Charlotte Grandy, the winner of BOMA Canada’s 2026 Emerging Leader Award, said she has “never had the opportunity to get bored” in a career spent in sustainability, where she took on headline-making retrofits and impactful system-wide improvements.

Grandy is the regional manager of property sustainability for BGO, based in its Mississauga office, where she oversees more than 170 office, industrial and retail properties in Ontario and Manitoba, covering approximately 26 million square feet.

Since joining BGO in 2024, Grandy has participated in the retrofits of 55 University Ave. and 150 King St. W., both in Toronto. However, the efforts she believes have the most benefit are system improvements that may not be as ambitious on paper, but have broad influence and reinforce climate resilience, Grandy said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.

Grandy won BOMA Canada’s award, which recognizes individuals aged 35 or younger who have “significantly contributed to their organization” or the commercial real estate industry.

“It’s such a huge honour that I’m not quite sure how to process it,” she said.

From deep retrofits to small upgrades

Grandy’s role at BGO focuses on:

• data governance, monitoring and reporting;
• tenant communications, engagement and community building; and
• reinforcing portfolio resilience, including preparing buildings for climate impacts and working toward net-zero buildings.

A highlight of her work at BGO, she said, is managing the data and communications for the deep net-zero retrofit of 55 University Ave., a 19-floor office building the company manages. The project involves upgrading the building's heating and cooling systems, domestic hot water equipment and the building envelope. When complete, it is expected to eliminate 65 per cent of the building’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Grandy is also working on the retrofit of 150 King St. W., which is a core BGO office property in Toronto’s financial district. BGO is investing $11.3 million to replace end-of-life equipment with efficient heat recovery chillers and air-source heat pumps. The retrofit is projected to reduce the building’s greenhouse gas emissions by almost 50 per cent.

While not as attention-grabbing as a massive retrofit, technology that enables system improvements like flood sensors and smart irrigation systems are the often unsung, yet highly impactful, upgrades that Grandy noted for their importance in sustainability. Such equipment collects valuable data and can prevent damage to properties, such as floods, by assisting with preparation, Grandy explained.

“I think that those are the ones that make a huge impact across great swaths of our buildings.”

Curiosity, learning pushes Grandy

Besides reducing greenhouse gas emissions and resource consumption, sustainable buildings are just “smarter buildings,” Grandy said. Going down the sustainable path, she continued, means an efficient building that costs less, is more comfortable for tenants and has more resilience against the effects of climate change.

“It’s those three pieces that make (sustainability) a value-add for the building,” Grandy said. “It’s not an altruistic or philanthropic endeavour.”

Working in sustainability is about continuous improvement, she said, being an industry where there is never a dull moment as it demands constant learning and curiosity. Such values come in handy as she faces the consistent challenges of creating community and engaging tenants, and new ones like how to incorporate artificial intelligence into her duties.

Her guiding principle and advice to others is to “stay curious.” This means asking herself why a project came out a certain way, how to do a task more efficiently, understanding the barriers and wondering what brought people into the room. Curiosity encourages creativity, innovation and better solutions, she said.