Secondary Suite Silver Lining

We think that most Calgarians are disappointed by yesterday's news that Secondary Suites won't soon be permitted (or even discretionary) in Calgary's R-C1 districts (nor R-1, R-C1L districts). We won't belabour the situation by pointing out how unique our city is in disallowing this modest form of housing.

Rather, we want to remind homeowners, builders, and developers that accessory suites are currently possible in the R-C2 district and many others! In fact, in the ubiquitous R-C2 district, suites within a dwelling unit, such as basement suites, are permitted on all lots that are 29 1/2 feet (9m) or wider.

As well, backyard suites—such as suites above garages—are discretionary on lots that are 42 1/2 feet (13m) in width or wider, at at least 98 1/2 feet (30m) deep, and at least 4305 square feet (400 square metres) in area. Most of Calgary's inner city lots are 50 feet wide and easily accommodate a backyard suite. The fact that they are discretionary simply means that a development permit is required prior to applying for a building permit.

From Council Agenda December 15th, 2014 at agendaminutes.calgary.ca

Currently, most of our clients are building accessory suites above triple garages. This size of garage easily accommodates two parking stalls for the main house, plus one for the suite. As well, triple garages provide a large enough footprint to allow for a good-sized two bedroom suite above the garage.

Even though yesterday's secondary suite news might be bad, it doesn't necessarily mean that you need to put off your suite plans. If you have an R-C2 lot, you're good to go. If you have questions, please feel free to give us a call.

Residential ePermit

Yesterday, we submitted our first Residential ePermit to the City of Calgary. As you know, since the 1980s, the architecture and design industry has been moving towards using computer software to generate construction documentation including architectural drawings. As well, since the 1990s, the Internet has allowed us to move files from computer to computer that are in different places. Yet, until last year, the City of Calgary only accepted permit applications on paper and in person. Applicants would have to print all of their digital files to paper, take that paper to the City, and then wait in a queue to submit them. This would usually take hours, and occasionally resulted in the application being turned away because of a single missing piece of paper.

Happily, the City's new Residential ePermit system now allows us to submit some permits online. Currently the City is accepting single and semi-detached building permits in the suburbs, and single-detached development permit applications in the inner city. Next month they are expecting to be able to accept semi-detached development permit applications.

Our first application went smoothly only taking about a half an hour to complete. There were some things that weren't clear, such as whether site photos should be uploaded as individual files, or be put together as a multi-page PDF. The uploads were a bit slow, but overall, it was a straightforward process.

We saved:

• Printing about 50 sheets of 24"x26" paper, stapled and folded
• The delivery of those prints
• Driving to and from City Hall
• Waiting for hours before being seen at the counter, and then waiting for the counter staff to review the application while we wait.

We found out today that our application was rejected because of some minor deficiencies (it turns out that all the site photos have to be uploaded as separate files), but we can now quickly complete the application directly from our office. As well, we don't have to prepare any replacement prints.

This is a very exciting initiative from the City—one that is genuinely reducing red tape—and we are pleased to be a participant. To find out more about the City's Residential ePermits, visit their website. (Sorry if that link doesn't work—the City tends to shuffle their URLs from time to time.)

Richmond Hill Singles

Gary Campbell recently took a couple of shots of our Richmond Hill singles. We're quite proud of these two houses that Casa DeVille built a few years ago. You can see these and more Singles in our Singles Gallery.

Architect Profile in Homes and Living

Stephen would like to thanks Homes and Living for featuring him in their Oct/Nov 2014 issue. He would also like to extend thanks to Lisa Monforton for the article, Arda Ozum for the photographs of the Sidebottom Residence, o2 Developments for the photographs of their Mount Pleasant Infill, and Brian Burke for Stephen's portrait.

Herald Article on R-CG

Jason Markusoff from the Calgary Herald wrote a short piece about Council's approval of the new R-CG district. This new district allows for R-C2 parcels to be redesignated as R-CG to allow for the construction of rowhouses rather than single-detached or semi-detached houses.

Essentially, by omitting the requirement for sideyards, the R-CG district gives developers more design flexibility in the creation of inner-city freehold projects. As well, the district does not have a parcel width requirement; rather, it has a minimum street facing facade width of 4.2 metres. This gives designers even more flexibility in unit configuration.

We're excited to find out the direction that the communities of Capitol Hill and Banff Trail go with this new district. We think it would be a great fit in their neighbourhoods.

Just a note of clarification: even though it is Stephen that is pictured in front of our Parcside Townhomes, it was in fact Trent that designed this project for Group 905. 

Council Approves Inner City Rowhouse District

Yesterday afternoon, Calgary City Council approved Bylaw 24P2014, introducing the R-CG district. Ostensibly replacing the Cottage Housing District (R-CH) which saw little to no interest from developers and builders, this new district allows for fee-simple rowhouses in Calgary's inner city.

Rowhouses, as described by Calgary's Land Use Bylaw, are residential units that are located side-by-side and face a public street. They are different from the Bylaw's townhouse units, which can be within larger developments and can face internal streets or green spaces. Oddly, rowhouses have been allowed out in Calgary's suburbs since 2008 in the R-2M district. Only with this new amendment have rowhouses finally been allowed within Calgary's inner city neighbourhoods.

This new district is exciting for builders and developers because it fills a niche between the ubiquitous R-C2 district, which allows for single and semi-detached dwellings, and the M-CG district, which allows for lower density multi-residential buildings. There is now an opportunity for a developer to redesignate an R-C2 parcel into an R-CG parcel and potentially increase the allowed density by 50%. This new district does allow for three units to fit on a 50' lot!

