070 units in expected to continue to decelerate, in part because in China

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Source: Off-Highway Research

Global unit sales of construction equipment by region (2010-2019) Europe

North America

Japan

China

India

Rest of World

Total

2010

100,993

90,600

37,060

401,480

42,811

99,175

772,119

2011

123,706

124,215

47,085

435,070

54,053

240,810

1,024,939

2012

118,899

146,830

64,860

290,205

50,795

247,745

919,334

2013

111,856

158,096

90,830

273,720

42,708

192,292

869,502

2014

124,783

171,310

84,225

209,757

36,808

191,034

817,917

2015

125,705

177,935

79,998

131,345

38,554

177,973

731,510

2016

130,503

186,025

73,825

137,820

46,414

185,921

760,508

2017

132,668

175,690

71,620

147,430

54,175

189,365

770,948

2018

131,247

160,610

71,650

156,985

59,280

190,497

770,269

2019

133,353

167,900

74,305

169,375

63,060

200,948

808,941

forcast

2011 to a projected 131,345 machines in 2015 — a decline of 70 per cent in the space of four years.

“There can be no doubt that 2015 was a tough year for the global equipment industry, due to slowing world economic growth and weak commodity prices,” said Off-Highway Research managing director David Phillips. “Unit sales fell to their lowest since the crisis years and the drop in the Chinese market was particularly brutal. However, there were improvements in several developed countries which helped offset some of these losses.”

The gradual improvement in Europe which began in 2014 is expected to continue this year, with unit sales rising from a provisional 125,705 units in 2015 to 130,503 machines.

Similarly, the buoyant North American market should rise a further 4 per cent to 186,025 machines. Continued steady improvements are expected in the Indian construction equip-

ment market, with unit sales expected to rise to 46,414 machines, compared to 38,554 in 2015. Meanwhile in China, the market is expected to show an uptick of around 4 per cent, with sales stabilising at 137,820 units.

In Japan, construction equipment sales are expected to fall from 79,998 units in 2015 to 73,825 machines in 2016.

The key drivers of this are a tailing-off of reconstruction work following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the winding down of the government’s economic stimulus programs.

“Off-Highway Research’s forecast is for the start of a gradual return to health in the global construction equipment market in 2016. However, as has been the case since the crisis years of 2008 and 2009, business confidence remains fragile, and the uncertain geopolitical outlook around the world could have a negative impact on the sector,” said Phillips. b building.ca

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LEGAL Second Look Ontario Court of Appeal rules on Assignment of Lease by Tenant

By Gregory G. Southam and Gabriella Lombardi

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently released its decision in Hudson’s Bay Company v. OMERS Realty Corporation, a case that involved the assignment and sublease of the tenant’s interest in anchor tenant leases at Yorkdale, Square One and Scarborough Town Centre shopping centres. The assignment and sublease were proposed to be made in the context of a joint venture, split 90 per cent and 10 per cent, between Hudson’s Bay Company and RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, and structured as a limited partnership (First LP). The tenant’s interest in the leases was to be held by a subsidiary limited partnership (Second LP), the general partner of which is HBC. The tenant’s interest in the leases was to be assigned to HBC in its capacity as general partner of the Second LP and then subleased to HBC. Under the terms of the applicable leases in question, an assignment and a sublease to an affiliate are permitted without landlord consent. HBC requested the landlord’s consent without conceding that it was required by the leases. After the landlord denied the request for consent, HBC applied for a declaration that consent was not required or was being unreasonably withheld. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal for Ontario decided in favour of HBC that no consent was required because the assignments and subleases were to an affiliate.

A store onreasoning West The of the application judge, which was adopted by the Court of Street in Goderich, Appeal, is based on the unique legal nature of the limited partnership structure Ont.’s historic downtown thethe general partner. In summary, the lower court found the foland the before role of tornado hit (above), lowing: (1) any property in which a limited partnership has an interest can only the damage (right), be by 2013 the general partner; (2) the general partner’s interest in the property and held in August (below) after the partnership town’s of a limited is not limited to legal title to the property. The general rebuilding efforts. partner has control over the property and is solely responsible for the operations of the limited partnership; and (3) vis-à-vis the other contracting party, the general partner is solely liable for the payment and performance of all obligations under the contract.

In such context, the court held that the assignee of the leases was the general partner of the Second LP, and the existence of other interests in the joint venture arrangement, including the interests of the limited partners of the First LP, were not relevant. The landlord unsuccessfully put forward the argument that the assignment of the leases to HBC in its capacity as general partner of the Second LP would result in the Second LP having beneficial and effective ownership of the leases and RioCan having decision-making power over certain major matters under the leases.

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Narrowing of Ontario Land Transfer Tax Exemption for Partnership Interest Acquisitions Since 1989, purchases of beneficial interests in Ontario real estate have been generally subject to Ontario land transfer tax (LTT). The Ontario Ministry of Finance (Ministry) treats partnerships as “look through” entities for these purposes, so that purchases of partnership interests are treated as indirect purchases (subject to LTT) of the partnership’s Ontario real estate.

A regulation has exempted transfers of partnership interests from this tax where the acquirer’s partnership profit entitlement does not increase by more than 5 per cent in a year.

A unit trust (such as a REIT ) also has been considered a “look through” for LTT purposes. On this basis REITs have treated an acquisition of partnership interests by the REIT as an indirect acquisition by the unitholders, and concluded that each unitholder who each has less than 5 per cent of the REIT’s units has acquired a less-than-5 per cent interest in the partnership and qualified for the 5 per cent exemption. Thus, if there are no large unit-

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holders, acquisitions of Ontario partnerships by REIT s have been treated as exempt from LTT on the basis that the REIT itself is not a purchaser because it is a “look through” entity, and the unitholders are exempt because they each are (indirectly) acquiring less than a 5 per cent partnership interest.

A similar analysis has been applied to partnerships with partners individually holding small (e.g., under 5 per cent) interests in the partnership when they acquired partnerships holding Ontario real estate.

