Next year, the city may implement immovable barriers and full street clo- sures around construction sites be- cause of ongoing incidents. Despite challenges, the city has seen improvement at short-term/mov- ing sites, according to a published re- port. It attributed the success to better signage and more rigorous safety in- spection requirements. MANITOBA Premier defends $35.3 million stadium repair loan guarantee Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger is defending a loan guarantee of $35.3 million to repair Winnipeg’s new foot- ball stadium and is facing a call for the auditor general to investigate its con- struction, CTV News has reported. The money is to be used to fix prob- lems that surfaced after Investors Group Field opened three years ago at a cost of $209 million – almost $100 million over budget. The loan guaran- tee will allow repairs to begin immedi- ately following the CFL Grey Cup game next month, Selinger said “It makes sense to provide a loan guarantee to have the cash flow that will allow the stadium to be fixed up as soon as possible, because that will re- duce the cost to everybody going for- ward,” he said. “It’s a safe stadium right now. We’ve been assured of that.” The stadium has been plagued by leaks, insufficient insulation to keep plumbing working in winter and poor drainage. It also needed immediate renovations to make it usable for con- certs and to heat the press box. More than $4 million has already been spent for repairs to ceilings and concrete. The Triple B Stadium consortium owns the stadium, comprising the city, province, Winnipeg Football Club and University of Manitoba, where the sta- dium is located. Triple B has filed a law- suit claiming the architect and builder should be made to pay for the exten- sive repairs the owners allege were due to faulty design and construction. Construction company Stuart Olson, in turn, alleges that the provin- cial government approved the design without regard for such issues, accord- ing to published reports. ONTARIO Toronto rental renaissance: New apartments under construction hitting 25-year high Toronto is experiencing a rental ren- aissance with the number of new apartment units under construction hit- ting a 25-year high this year. There were 26 apartment buildings under construction in the Toronto area in the third quarter of the year, contain- ing more than 6,500 rental units, ac- cording to a new report by real estate market research firm Urbanation Inc. Developers have proposed another 43 rental buildings containing more than 10,000 units. Most of the build- ings are being developed in the city core, although the list of projects in- cludes several in the inner suburbs, such as Scarborough and North York, along with a handful in the 905 region as far afield as Newmarket and Ajax. Toronto prepares to make COR certification mandatory for larger projects The City of Toronto is preparing to make the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association’s (IHSA) Certificate of Recognition (COR) certification mandatory for larger construction proj- ects beginning in 2017. “This is clearly going to affect many hundreds, possibly up to 1,000 con- tractors bidding on city projects,” said David Frame, the Ontario General Con- tractors Association’s (OGCA) director of government relations. The city plans to require COR as a prequalification requirement for gen- eral contractors on jobs greater than $25 million beginning in January 2017, $10 million in 2018 and $5 million in 2019. Bill De Angelis, Toronto’s director of engineering and construction services, said in a statement he could not say specifically how many contractors or how much work volume would be af- fected by the new rules “as our pro- grams are still being finalized.” “Suffice it to say, the city’s capital works program is significant today and is expected to increase in the coming years to address state of good repair and growth needs,” he said. Ottawa permits decline in September to $257 million from $481 million for the same month in 2014 The City of Ottawa has reported 800 building permits in September, with a value of $257,244,232. This is a signif- icant decline from the $481,612,635 in permits recorded for September 2014, and reflects a continuing decline in the The Canadian Design and Construction Report — November 2015 – 17