There are still challenges for developers. Principally, when this new district comes into effect, there will be no parcels in Calgary with the R-CG designation. This means that a developer will have to apply for a redesignation, and will have to present before Council. While everyone knows that this introduces a delay and uncertainty, the prospective developer should keep the following advantages in mind:

• The new district is consistent with the goals of Calgary's Municipal Development Plan, specifically helping Calgary achieve a more compact city, great communities, and good urban design.
• Neighbours and communities won't likely be as opposed to this district being adjacent to existing dwellings as it uses the same building typology as existing development: street/front yard/house/back yard/garage/lane. The previous option for increasing density—the M-CG district—allows alternative unit configurations that can result in front doors and amenity spaces in sideyards and backyards.
• There is a permitted use Rowhouse Building in the new district, which means that if the proposed design meets all of the related rules, the Building is permitted and is not subject to appeal.
• By increasing the number of units over and above what is possible in the R-C2 district, it is possible to both get more value out of the property and to place the new units in the market under the price of a typical semi-detached unit.

This new district is exciting for communities and homeowners because it encourages modest increases in density and affordability which will encourage more people to purchase new homes in existing neighbourhoods, which will in turn support existing schools and businesses, not to mention decreases in travel times and making transit even more effective.

We at Inertia are very excited to work with our clients to take advantage of this new district.

The Residential – Grade-Oriented Infill (R-CG) District will come into force on October 17th, 2014.

Parcside Townhouses

We've uploaded photos of the Parcside Townhomes to Houzz!

We took a clear and direct approach with the design of this luxury townhouse project in Calgary's gentrifying community of Altadore. Unlike many multifamily projects which try to confuse the true number of units in a project, we wanted each unit to boldly and identifiably stand alongside its neighbours. As well, the building proudly rises to it's full three storey height. However, this formality erodes somewhat at the entries where a half-wall and shallow canopy embrace and lift visitors towards each front door. Hidden in behind the building, each unit has a full-width terrace and attached under-drive garage.

Take a look at the photos here.

Website Link

The link to our new website is the same as the old: http://www.inertiacorporation.com 

Check it out!

New Website

We're very excited to have just launched our new website!

It's not much different from our old site. It still is straightforward, easy to navigate, and cleanly designed. However, in lieu of sketches and renderings, we have chosen to show our work exclusively through photographs. We have also simplified our portfolio by organizing it into three categories: singles, semis and multi.

Here's the link to the site: http://www.inertiacorporation.com

We'd love to hear what you think! Feel free to drop us a note.

Found!

Thanks to all the applicants who applied for our Residential Designer position. We have filled the position with a candidate we are very excited to welcome on board!

Residential Designer Wanted

Inertia is currently undergoing a period of growth. With this expansion and increasing number of projects, we are in need of a team player to who will extend our great reputation for high quality work while maintaining our positive working environment. We are currently searching for a Residential Designer that has experience using Autodesk Revit.

As a Residential Deigner, the successful candidate will be responsible for generating new architectural designs, including plans, elevations, details, perspectives and other views as required. The Residential Designer will principally be working in Revit, though he or she will also be helping with project management, drafting, administration, interacting with clients and vendors, occasionally going on site, working on a variety of projects, and will be set into an excellent position of growing within this expanding firm.

The successful candidate will be in possession of an Architectural Technologist Diploma or Architecture Degree, and will need to have an understanding of the the Alberta Building Code. The Residential Designer will need to have meaningful experience with Revit. Inertia is a firm that is always interested in individuals that have experience working on a variety of projects, but having residential experience is an asset as this is our firm’s specialty. These are the minimal requirements for this position, with all other experience being advantages for the successful candidate.

An excellent opportunity awaits the successful candidate, including an extremely competitive base salary, and an extensive amount of opportunities for growth within this company. There is also the opportunity for an Intern Architect to be supervised by a registered architect in a related company. If you believe that this could be a perfect fit for you, please send your resume immediately, or if you know the perfect person for this position then feel free to forward this correspondence. All applications will be kept in the strictest of confidence.

Apply at: http://regionalhelpwanted.com/calgary/jobs-residential-designer-inertia-corporation-calgary-ab/117173539/#sthash.jot3ZE4P.dpuf

Or here: http://www.inertiacorporation.com/firm/careers.html

Bridgeland Single →

We’ve posted photos from one of our Bridgeland houses to Houzz.

This project was built on a fairly steep front-to-back sloping lot, and had an existing retaining wall at the front of the property. Our solution, of course, was a bridge from the sidewalk!

Mount Pleasant Infill →

The challenge we took on with this infill in Calgary’s Mount Pleasant district is fitting a three storey house within the 8.6m height limit, and yet still having grand living spaces within. We achieved this by stacking the kids bedrooms, the office, and the living room at the front of the house, each with 8’ ceilings. However, in the back of the house, the master bedroom has a 10’ ceiling, and the great space, which includes the kitchen, has a soaring 14’ ceiling.

Rainy Chicago

A few weeks ago, our Lead Technologist, Tom Jenson (@tomjenson), had a chance to visit rainy Chicago for the Revit Technology Conference - North America. While Inertia gets to enjoy some of the new Revit tricks he’s learned, we all get to enjoy some of the photos he brought back.

Wildwood House →

We’ve uploaded our Wildwood House to Houzz. Check out the awesome photographs by Gary Campbell.

Dwell on Design 2014

Inertia had the opportunity to go to Los Angeles this past weekend for Dwell on Design 2014. Here are some snaps of the trip including the Hollyhock House, Emerson College, the Shore Hotel, Intelligentsia as well as some random shots taken on the East Side House Tour.