On February 18, 2016, Ontario released an amending regulation that provides that the 5 per cent exemption does not apply when the acquirer of an interest in a partnership is a trust or another partnership. This amendment is stated to be “clarifying”, which seems difficult to accept. On this basis, though, it is retroactive to July 19, 1989. The Ministry has indicated that it will respect rulings that it had previously issued for specific transactions (so that LTT would not be retroactively imposed on those transactions).

These amendments do not affect an LTT exemption for the transfer or issuance of units of a mutual fund trust having interests in Ontario real estate.

The purported retroactive effect of this amendment is controversial. Arguments doubtless will be made that:

> The purported imposition of retroac-

Greg Southam is a partner in the Commercial Real Estate, Corporate/Commercial, Capital Markets and Infrastructure practices, and Gabriella Lombardi is a partner in the Commercial Real Estate and Corporate/ Commercial practices at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. www. dwpv.com

tive LTT on already completed transactions is not something that is legislatively authorized to be done by a mere regulation, so that this retroactivity is invalid. > The Ministry may be statute-barred from assessing or collecting LTT on transactions that occurred more than (approximately) four years ago. > The Ministry has no right even after the amendment to impose retroactive LTT on REITs (or other trusts) themselves or on partnerships, and can instead only tax individual unitholders/partners (which in many instances would not be practical).

It is not clear whether the Ministry will attempt to use this purported retroactivity mostly as a lever in existing LTT disputes or in its audits of recent transactions, or whether it will try to open up transactions which have long since been completed. b

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Tap into a global network of leading professionals Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers to Headline

The Summit of the Americas April 3-5 2016, Washington, D.C.

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M

By Rhys Phillips

Many Canadians increasingly regard economic forecasts with a jaundiced eye, whether the predictions emanate from academics, bank head economists or the Governor of the Bank of Canada. One reason is the profession’s tendency to distil the future by looking to the past, a deadly approach given the epochal structural change in the world’s economies.

The same holds true for urban planning. Indeed, how we will build and operate our cities is closely intertwined with this remarkable economic transformation. Our exponentially expanding digital/creative economy, albeit disturbingly shackled by increasing income inequality, requires a re-think of not just our economic model, but also a quantum shift in how cities are designed and built. Recently, for example, Building looked at the close relationship between urban form and transportation design in terms of the current and future success for the Toronto/Waterloo creative corridor (February-March, 2015). Embedded, quite literally, in the re-construction of our built urban form must be the sophisticated supports that will allow truly smart cities to emerge.

WHAT IS THE SMART CITY?

Is “Smart City” just another buzz term or does it represent a real urban transformation in the face of rapid and systemic economic change? Some definitions seem very broad, for example Businessdirectory.com defines it as “a developed urban area that creates sustainable economic development and high quality of life by excelling in multiple key areas; economy, mobility, environment, people, living, and government.

Excelling in these key areas can be done so through strong human capital, social capital, and/or ICT infrastructure.”

Such a broad definition couples aspirational values with functional instruments and links together several discrete

W hile still nascent, Canadian cities are being re-created — or is it e-created?

— by the digital age. How will the internet shape how we build our cities, how we operate and govern them and the future of everyday city life?

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but entwined concepts. These include the transformative creative or knowledge economy, smart growth city planning and the digitally intelligent city.

Stuart Cowan is Chief Scientist for the Redwood, Wash.based Smart Cities Council, an industry group composed of many of the major private sector technology companies working with cities. In a fulsome interview, he first focuses his own definition on digital technology. “The ‘smart’ of the Smart City is the digital side, the ‘smart’ is around data, it is around sensing the environment in new ways; it is around providing services that are digitally enabled; it is around apps; it is around citizen engagement [using digital technology]….it’s data, it’s software, it’s hardware, it’s sensors.” Similarly, says Cisco Canada’s senior advisor Ron Gordon, “When we look at Smart Cities, we see it as using ICT (information communication technology) to deliver services more effectively and more uniformly throughout the city.” And i-Canada co-founder Barry Gander adds an interesting nuance, suggesting that we are reaching Smart City 2.0, or the intelligent city that may not only permit evidence-based applications but include the use of artificial intelligence where logarithms take appropriate action without human intervention.

CURRENT RETURNS FROM SMART CITY TECHNOLOGY

The Smart Cities Council identifies a series of drivers, both positive and negative, propelling municipalities along the Smart City track. Pressures include growing urbanization; intensified stresses on the urban environment; inadequate and aging infrastructure; growing economic competition; increased citizenry expectations and pressing environmental challenges. On the supportive side, rapidly improving technological capabilities along with declining technology costs building.ca

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he world will add 50 billion internet connected devices by 2020 that will, in turn, offer $19 trillion in economic opportunities globally, of which the public sector can claim $4.6 trillion.

> Internet of Things in Logistics DHL Trend /Research | Cisco Consulting Services, 2015

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and the opportunities arising from the exponentially growing Internet of Things (IoT) are offering cities the chance to respond positively.

But first, says Cowan, it is important to understand that no city in the world is yet a fully realized Smart City. While there is an increasing number moving towards more integrative applications, “it will be a journey of at least 10 to 20 years” before the truly “profound” Smart City emerges. Even then, the pace of social change and decreasing technological constraints means that it will always be a process of “becoming” rather than “arriving.” This is not to say, however, that no cities are aggressively moving toward using cutting edge digital technologies to address an increasingly wide range of urban issues employing integrated, open platforms capable of handling big data to solve problems and generally improve quality of life.

And a great deal more are employing specific applications, albeit well-short of being driven by systematic strategic plans.

While Gander says that “there are no areas not being affected by Smart City applications,” Cowan singles out the smart technologies currently applied most often, such as smart water systems, smart energy systems and smart transportation systems. Gordon adds LED street lighting as a “low hanging fruit,” but laments that when adding such lighting, cities often ignore the opportunity to integrate or “piggyback” other potential smart initiatives such as WiFi and video capabilities that can advance other smart initiatives such as public connectivity, traffic monitoring and public security. Systems employing sensors to detect water leakages are popular, while Calgary has extended sensors into its watershed areas to monitor the potential for another devastating flood.

