Indoor air quality assurance and vigilance are already high on the readiness checklist for commercial venues as building users return from lengthy COVID-19-prompted absences. The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Greater Toronto is now drawing on prominent scientific and practical expertise to provide ongoing guidance to the commercial real estate industry.

The newly struck HVAC Advisory Council is aligned with BOMA Toronto’s Return to Work Committee and is tasked with monitoring and responding to emerging knowledge about how SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — spreads. Co-chairs, Bronwen Edgar, risk manager at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; Brian Fleck, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta; Luke Leung, a director with Skidmore Owings & Merrill and a member of the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force; and Jeffrey Siegel, a professor of civil and mineral engineering at University of Toronto, bring complementary insight on infection control, air cleaning and HVAC system engineering to merge with the larger panel’s knowledge of building operations, property and facility management.

“The Return to Work Committee was created to drive dialogue and to help our membership and the commercial real estate industry reopen buildings and return to work safely,” BOMA Toronto reiterates. “Concerns regarding the potential spread of SARS-CoV-2 through building HVAC systems remains a very important focus for BOMA Toronto and all of our members.”