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Context

The growth of Canadian towns and cities includes the conversion of rural lands to urban uses. Companies involved in that aspect of real estate are a dominant force in the local and national economies, generating billions of dollars in economic activity annually. The residential, commercial and industrial lands created in the urban expansion process provide the needed space to accommodate economic growth. Long-term forecasts of Canadian land requirements indicate continued demand for new urban land, notwithstanding the more recent focus on higher densities, protection of sensitive areas and re-use of lands within the built-up area.

In the urban expansion sub-sector, we serve the needs of those involved in land development (residential, commercial and industrial), housing development, commercial development and industrial development. Services required span a broad spectrum, including land acquisition, community and site planning, infrastructure engineering, traffic, environmental planning, approvals process management, site development, building design and construction management. Through these services, we can take an owner through the entire process from initial market analysis to a completed community, commercial project or industrial facility.

Drivers and Outlook

While the need for new urban land is driven fundamentally by population growth (internal and immigration), global trade and the internal economy of Canada, satisfying that need is highly regulated by governments and agencies. It is also a process that is open to public input and debate. Navigating that process is the fundamental challenge faced by the real estate companies engaged in urban expansion. While technical soundness of a project is a requirement, issues affecting approvability are often emotional and value-based, and are sometimes based on fundamentally different views on how Canadians should live. It is not unusual for the process to take many years, particularly if land is taken from a rural to urban designation, to involve dozens of agencies and to be subject to input and challenges from individuals and “public interest” groups throughout the process.

And the agenda does not stay still once a project has been launched. New requirements are often imposed. What was considered acceptable practice last year may not be accepted now. Market preferences change. Some of those changes include new requirements by agencies for “sustainability” in new urban developments, market demand for “green” projects, and a more active involvement by federal agencies in urban development. And one can expect this to continue.

Changing Client Needs

While all of this makes the process challenging, the rewards to those who know how to work through it are large. And knowing how to work through the process in a particular city or town is where Dillon rises above the crowd. Expertise in all of the components of a development project, combined with in-depth local knowledge of “how things are done around here,” allows us to help our real estate clients achieve success.

We’ve been doing that for more than 40 years. We believe firmly in the way Canadian cities are built … private enterprise within a public policy framework. We believe that no one form of urban development is “right”, but that choice, diversity and innovation in how we develop our towns and cities, are what makes them great.