A CAVEAT: SMART GROWTH AND/OR SMART CITIES

But before looking at the technical challenges of and steps required in becoming a Smart City, it is important to return to the relationship between Smart Cities and Smart Growth Cities. Ray Tomalty, who teaches in the Masters of Community Planning program at the University of Vancouver Island and consults with cities on Smart Growth, raises what he calls a yellow flag of caution about conferences dominated by information technology companies promising “to solve all the problems in cities.” In fact, Smart City technologies can end up simply tweaking the problems of urban sprawl, poor land use, inefficient transit, traffic gridlock and weak sustainability. “It is just not about attaching new technology to an inefficient environment, but about figuring out how to reshape the urban environment using the new information technology,” he says. “It is not just about how information technology affects the environment but how the environment affects the information technology.”

This said, Tomalty believes much of what the Smart City offers can be central to Smart Growth. This starts with the enormous amount of data generated that supports evi-

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dence-based research on how the city works and what the outcomes are. He cites how Montréal is using data generated by cyclists’ smartphones to rationalize its bike path system development and how road sensors can help monitor and influence traffic patterns to reduce demand for wider roads. In turn, the latter leads to more compact urban environments.

With 40 per cent of city land dedicated to roads and parking, apps are already in use in many cities that signal where parking is available, reducing car-dedicated land requirements.

Real time infrastructure monitoring extends its longevity, reduces costs and frees up resources for areas like transit.

In terms of getting around the city, information technology is already having a radical impact including improving the efficiency of car sharing programs and providing real time information to transit users and providers. Once a staple of science fiction, the driverless car is close to a reality and which Tomalty believes will greatly enhance car sharing. First, however, he sees autonomous vehicle technology applied to bus transit, reducing costs by as much as 75 per cent, thereby facilitating significant expansion.

Despite Tomalty’s reservation about industry marketing, interviews with industry representatives suggest the different-yet-crucial links between Smart Growth and Smart Cities is very much part of their universe. “To be a Smart City means you’re using the digital technologies in the service of city-led initiatives around livability, workability and sustainability,” says Cowan echoing the Council’s official definition. So, he continues, you have to start with urban planning and the citizens’ and government’s vision for the city.

“We keep emphasizing to our clients and our partner companies [that] the Smart City is still about people experiencing a very high quality of life,” including inclusivity, all within the constraints of climate change, water scarcity and air pollution. Similarly, the Council’s Guide warns against portraying Smart Cities as only about technical digital streamlining while forgetting its people focus. In fact, an entire chapter is dedicated to how all stakeholders can be brought together to develop an inclusive vision.

Perhaps too often (but certainly not always) some of this gets lost in how cities themselves make decisions. Gordon reports that cities frequently respond positively only when suggested technologies fit into one or more of four “buckets.”

Initiatives must: 1. reduce expenses and extend budgets; 2. create new revenue models; 3. engage citizens by delivering information and better services; or 4. foster start-ups or innovation. While the last suggests awareness of promoting the creative economy, one might have hoped to see as part of these bottom line drivers some that are more tangibly related to livable and sustainable urban form. Perhaps not surprisingly, Tomalty finds a huge disconnect between the smart growth/smart city expertise that urban planning students take with them when they graduate and the real work world of city government and developers. “I cannot think of another

profession where there is such a gap between what students are taught and what they have to face when they take up their profession,” he laments.

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Visit building.ca for more details on the technological requirements of the Smart City BREAKING THE CURSE OF SILOS AND REREALIZING THE PROMISE OF OPEN PLATFORMS

A major problem of the prevalent piecemeal approach to focusing on single applications is the dreaded “silo effect.”

Silos emerge when a particular departmental functionality, say energy, implements a specific smart technology such as smart meters in isolation from other services and functions. Two problems emerge: first, the lack of a common platform may mean that each function incurs the extra cost of developing or purchasing its own, often proprietary system. Second, as a result of this lack of interoperability, there is limited ability for various functions to work in tandem.

When smart electrical and water meters, traffic road sensors, public security videos and so on operate on a common platform, not only are there financial savings, but it is much easier to incrementally add new services as a city implements its Smart City strategy. The focus must change from “there is an app for that” to there is a “system in which the app fits.” The Council, Gander, Cowan and Gordon all refer to this as evolving a system of systems. Thus, says Gander, “The Smart Traffic information interacts with data from the Smart Energy grid to optimize energy use by electric vehicles; they both interact with Smart Buildings to locate available parking locations, while the Smart Utilities function prioritizes the need to replace burnt-out street lights in areas being affected by heaviest traffic volume.”

But not only must there be a common system, it must be open to accommodate multiple types of devices and many different manufacturers, says Cowan. Think the Android model. It is a position overwhelmingly advocated by building.ca

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It is not just about how information technology affects the environment but how the environment affects the information technology.’’

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> Ray Tomalty, principal, Smart Cities Research Services

the industry and the Council because while companies compete vigorously, they also cooperate closely, focusing often on specific competencies and strengths. “There are cities in the world that are beginning to deploy quite a few very sophisticated smart technologies across almost every aspect of their operations, but they are still working to create that shared platform,” says Cowan. Barcelona is one of the most aggressive while Stockholm is using a triple-helix approach that brings government, business and post-secondary institutions together to realize the Smart City.

In February of this year, Europe’s Barcelona-driven City Protocol Foundation released its proposed agreement, titled “City Anatomy: A Framework to support City Governance, Evaluation and Transformation Europe” to create a common, open “system of systems” in cities. Samsung recently unveiled a SmartThings Hub that connects all IoT devices that don’t rely on an isolated proprietary system. Open standards, reports Gordon, also fosters a creative city’s economy.

“When you have these open standards, you also open up to all these smart minds, these smart millennials, and what they can develop.”

OPEN DATA

Closely tied to open protocols is the imperative for open data, albeit always tempered by privacy and security requirements, to support what Gander terms the “collaboration infrastructure.”

With exponentially exploding numbers of instruments and sensors generating “big data,” with the growth of cloud-based storage systems to economically handle this deluge and with increasingly sophisticated analytic capabilities, the more open the access to this data the more rapid will be intelligent applications. In the May, 2014 issue of Canadian Business, Ivor Tossell points that IoT users “have effectively been turned into perFEBRUARY MARCH 2016

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son-sized Internet-enabled sensors support,” and Montréal’s cyclist initiative suggests how this can be harnessed.

