Architecture Canada’s brief in response to the federal Public Works consultation regarding how its Real Property-1 (RP-1) program is administered addresses a number of issues relating to how architectural services are contracted under the current RP1 framework. It makes a number of recommendations to both foster efficiency in the delivery of services and for obtaining best value through processes that ensure consistency, fairness and transparency—notably by referencing how these same services are contracted directly by Public Works in other contexts.

• Architecture Canada response [185 KB]

Public Works recently released the consolidated Real Property-1 (RP-1) National Summary Report for the Industry Consultation sessions undertaken across the country in February and through industry association consultation sessions held in both March and May. These National Summary Reports have been posted on MERX as an Amendment to the Request for Information.

The purpose of the Industry consultation sessions was to obtain feedback specific to industry capacity, trends and best practices, and to provide an opportunity for the industry, including industry associations and small and medium enterprises, to provide their feedback on the scope, volume, contract structure and special requirements for a future solicitation.

• National Summary Report (May 2011) [1.2 MB]
• National Summary Report (February 2011) [1.3 MB]

Canada's National Model Construction Codes are now available through a Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed that allows subscribers to easily stay informed about newly published information on the National Codes website.

Subscribers using an RSS reader are notified whenever new content is added and can directly visit that content, thereby eliminating the need to manually check the website.

• Subscribe to the NMCC RSS feed

Parks Canada has published the second edition of its Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. The Standards have been in use since 2003 as a conservation reference document to help plan interventions in historic places.

The USGBC announced a Pilot Credit for the use of certified products called Pilot Credit 43.  Pilot Credits are used to test drive an idea before making it an official credit in the LEED rating tool. 

This pilot credit encourages the use of Canadian certified lumber products and gives the opportunity to gain an extra LEED pilot credit for the use of SFI and CSA certified products.

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