Field notes from the BC building stack.
Compliance updates, policy explainers, and methodology pieces, published when something changes that owners and design teams need to act on.
- Policy
Your building's energy study may have quietly lost value this year.
An older energy study prices retrofit options against programs that have since changed. Before your next capital decision, re-test the study you already have against today's funding landscape.
3 min - Compliance
The energy model behind your CMHC financing has an expiry date.
CMHC stops accepting the 2015 and 2017 code energy attestation for MLI Select on September 30, 2026. After that, files are scored against the 2020 codes, which turns the energy model into a sequencing question for owners financing into 2027.
5 min - Policy
The real grid constraint is in your building, not in the province.
BC Hydro is funding building electrification while also flagging a capacity-constrained provincial grid. Both are true. The owner's question is narrower and answerable: does your building's electrical service have the headroom, or does it not?
6 min - Compliance
Vancouver paused Energize Vancouver. What it changes for owners, and what it doesn't.
Vancouver Council voted 7-4 on May 20-21, 2026 to pause Energize Vancouver enforcement and review the city's building by-law against the provincial baseline. Here is what changes for BC building owners with capital decisions on the table, and what doesn't.
6 min - Compliance
Vancouver's September extension is breathing room, not a delay strategy
Vancouver multi-family owners can request a September 1 reporting deadline, but it's an opt-in extension, and the smart way to use the extra time isn't to wait.
5 min - Case Logic
What lenders are actually asking for: energy data in 2026 refinancing
Mortgage refinancing now reaches for energy and carbon data alongside the standard package. A short field guide to what's being requested, and what gets flagged.
4 min - Case Logic
The retrofit measure that doesn't move the meter
Some retrofits look excellent in the proposal and disappear in the operational data. A short field guide to telling the difference before the capital moves.
4 min - Methodology
Whole-building data: what BC benchmarking actually requires
Most benchmarking submissions fail their first quality check on the same handful of issues. A practical framework for getting whole-building energy data right the first time.
7 min