As Tomalty noted, the research potential that supports evidence-based planning is huge. But there are many existing examples of open data applications. In Chicago, for example, open data from city sensors giving real time readings of pollution levels led to an app that permits you to plan your daily walk/run on a route with the best air. In Charlotte, N.C., publicly displayed digital readings of energy use from 60 buildings resulted in significant energy savings.

CONNECTIVITY AND BROADBAND

Broadband, supported by a multi-layered communication network, is the new fourth utility. In 2014, Toronto beat out Stratford, Ont. and five other international cities to be named winner of Intelligent Community of the Year by the annual Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). A major reason for the accolade came from the waterfront’s 12,000 new residences with 100Mbps broadband and 10Gbps networking to businesses with the world’s highest transmission rates. “Toronto is preparing the physical, human and digital infrastructure for continued success,” said the ICF. Still, neither Toronto nor any other Canadian city can boast blanket WiFi, although Vancouver has its 2013 Strategy for developing a city wide wireless network. Gordon, however, cautions that WiFi is but one communication protocol of many that will support the Smart City. Cellular, Bluetooth, fibre, legacy electrical lines and LoRa (a low power, low range with small data bits protocol used in agriculture but the backbone of Hamburg’s sophisticated port traffic control system) are just some.

When asked, all those interviewed strongly support making Smart City capacities key components of the proposed Federal government’s infrastructure stimulus program.

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issues. The first is the challenge of being innovative where the lack of precedents adds a dreaded state of unfamiliarity for city investors. This is only compounded when clear and open standards, terminology, precedents, and so forth are lacking or poorly understood.

“How do we write an RFP for that, how do we buy what we need, how do we have fair competition from world class vendors…that permit multiple vendors or a consortium of vendors with highly creative solutions that fit into the procurement system?” says Cowan, mimicking municipal decision makers.

But procurement also covers the demand placed on city budgets now stretched to the breaking point by decades of bad urban planning and faced with failing legacy infrastructure.

Fortunately, smart technologies can significantly extend the life of existing infrastructure, permit its evidence-based replacement and reduce requirements for expansion. For the same reasons, politicians at all levels must see expenditures in terms of return on investment where costs are recouped, both through reduced future demands and through the enhanced growth of the knowledge economy. Again, this argues for including Smart City investments in the imminent stimulus program.

Gander even argues it should concentrate on providing this infrastructure and adds that India has already set aside over $7 billion to make 20 cities smart with another 80 waiting in the wings for funding approval. This also means that new or restructured infrastructure must include what Cowan and Gordon call “smart layering” which includes both ensuring new smart investments are structured for multi-functional delivery, like the LED lighting example, as well as embedding such things as fibre optic conduits when constructing LRT or new storm sewer infrastructure.

HOW TO BECOME A SMART CITY

Becoming a fully Smart City is a complex, multi-layered and expensive process that includes a socio-cultural shift for citizens, their politicians and businesses. Gander goes so far as to say “creating a Smart City is only 10 per cent technological; it is 90 per cent social” that starts with an initial assessment of a city’s status in terms of “information technology, community orientation, governance structures, business innovation, human capital and community knowledge infrastructure.”

Tomalty and the Council argue for intensifying the fundamental shift in how we plan our urban environments. First, all agree, is the need for a strong champion within city government. “The most important step is the first step: establishing the governance for the project,” states Gander. “Which leaders are going to be the champions; who is going to drive it forward?” Whom this may be will depend on the governance model in place. In a strong mayor system, ideally it will be the mayor, but it may be a councillor assigned the appropriate functional responsibility (such as in Portland, Ore.) or the Chief Information Officer supported by council.

Second — this remains one of the most troubling lack with most Smart City initiatives — is the requirement for an integrated Strategic Plan. Those interviewed varied in their assessment of where Canadian cities are positioned in Smart City development. Gander maintains Canada is the world leader in the creation of “Intelligent Communities” citing Calgary, Ottawa, Fredericton, Halifax, Montréal, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Waterloo, Ont. Gordon, however, considers Europe, driven by its high cost of energy and older buildings and infrastructure, plus new Asian greenfield cities as out in front.

He could have added that they also have a more engrained affinity for public intervention and leadership. Over the last few months, however, he has found Canadian officials moving away from asking what is possible to what are the next steps.

“Now the will is there; now the need is to plan,” he says, citing Montréal as a city that has moved only over the last six months into full swing. He adds Toronto with its waterfront ICF award and Mississauga, Ont. with its city network now in place. Still, he adds, “no city has a full strategic plan in place.”

The third requirement, which Cowan also sees currently as the major hurdle, is procurement. The term covers two

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THE FUTURE IS NOT THE PAST

The successful city, even in the near future, will be based on physical, human capital and communication “infrastructure” very different from the past, but all defined by “smart” and directed Visit building.ca to read full conversations with: Barry Gander; Ray Tomalty; Ron Gordon; Stuart Cowan

at livability, workability and sustainability. It will only be built with strong leadership prepared to champion the Smart City, but it will only succeed with intensive and meaningful engagement between individual citizens as well as business, educational institutions and civil society groups. b building.ca

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Technology offers some incredible opportunities to revolutionize urban infrastructure. However, a smart city will only be considered successful if it enriches the lives of all its citizens.

By Alan Mitchell

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F

ew outside of India may have noticed when the state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, recently pledged to install low-energy LED lighting along all its streets.

These bulbs can cut electricity costs by as much as 80 per cent as well as drastically reducing CO2 emissions (a spin-off of reducing energy consumption).

Even fewer may have considered such a move to be an example of a ‘smart city’ investment, a term more often associated with shiny new, sustainable, high building.ca

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tech developments such as pneumatic waste collection or driverless vehicles.

Yet the Maharashtra initiative is a perfect example of smart thinking emerging in response to concerns over greenhouse gases, finite energy sources, and rapid urbanization that is pushing existing infrastructure to its breaking point. United Nations forecasts suggest that space will have to be found for a staggering 2.5 billion extra city dwellers by the middle of the century.

