You think Toronto is hopping on the new building construction front? Try going to China, as BOMA Canada president Benjamin Shinewald just did, with other group members, for an exploratory trip. (They also wanted to get to the bottom of how to solve the Chinese Finger Trap.)
Though the scale of new building in China is astounding, its in the management of buildings where Canada comes out ahead, he says: Canadian buildings are managed to a far higher standard than all but a tiny handful of Chinese buildings. Commercial real estate there sits on 40-year land leases, which creates disincentives to invest in existing buildings.
