About 85 per cent of waste from Ontario's businesses, public institutions, residential buildings with six or more units and construction/demolition sites ends up in landfill, including a vast amount of recyclable material.

Daily vigilance is central to achieving operational energy savings, but rare decisions typically have the most acute carbon consequences in buildings.

Personal liability is a mounting possibility for directors, officers and supervisors of organizations that run afoul of environmental regulators or are on the losing side of civil litigation.

The global urgency for climate action has an upside companion in global opportunities for strategic investment that could improve people’s lives and yield sustainable returns.

Three key lessons for making buildings energy- and carbon-efficient and healthy.

Retrofit proponents unable to contribute at least $6.25 million in equity capital will have to look to third-party interveners in order to tap into the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s $2-billion fund for commercial buildings.

Optimizing ventilation and air handling systems is key to achieving net zero energy performance goals.

COVID-19 has intensified pressure to support physical, social and emotional well-being within the built environment, but many investors, owners and managers were already embracing healthy building principles ahead of pandemic-triggered challenges.

Canadian commercial real estate assets are comparatively less exposed to the dire physical threats that extreme weather poses or has already served up in other global regions.

Multifamily and industrial properties are routinely lumped together as favoured investment assets, but asset managers face divergent degrees of difficulty when they seek to mine value from energy performance.

More than 50 per cent of participating Canadian portfolios were grouped in the top two brackets of results, with 11 earning 5-star status and six attaining a 4-star rating.

With mechanical systems nearing end of life, inadequate ventilation and other issues, the 50-year Ken Soble Tower was in critical need of an upgrade.

The mounting consequences of being stuck fast in the wrong place for an extended wrong time begin with soaring insurance premiums and end with stranded assets.

The upfront cost has been projected at $13.8 million. The environmental repercussions of dismantling and discarding a 474,000-square-foot concrete and steel structure are more difficult to peg.

Smart buildings offer the best hope to reduce carbon effectively, reduce energy costs and provide good return on investment.

Flood season is arriving to regions across Canada, posing a significant risk to infrastructure, potential loss of life and pest-related health risks.

A panel discussion at the Real Estate Strategy & Leasing Conference in Toronto this year examined how technology is changing asset management.