Smart cities promise a bright future where all citizens can lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. According to industry coalition group the Smart Cities Council, a smart city is one that “uses information and communications technology to enhance its livability, workability and sustainability.”

SETTING THE PACE

Smart thinking often involves collect­ ing and ‘crunching’ data to inform key decisions. Smart meters measure electricity, gas and water usage, while traffic sensors report on road conditions and congestion. For a modest outlay, consumers can buy special gauges that tell them exactly how much energy is being consumed by different household appliances. In Rio de Janeiro, advanced weather monitoring data is used to predict precisely where flooding may occur following a storm, in order to alert resi­ dents and emergency services.

We may be unaware of some of the smart developments taking place under our streets. Intelligent waste water systems can sense higher levels of floodwater, and switch off certain channels automatically, preventing sewage contaminating lakes and rivers (South Bend, Indiana).

The latest pneumatic waste systems carry every type of household and industrial waste through underground pipes to central collection points. In Qatar’s Lusail City, one of the new smart cities currently under construction, 18 kilometers of pipes will be able to collect 68 tonnes of waste daily, without the need for any trucks. Sweden leads

the world in efficient refuse disposal, sending just 0.7 per cent of household waste to landfill, compared with 34 per cent in Europe as a whole.

Transport is another big beneficiary of smart technology. London’s contactless payments facility for buses, trains and underground metro enables travelers to traverse the city smoothly without queuing for tickets, with an easy top-up facility. In many countries, users of public transit can find out when the next train or bus is due, via signs at stations or even on their smartphone apps. Parking lots now tell drivers where the vacant spaces are, while advanced traffic control systems will soon be able to sense congested sections of road, and change the timing of signals, to speed up the flow of vehicles in busy directions.

Smart cities can’t thrive without ubiquitous connectivity, in the form of comprehensive, high-speed, fixed and wireless broadband accessible to all businesses, institutions and people across every type of device. Any new infrastructure investment, whether buildings, utilities or transport, must consider cutting edge use of technology, to reduce energy usage and increase safety, productivity and convenience.

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IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT TECHNOLOGY

Although a key enabler, technology alone will not make a city smart. A holistic, inclusive perspective is essential, to ensure that new ideas are centrally planned and benefit all residents and workers. It’s no use having a sophisticated waste water system if large parts of the population live in slums with no access to basic services. And even the cleverest road traffic solutions won’t work without a significant investment in mass transit and cycle lanes. Getting the vision right for a smart city is a fundamental building block.

It’s no use having a sophisticated waste water system if large parts of the population live in slums with no access to utilities.

Stricter laws on energy efficiency, pollution and recycling may get results, but should be applied with prudence, to avoid stifling innovation and putting too much of a financial burden on the businesses that employ the city’s people.

IT security is a further worry, with large amounts of personal data entering into municipal and private databases, making them more vulnerable to cyber-attack.

Cities need to strike a balance between control (regulation) and innovation where both can co-exist.

Given the complexity and the long timescales, strong, visionary leadership is required to push forward ideas and initiatives that won’t always be universally popular. Any smart city blueprint should, therefore, allow for inevitable changes in administration. Finally, those reAlan Mitchell is the sponsible for planning must never forget that they are ulExecutive Director of timately accountable to the citizens, whose needs and deKPMG’s Cities Global sires should shape policy and benefit in improved quality of Center of Excellence. The life considerations in the long-term. preceding article Technology is an important ingredient to a smart city, appeared in the October but equal contributions of leadership, vision and balance 2015 edition of Foresight: between control and innovation will prove to be the right reA Global Infrastructure cipe for success. b Perspective. building.ca

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A Beaver in Bulldog Country AUGUST SEPTEMBER FEBRUARY MARCH 2016 2013

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Canada House merges old with modern to create its own eye on London

By Rhys Phillips

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Canada House defines the western flank of London’s iconic Trafalgar Square, one of the western world’s most prestigious addresstwo conjoined buildings, both designed es. In the early 1990s, however, expensive rein 1823-27 by British National Gallery pair needs led a deficit-plagued Canadian architect Sir Robert Smirke. Together, government to consider selling the Grade they present a uniform, almost classicII heritage building and consolidate all the High Commisally balanced façade to the Square with sion’s functions at its Grosvenor Square location. Cooler two Ionic porticos at either end providheads prevailed, thankfully, and after upgrades were undering entrances to the originally separate taken Canada House re-opened in 1998. Further refurbishbuildings. The south-end Union Club ments commenced 12 years later when the stately, neo-claswas purchased for the Canadian High sical pile was transformed as the temporary hub for Canada’s Commission in 1923 with the north-fa2012 Olympic contingent. Shortly afcing Royal College of Physicians acquired and connected in ter the last athlete departed, Canada 1963. Unfortunately, High Commissioner Gordon Campbell LEFT: Trafalgar Square’s purchased the adjacent Sun Life Asadmits candidly that renovations to the College at the time historic structures surance Building (1929) at 2-4 Cockwere less than sympathetic. include (left to right): spur Street, and work consolidating Edmonton-based Stantec and its Canada House, dispersed functions into an expanded Canada House loca- U.K. architectural practice was selected Nelson’s Column and tion began. Funded by the subsequent lucrative £306-mil- by the Canadian Government to underThe National Gallery.

BELOW: Canada House lion sale of Grosvenor Square, the enlarged High Commission take the consolidation, and contracted has been Canada’s reopen in 2015 as an excellent example of restoration, adap- Arup to act as the project’s mechanical, diplomatic home tation, sustainability, creative office design and, most notably, electrical, structural/fire engineers as in the United Kingdom a showcase for Canadian products, art and the design crafts. well as handling transportation, sussince 1925.

Prior to Sun Life’s acquisition, Canada House comprised tainability, IT/communication and security services. “We had two very different buildings with different histories and different pedigrees that had to be combined and modernized where necessary into one efficient working space,” says Peter Bull, Arup’s Global Building Services Engineering Leader. “The end product had to be capable of meeting energy, comfort and security standards for the very specific needs of an embassy.”

