Zibi development escapes Ottawa River flood woes

BIZ  Real Estate  •  Office, Apartments, Land  •  National, Ottawa

It understandably drew attention when the team behind Ottawa’s blockbuster waterfront real estate development, Zibi, proclaimed it had nothing to fear from record flood levels which have affected hundreds of residents along the Ottawa River.

Tower retrofit program stunted by end of Cap and Trade

Real Estate  •  Construction Canada

The Tower Renewal Project, an ambitious residential tower refit program launched 11 years ago in the city of Toronto has hit a wall with the cancellation of the source of some of its funding. It installs energy-efficient windows, insulation, heating and cooling systems and makes other improvements to the buildings.

Montreal leading charge against climate crisis

Real Estate  •  Montreal Gazette

In recent weeks, Montreal’s Mayor Valérie Plante has unveiled a program of carbon offsets for airline travel; “declared war” on single-use plastics; set deadlines for phasing out heating oil; called for city pension funds to divest from fossil fuel companies, and set up a office for ecological transition and resilience.

Montreal to phase out heating oil by 2030

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

Montreal building owners will have a little more than a decade to rid themselves of their oil furnaces as the city moves to ban the use of heating oil from its territory by 2030. Owners of existing commercial, industrial, institutional and residential buildings with oil-burning furnaces will have until 2030 to convert to a renewable energy source.

Vancouver’s climate solution: a denser city

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

A greener city is going to need bigger buildings. That’s one of the ideas that Vancouver’s city council has just adopted as part of a proposed Climate Emergency Response policy. And if it seems counterintuitive, it’s actually a crucial insight, a huge rethink of the way we do architecture and land-use planning.

Vancouver’s bold bet on passive house technology

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

At a moment of cresting anxiety about both climate change and carbon pricing, the City of Vancouver is experiencing a bracingly optimistic revolution in green building design, one that will deliver significant reductions in the amount of carbon that escapes from leaky, poorly insulated mid- and high-rise apartments.

Gregor Robertson, ambassador for mayors’ climate group

Real Estate  •  CBC

Former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson has been appointed a global ambassador for the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. Robertson received the paid appointment — the first of its kind — because of his record and reputation as a politician and climate leader.

Green New Deal pact launches across Canadian cities

Real Estate  •  CBC  •  Toronto Star  •  Corporate Knights

Rallies are planned across Canada to make climate action an election issue inspired by the U.S. Green New Deal.  The non-partisan movement Pact for a Green New Deal calls for a move away from fossil fuels and to cut emissions in half by 2030.

Passive House retrofit for Hamilton housing project

Real Estate  •  Construction Canada  •  Canada Newswire

With an eye on achieving a high degree of energy efficiency, the YWCA Hamilton is spearheading a development that incorporates a Passive House (PH) design.

Mass-timber ‘The Arbour’ revised for site plan approval

Real Estate  •  Urban Toronto

In 2017, George Brown College launched an international competition in collaboration with Toronto Planning and Waterfront Toronto seeking designs for a wood-framed, Net Zero Carbon Emission building. Two years later, the proposal known as The Arbour has most recently been refined for a Site Plan Approval submission.

University, college partner on net-zero vertical farm

Real Estate  •  Construction Canada  •  University of Toronto News

U of T Scarborough and Centennial College are partnering to establish the EaRTH (Environmental and Related Technologies Hub) District, which includes the development of Canada’s first net-zero vertical farm that will apply innovative technologies to food production.

Rooftop garden at SSQ Tower in Longueuil

Real Estate  •  Canada Newswire

In addition to having a green roof on the SSQ Tower in Longueuil, SSQ Insurance will now have its own urban garden. This summer, the roof of the SSQ building at 2505 Laurier Boulevard will be used to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs. It’s a sustainable development initiative that will enable us to give back to the community.

Powers on at Manitoba’s largest rooftop solar installation

Real Estate  •  CBC

The Selkirk Recreation Complex on Easton Drive in the city 34 kilometres north of Winnipeg was outfitted with 676 solar panels earlier this year and will generate over 225,000-kilowatt hours annually, helping to power the facility that houses a large ice rink and community centre.

BP investors push for action on climate change

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

BP will face pressure at a meeting next week to set tougher targets to combat climate change. After BP’s 2018 carbon emissions rose to their highest in six years, the London-based major is being lobbied by activists and an increasing number of shareholders

Energy and financial industry clash over carbon disclosure

Real Estate  •  Financial Post

A fight over how to measure an oil company’s environmental footprint and social performance has pit members of the energy industry against the financial services industry, with even the Bank of Canada weighing in with a call for more disclosure on carbon emissions.

Climate change threatens the financial system: Bank of Canada

Real Estate  •  CBC  •  Winnipeg Free Press

For the first time ever, the Bank of Canada has released a report examining the threat climate change poses to the country’s financial system. The central bank’s annual financial system review identifies the main vulnerabilities and risks which now includes the impact of climate change on financial stability.

Ontario creating task force focused on flood resilience

Real Estate  •  CBC

Ontario is creating a task force on improving the province’s resilience to flooding, following high water levels this spring in several communities.

Premier Doug Ford and Natural Resources Minister John Yakabuski said in a statement that the government will work to better plan for and reduce the impacts of flooding.

Canada’s recycling industry is in crisis mode

Real Estate  •  Globe and Mail

Desperation had set in. For more than a year, officials in Calgary’s department of waste and recycling services had been unable to find a buyer for truckloads of used plastic. Recyclers in Canada had balked. And shipping the unwanted material overseas was no longer an option.

Brookfield, a real estate partner for new packaging platform

Real Estate  •  Real Estate Weekly

Brookfield Properties announced it has agreed to serve as the real estate partner of Loop, a zero-waste packaging platform designed to address the issue of waste at its source by providing consumers a circular shopping experience and encouraging manufacturers to own and take responsibility for their packaging.

Researcher turn greenhouse gases into carbon nanofibres

Real Estate  •  CBC

A researcher at the University of Calgary says she has developed a method of turning greenhouse gases into valuable carbon nanofibres. Mina Zarabian came up with the concept while completing her doctorate in chemical and petroleum engineering at the university’s Schulich School of Engineering.