Considered the largest infrastructure project in Ottawa, construction of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project began in 2013 and was finally opened to the public on September 14, 2019. The Confederation Line (also called Line 1) is a…

Service animals, ranging from guide dogs to emotional support animals, often present challenges to commercial building owners, who not only must comply with legal requirements but wish to be supportive of their building occupants – up to a…

The biggest change in the way I evaluate and analyze the new housing market for clients is via big data. New home listing portal Buzzbuzzhome produces tremendous data on user preferences by tracking every click on their website.…

In conversations with cities and municipalities looking to launch their own smart city plan, there seem to be two main questions that rise to the surface: why should we become a smart city, and how do we become a smart city?A ‘smart…

In 2017, Ontario passed extensive amendments to its legislative regime for construction liens. The Construction Lien Amendment Act was enacted on December 12, 2017, and immediately changed the name of the underlying Construction Lien Act to…

On October 17, 2017, it appeared as though the future of city-building had arrived in Toronto. On that day, the Prime Minister, the mayor and then-executive chairman of Alphabet stood side by side to announce a plan to turn a derelict…

Emergency situations due to extreme weather are moments we experience collectively, and not just on the granular community level that Michelle Xuereb eloquently discusses in her op-ed when referencing the ice storm of 2013, but also on a…

Do you remember where you were when the ice storm hit in 2013? If you weren’t here, imagine waking up to a city coated in ice. The tree branches were hauntingly beautiful, shimmering while making an unnerving creaking sound. We’d woken up…

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) and five leading commercial real estate firms are calling on federal and provincial governments to implement consistent building data disclosure regulations and requirements.It may seem like an…

Public awareness of the global climate crisis is increasing rapidly, and so is Net-Zero Passive House building in residential and commercial construction. Now is the perfect time for builders to specialize in this rapidly growing market…