The first challenge to intervening in the protected Grade II-listed buildings was to establish each structure’s unique but largely unknown “input data,” including earlier updates.

The second challenge was to merge the U.K. code with Canadian codes for service performance, security and fire protection. This required a continual process of comparing and agreeing on standards. “Strictly speaking,” says Bull, “the Embassy can apply Canadian standards but in the end if there is a fire, for example, the response is going to be by U.K. fire services.”

As a third challenge, this major adaptation had to be accomplished in a tight time frame of two years on a very visible site. To add yet another complication, the upper two stories of the Sun Life Building were leased by the secretive U.K. Serious Fraud Squad office, necessitating infrastructure work carefully phased to minimize disruption to that organization. The survey revealed the original conjoined Canada House buildings required only minor

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28 24 LEFT:

A newly created

outdoor terrace on the roof includes both a green roof and a green wall, and arguably one of the best views of Central London. BELOW: A light fixture cascading down the original staircase was designed

by Omer Arbel of Bocci, the Vancouver-based contemporary lighting design company. RIGHT: The Queen Elizabeth Atrium unites Canada House with adjacent 2-4 Cockspur Street.

structural upgrades. However the Cockspur side, refurbished in the 1980s, demanded significant interventions.

Electrical transformers/panels and the complete HVAC system (new high efficiency boilers and air conditioning/ventilation units with heat recovery) were replaced. Most of the lighting throughout was upgraded to LED for lower energy use. Building links, adjusted for different floor levels, were punched through the walls, careful not to compromise structural integrity.

Most conspicuous, the Arup and Stantec team stripped out the now re-named Queen Elizabeth Atrium and installed a striking signature steel and Canadian hemlock staircase that soars through the towering space topped by a large skylight. “This intervention illustrates key design principles including the infusion of natural light, the celebration of Canadian materials and the introduction of an interactive environment,” says Campbell. Indeed, natural light is key to the renovations’ success with seven original skylights uncovered and renovated along with the introduction of several new ones. Thus, the various open areas accommodating modern workstations are washed with sunlight.

Over at the College wing, parts of its roof structure were strengthened to support a new stylish outdoor terrace, a planted roof with a “Bee Hotel” and a living wall. Inside, its delightful double-height library topped by a skylight, lost in the 1960s interventions, was reextremely slender profile remains a marvel of early 19th created, providing cheerful but elegant century engineering, remains the highlight. Exterior areas office/library space. Throughout both showing signs of “Regent Street Disease,” the separating of wings, historic details were touched the original Portland stone cladding, were fixed. Skylights, up, restored or uncovered (such as oriwindows, copulas and domes reappeared or were refurginal marble floors) and a brighter, bished, again emphasizing Campbell’s passion for natural light-reflecting colour scheme introlight and views to the Square. duced. The original staircase, whose FEBRUARY MARCH 2016

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Yet another compelling story is Stantec’s remarkable interior design that includes 281 pieces of Canadiansourced art including craft furniture, lighting, accessories and rugs that fill the meeting and function rooms, each representing a province or territory as well as key Prime Ministers and Canada’s three oceans. Works range from 29 competition-winning carpets to the light fixture cascading down the original staircase designed by Vancouver’s Omer Arbel of Bocci.

The real success of the Canada House intervention is less derived from introducing new eye-popping wow factors, notwithstanding the new Queen Elizabeth Atrium staircase. It is first its sense of organic flow and historical integrity but, second, a richly textured layer of modern design showcasing a nation’s talents and deep creative capabilities. b

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Maple Leaf Kimchi

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A

By Peter Sobchak

As any prospector will tell you, when you dig into the ground you never know what you’ll find. Such was the case for Dundee Corporation, which went digging in South Korea for non-ferrous metals and instead came away with a deal to develop a year-round leisure, tourism and commercial hub. And like any good story about early explorers and trailblazers, the one about that hub — tentatively called Mangsang Resort City — carries familiar hallmarks such as patience, careful observation, risk taking, and a generous dose of serendipity.

Ned Goodman, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dundee, has a lot of business interests, mining being one of them, and in 2013 Dundee went to South Korea to check out a mining project in Gangwon Province (“Gangwon-do”), an area on the eastern coast of the Korean peninsula that has rich reserves in non-ferrous metals and rare earth minerals. Not coincidentally, this is also where one of Korea’s eight Free Economic Zones ( FEZ ) is located, and like the others, the East Coast Free Economic Zone (EFEZ) is a special region designed to encourage FEBRUARY MARCH 2016

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How Dundee is bringing their recreational and mixed-use real estate development experience to South Korea. foreign investment. While there, they met with Choi Moon Soon, Governor of Gangwon-do. He was more than happy to show them the mining project, but also knew of Dundee’s extensive experience in recreational resorts and mixed-use developments, so saw an opportunity to promote other parallel interests in the EFEZ, specifically the planning and development of the Mangsang Resort Community and Town Center.

While the potential was identified almost immediately, it took more than a year for Dundee to get comfortable with the people, the site, and the framework. “But mostly the people, because it takes time to build relationships,” says Benjamin Yi, vice president of corporate development and strategy at Dundee 360, Dundee’s wholly-owned subsidiary. Master planning, development/construction and various management agreements were reached in 2014, followed by a company seeded with both Dundee and Gangwon-do capital to come up with the finance strategy in the FEZ. Developing a greenfield site in a foreign country means taking on considerable risk, but the attractive qualities are abundant too, certainly not the least of which being a major international event on the horizon. The project is directly south of, and in close proximity to, a 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic site, and encompasses approximately 600 hectares of land that boasts 4.5 kilometres of prime beachfront on the East Sea. The Olympics notwithstanding, Gangwon-do is already the second most-visited province in Korea in terms of domestic travel, so a $3.4 billion high-speed rail expansion is in the works that will terminate in an Olympic venue that is not far from the site, and major work is being done to improve the scenic highways in the area. “That drive made us think of the Sea-to-Sky Highway in B.C.,” says Yi, a comparison the EFEZ eagerly wants to emulate.

