Andrew Freitas is the head of Canadian operations for WiredScore, which is working with an international council to create the first worldwide smart buildings certification. (Courtesy WiredScore)
WiredScore has created an international Smart Council, with representatives from some of the largest commercial real estate owners/operators in Canada and the world, to create the first international certification standard for smart buildings.
The WiredScore Smart Council is collecting insights and defining what constitutes a smart building in order to launch the new certification.
“Just like technology, that’s going to evolve over time and bring new challenges and opportunities to our industry,” WiredScore Canadian head Andrew Freitas told RENX in an exclusive interview prior to the announcement. “But, ultimately, we want it to help create a global standard that the industry can wrap its arms around.”
WiredScore is the organization behind Wired Certification, the internationally recognized digital connectivity rating system for real estate that helps landlords design and promote buildings with powerful digital connectivity. It’s the only certification for rating the infrastructure, connectivity and technological capacity of commercial buildings.
WiredScore launched Wired Certification in 2013 and moved into Canada in 2017. Freitas became the first head of its Canadian operations less than a year ago.
The smart buildings certification
The WiredScore Smart Council was created over the past few months to provide clarity, leadership and guidance on what constitutes a smart building and create a standard that can be used for benchmarking purposes.
“This is separate from our core product, our connectivity certification, but we’re really looking to build on the success of that,” said Freitas. “How we grow and evolve is driven by what our clients have been asking us to do. This was no different.”
The smart building certification will be developed by exploring factors related to building operational efficiency, optimization and obsolescence, and ultimately a building’s ability to deliver an inspirational user experience.
WiredScore works with more than 600 clients in nine countries, representing more than 550 million square feet of space in 2,000 buildings, helping owners and property managers benchmark and improve connectivity.
WiredScore Smart Council membership
The goal is for the WiredScore Smart Council to have global breadth and a diversity of thought leadership in portfolio management, building operations and innovation from all of the key markets in which WiredScore operates.
“Our expertise has allowed us to form some pretty great, strong and deep relationships that allows us to be trusted advisors to these companies,” said Freitas. “We brought together owners, developers and tenants to form the council.”
WiredScore Smart Council members take part in individual sessions and group discussions that look at smart building drivers, data protocols, cyber security standards and other factors on a near-monthly basis.
The WiredScore Smart Council was created during the COVID-19 crisis, but the pandemic has not added any complications since everything has been done virtually. So far, members have largely been working remotely.
WiredScore in Canada
Allied and KingSett are the Canadian representatives on the WiredScore Smart Council.
“The notion of establishing a benchmark for smart buildings has been a discussion point for a long time and it’s fantastic to see WiredScore take the lead in forming this council of owners and users from across the world,” Allied technology vice-president Travis Vokey said in a media release.
“We’ve been looking for a framework to understand how our buildings are performing today and what we need to do in order to future-proof them — not just in their digital capabilities, but also their smartness — and being a member of the WiredScore Smart Council will help us do this.”
WiredScore has grown from having about 44 million square feet committed to Wired Certification in Canada when Freitas took over to more than 66 million square feet today.
The primary Canadian markets are Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Halifax.
The KingSett and CCI Corpfin Capital-owned 330 Portage Avenue recently became the first office building in Winnipeg to receive a Wired Certification.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