Dundee has broken the site down into basic areas grouped around primary geographic characteristics — the Beach, the Meadow, Alpine and Forest Retreats — and while the official masterplan is tightly under wraps until the unveiling later this year, the project is anticipated to include hotel and resort development, residential units, ski and golf amenities, as well as commercial, medical and educational infrastructure.

Open for business

South Korea may be the world’s 15th largest economy, but not all cylinders are firing equally. Korean service economies are very weak and less competitive compared to their global peers, in areas such as retail, fast food, tourism, and financial services. Through the eight Free Economic Zones (not to be confused with Free Trade Zones), South Korea is attempting to bolster these industries by bringing in sector-leading foreign companies to joint-venture with and, ultimately, learn from. building.ca

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South Korea SEOUL

MANGSANG RESORT CITY

FEZs are made particularly attractive due to administrative help provided by the FEZ (“People in the FEZ are geared to helping,” says Yi); acquisition tax breaks and other financial tax breaks; and infrastructure support. But like any new market opening itself up to the world, the initial courtship phase for those new to the territory can be lengthy.

Dundee has the distinction of being one of the first, and according to Yoonjong Chun, director of the FEZ Planning Office at the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE), which oversees all the FEZs, other foreign joint-ventures are “too early to call a success.”

Like any explorer coming back from distant lands with spices and tales, Yi has simple but valuable advice for those

seeking similar opportunities in burgeoning South Korea. “It is a landscape of people and culture that needs exploring,” he says, so be prepared to invest a lot of time. “And when going into a FEZ, research what went wrong before! That kind of information is available.”

And of course, as Dundee’s experience illustrates, be open to serendipity. “This lays the foundation for Dundee and Dundee 360 to invest in South Korea,” says David Goodman, CEO of Dundee. “We strongly believe that our expertise in developing large-scale ‘Town Center’-based real estate projects will help to foster the ‘creative economy’ that South Korea’s leadership has so strongly emphasized as key to their country’s next stage of economic growth.” b

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N 1 KM

Mangsang Resort City

THE PINNICLE

BEACHFRONT

BEACH VILLAGE FOREST RETREATS

THE ALPINE HAMLET THE MEADOW THE VALLEY

THE BELVEDERE EDUCATION & RESEARCH

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correct response Does your company need to be COR certified?

Overcoming the misconceptions about this national sa fety requirement

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By Adrian Bartha

T

he Canadian industrial-commercialinstitutional (ICI) construction world understands the necessity to keep up with prequalification and standard requirements to stay competitive. Major buyers of construction services across Canada often require those who bid on high-valued contracts to have specific certifications, whether it is a quality assurance requirement or an environmental standard (such as LEED). Recently, things have changed and major buyers of construction across the country have begun demanding a different type of prequalification requirement: safety standards.

A prime example of this is the increasingly common prequalification requirement of the Certificate of Recognition ( COR ). COR began in Western Canada more than 20 years ago and is the national health and safety standard of the Canadian Federation of Construction Associations. Out west, over 10,000 companies are COR certified, a majority of which are within the construction industry.

Since COR was first adopted, it has gained in popularity across Eastern Canada, particularly within the Maritimes. In fact, COR has become so ingrained within the prequalification process of B.C., Alberta and the Maritimes, that it is close to becoming a must-have for companies to be successful in these regions. In 2016, this trend has finally reached Canada’s biggest construction market: Ontario.

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This evolution is a game changer for players in Ontario’s ICI construction market as many major buyers of construction such as Metrolinx, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), York Region and Infrastructure Ontario have begun requiring COR for specified high-valued contracts.

Together, these project owners represent approximately $15 billion in infrastructure spend, which is nearly 40 per cent of the total construction spend in Ontario for the year. Additionally, the Greater Toronto Airport Authority and the City of Toronto announced that they will start to require COR as a prequalification for specified contracts in 2017. Together, these two project owners represent $1.2 billion of infrastructure spend for 2017.

As a result of this shift, safety performance has become a competitive advantage for companies bidding on ICI. Subcontractors are already beginning to feel the pressure to pursue COR to remain competitive and be able to bid on these high-value contracts, and safety prequalification requirements like COR not only reduce safety risks across ICI organizations, but also the risk of losing business to competitors.

Moving to “must have” Ontario general contractors and subcontractors have been aware for nearly two years that these requirement changes were going to come into effect and there are those that have begun the certification process. Yet despite the fact that major buyers of construction are increasingly requiring COR, there are many who view it as more government red tape to jump through in order to get work. As COR remains in its infancy in Ontario many people are still confused about the process, which naturally leads to misconceptions about COR. MISCONCEPTION: COR-CERTIFIED ICI CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES IN OTHER PROVINCES CAN NOW BID ON CORMANDATED ONTARIO PROJECTS.

Although it is a national standard, COR differs by province and industry. Most health and safety laws are provincial, not federal, so the standards tend to mimic the provincial terminology and areas of priority.

Therefore, to operate within a certain province, companies must meet the specific standards of that province to be COR certified. And companies operating across multiple jurisdictions must be COR certified in each respective

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province. That said, once a company is COR certified in one province, it is easier to become certified in other provinces.

MISCONCEPTION: COR IS SIMPLY AN UNNECESSARY ADMINISTRATION.

Many ICI construction executives view safety in one of two categories: common sense on-site decisions that ultimately result in safe workplaces; or a series of rules passed along by government. COR often falls into the latter category, seen as redundant loops they must jump through. However, at the root of it, COR is an independent audit of how a company operationalizes safety, or simply their safety management system. A company needs a plan with the proper policies in addition to daily evidence that the plan is in place and that risk is systematically being identified and addressed every day.

Regardless of the province or industry, COR doesn’t require companies to do anything that they shouldn’t already be doing for health and safety. The primary requirement of COR is that management must show a genuine involvement in the safety process. While delegation is inevitable for any organization, this simple requirement is what distinguishes best-in-class companies from average companies in building a reputation for outstanding safety performance. Unlike other mandatory programs, safety requirements are geared towards ensuring that companies truly have operationalized health and safety programs, programs that are more than binders gathering dust in a corner. One piece of proof is how COR-certified companies in Western Canada report an impressive 57 per cent lower injury rate than their peers, according to a Government of Alberta report on losttime claims and disabling injury rates.

MISCONCEPTION: THE ONLY BENEFIT COR PROVIDES IS VERIFICATION OF A SAFE WORKPLACE.

Fundamentally, safety standards commitments improve the bottom line. Companies notice when they have a better health and safety program, they start saving money (through lower insurance premiums, reduction in administration time and fines) and reduce risks (construction defects, civil liabilities from delayed work, and so on). COR is an example of how a construction company can simultaneously build and protect its reputation, gain access to more work and save money at the same time. Despite buyers of construction incentivizing stanAdrian Bartha is the CEO of eCompliance, which specializes in the creation of web-based occupational health and safety products for organizations across Canada. www. ecompliance.com

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dards for work, many companies will also likely begin voluntarily improving their safety programs to realize the tangible benefits of having a best-inclass program.

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MISCONCEPTION: AN INVESTMENT IN COR DOES NOT YIELD A RETURN ON INVESTMENT.

Stats Canada found that the average profit margin for Canadian construction companies is 6.2 per cent. All TTC contracts over $5 million will require COR in 2016, and an investment in COR (to achieve it and maintain it yearly) can range from $20,000 to $60,000 per year, depending on the size and safety measures necessary to be certified. To be on the conservative side, let’s estimate it would cost a company $60,000 per year to be COR certified. Taking into account the average profit margin, winning a single TTC contract could yield 5.2 times the original investment into COR. At the end of the day, this shows that safety requirements are not just another “cost of doing business.”

COR is becoming an increasingly popular standard with major buyers of construction throughout Canada. Project owners in Canada are recognizing that safer companies tend to produce higher quality work on time and on budget. By operatizing health and safety, ICI construction companies can save money, reduce risks and expect to make a return on their investment in COR once they’ve secured a contract. COR also benefits from a proven track record of reducing the injury rates for companies across Canada.

The goal of any safety requirement is to ensure that workers in at-risk industries are employed in the safest environment possible and that business owners are taking every last precaution to create that environment. Whether it’s a prequalification requirement or an executive corporate initiative, safety performance will continue to become a competitive differentiator between successful and average ICI construction companies in Canada. b

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V I E W Walk With Joy ULI Toronto’s Executive Director takes leading urban academics on a tour of three suburban retrofits, and is reminded that there is still much work to be done to achieve success.

By Richard Joy

In the lead up to ULI Toronto’s fall symposium on the future of mixed-use intensification, I arranged three short suburban walks with one of our keynote speakers, author and academic, Ellen Dunham Jones. As America’s most famous suburban retrofit champion, Jones was curious to see how Toronto suburban renewal stacked up to other U.S. cities.

With the help of Paul Hess associate professor, Department of Geography and Program in Planning, University of Toronto, and Cherise Burda, director of the Ryerson City Building Institute, we organized an itinerary of three suburban retrofits: a tower-in-the-park neighbourhood; a retail plaza; and a developing new urbanism community. Proud as I was of Toronto’s emerging suburban renaissance story, our walks only served to remind me how it has yet to be fully achieved.

First stop was an examination of the reimagined outdoor suburban shopping mall at Shops on Don Mills, heralded for redeveloping and reinvigorating a failed commercial plaza through the careful orchestration of architectural design, retail alchemy, and attention to detail from sidewalk pavement, street furniture and public art. But Shops rejects some of the most basic urban tenets. It makes no attempt to hide its auto dependency, wrapping itself in surface parking, and rejecting the opportunity to stitch into the network of public streets that connect to the site. It missed an opportunity to create a modern mixed-use environment that could have blended its residential and retail land uses and the potential for office space. While unquestionably pleasant, Shops’ private owned public space (POPS) feels more ski resort than civic.

Next we visited Toronto’s first foray into renovating a tower-in-the-park neighbourhood, a dominant development typography in our city’s inner-suburbs. Forest Park, at Don Mills Road and Sheppard Ave. East, is the first to demonstrate the promise of our long dream of “tower renewal” by developing underutilized open spaces of this failed post war housing model. Leveraging the public transit amenity of the Sheppard subway, Forest Park tapped a market demand for grade related housing and new mid- to high-rise condo unFEBRUARY MARCH 2016

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locking capital to revive the older existing rental towers. Public art has been boldly used to enhance its sense of place and identity. Yet, notwithstanding its proximity to public transit, Forest Park also submits to the automobile. Its flanks on Don Mills and Sheppard are hardened and forbidding public environments that serve as a pedestrian moat disconnecting the neighbourhood from the surrounding community.

Finally, we ventured into the 905 to tour Remington Group’s Downtown Markham, a project that is arguably North America’s most urban suburban community through its commitment to mixed-use intensification and transit infrastructure. While still in the relatively early stages, Downtown Markham is showing that you can create a “there, there” where nothing much existed before. Dense laneway neighbourhoods, juxtaposed with mid-rise condos, at-grade retail and leading edge public amenity facilities set this community apart. An exciting centrepiece will be a new satellite York University Campus that will use the community movie theatre for its lecture halls. But again, this community can’t seem to fully slip the surly bonds of suburbia. An overwhelming aura of architectural sameness permeates. And notwithstanding the new regional bus rapid transit ( BRT) service running through it, this community’s centre of gravity is a considerable walking distance from Richard Joy is Executive the Unionville GO Station.

Director of ULI Toronto.

A walk of one’s city with an out-ofPreviously, he served as town guest always changes one’s perVice-president, Policy and spective. On this tour it stuck me how Government Relations at high the bar has raised when it comes the Toronto Board of to what constitutes successful suburTrade, and was the ban retrofitting. Getting much right is Director of Municipal no longer enough. Success is more Affairs and Ontario complex. Today we strive for “complete (Provincial Affairs) at communities” that deliver pedestrianGlobal Public Affairs. focused neighbourhoods that are conFollow him on Twitter nected to surrounding communities, @RichardJoyTO or email and are destinations in their own right. at Richard.Joy@uli.org It will take decades to renovate our region’s suburbs. But our vision for the future today must be more sophisticated. The good news is that, imperfections notwithstanding, the Toronto region wants to lead the way.. b

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