A rendering of a potential point-access block apartment building by Dub Architects.Dub Architects
A few years ago, Edmonton City Councillor Michael Janz found himself scrambling to find a three-bedroom apartment for his family. In a city where only one in 13 apartments is spacious enough to accommodate more than two bedrooms, resisting the call of the suburban dream remains a challenging feat for growing families.
“Family-friendly apartments are hard to find in Edmonton,” he says. “The house choice you have is either one- or two-bedroom apartments, or a single family detached home.”
Real estate developers and home builders are aware of this problem.
“We’re not necessarily getting the type of product that will meet the demands that we have in this housing crisis,” says Paul Lanni, president and CEO of Averton Homes, a suburban home builder, and a member of the board of directors of BILD Edmonton Metro.
“Lower density infill does move the needle a little bit, but we need to offer opportunities that families will be able to move to and stay long term – you’re not going to get that through garage and basement suites.”
The conundrum facing Edmonton families goes beyond a meagre supply of three- and four-bedroom apartments.
Typically arranged along a hallway, punctuated at each end with a stairwell, larger units in multifamily buildings tend to be long and narrow, constraining access to elements essential to a healthful living environment: natural light and fresh air.
Having Edmonton families decide between a spacious detached home in the suburbs or an inadequate apartment in the city is not a fair choice, Mr. Janz says, especially when cities elsewhere are able to successfully meet the needs of families on a small footprint.
“When you look around the world, in almost every major city families live in apartments.”
In European cities, from Paris to Berlin and Copenhagen, low- and mid-rise apartment buildings boast units large enough to accommodate three bedrooms, if not more. Also, unlike the shoebox apartments that proliferate in residential towers across Canada, access to daylight and cross ventilation isn’t a luxury exclusive to those who can afford a penthouse or a corner unit.
“As somebody who lives with two children in a three-bedroom apartment, I think that having more apartment buildings with different floor plans and layouts would be a huge win,” Mr. Janz says. “That’s why you see more families living in urban areas in jurisdictions that allow point-access blocks.”
A point-access block is a type of multifamily building where apartments are laid out around a single set of stairs (also known as a single egress staircase.) This arrangement gives the interior layouts of each unit more flexibility, as windows can be placed on two or more walls to let in sunlight and fresh air into all living environments. It also facilitates the feasibility of family-sized suites.
“Point-access block offers a way to provide more living space, bedrooms, and larger units on smaller lots,” explains Michael Dub, principal of Edmonton-based Dub Architects.
According to industry insiders, a key barrier to designing more livable apartments in Canada is that, to provide a safe evacuation route in case of a fire, the National Building Code requires two stairwells be constructed in residential buildings taller than two storeys. But this undermines the viability of low-rise, multiunit dwellings on smaller sites.
The reason a single fire safety measure seems to have an outsized impact on the construction of gentle density is that stairwells take up valuable real estate, limiting the number of apartments that can be built on a site while maintaining a reasonable return on investment.
A point-access block is a type of multifamily building where apartments are laid out around a single set of stairs.Dub Architects
“The difficult part for us is in trying to get the land assembled, and [reach] the size of the site that we need to create a product that’s going to be buildable,” says Ian O’Donnell, development manager at Westrich Pacific, a multifamily developer based in Edmonton.
“Innovative ideas like point-access blocks open up housing opportunities on smaller lots, increasing the yield and gross floor area you can create to produce revenue.”
Like the National Building Code, the Alberta Building Code also requires two means of egress in multifamily buildings at least three storeys tall. However, both documents contemplate a process for builders to propose an alternative solution that meets, or exceeds the objectives stated in these codes.
The City of Edmonton’s new Point Access Block Guide, introduced in February, leverages this process to improve the feasibility of single-egress buildings without compromising people’s safety, and signals that the city is open to innovation.
“The alternative solution process is based on this idea that you either meet the rules as they are written in the code, or you meet the performance expectations through an alternative solution,” explains Cameron Bardas, a senior engineer strategist at the City of Edmonton. “That’s the only compliance path we have available to us in the city.”
To guarantee the safety of a single-stair building’s occupants during a fire, the guide directs applicants to propose additional fire safety measures, such as automated sprinklers and smoke management systems, as well as to engage architects, engineers, fire protection and safety code consultants in the preparation of a comprehensive variance proposal.
The Point Access Block Guide includes 13 design studies that maximize floor-area efficiency while mitigating fire risk on a variety of sites and zoning configurations. Aligned with international best practices, none of the studies in the guide propose more than four apartments per floor and building heights are capped at six storeys.
After an applicant submits their alternative solution, City of Edmonton staff, including building permit specialists, planners and safety code officers, will review the proposal and collectively decide whether it meets the objectives stated in the Alberta Building Code.
“If you can show through professional analysis that you’re doing just as well in terms of performance outcomes, it is just as code compliant to do something different,” Mr. Bardas says. “But you have to go through that extra exercise of showing that it’s just as good.”
The alternative solution process shouldn’t extend a project’s typical timeline, as long as applicants adhere to the city’s guide, Mr. Bardas says.
“Although it is additional work, the process really doesn’t fall outside the regular time frame for a building permit application.”
The successful implementation of alternative solutions is expected to help further the city’s densification efforts following the renewal of Edmonton’s zoning bylaw in 2023, which allows for apartment buildings as tall as three storeys as-of-right on residential parcels across the city.
“The Point Access Block guide offers another tool to help meet the density targets that the zoning bylaw now allows,” explains Mr. Dub, whose architecture firm was tasked with the preparation of the guide, alongside PUBLIC Architecture and LMDG Building Code Consultants, by the City of Edmonton.
Moreover, the impact of Edmonton’s Point Access Block Guide could resonate past the city’s boundaries, as it cannot only be adapted to meet local zoning regulations in jurisdictions across Alberta, the alternative solutions that arise in Edmonton could also enable further change.
Following British Columbia’s lead, Alberta is also looking to modify its provincial building code to facilitate the construction of gentle density, including single-stair apartment buildings and secondary suites.
Scott Fash, CEO of BILD Alberta, and a member of a provincial construction codes working group formed in November, says that if an approved variance proves effective, harmonizing its application across the province is essential to improving housing affordability.
“If you’ve already got something that’s been worked through, let’s then make a code change so that other jurisdictions don’t have to go on and reinvent the wheel,” he says. “If we can come up with a province-wide standard, it makes everybody’s life easier.”
Although increasing the feasibility of point-access blocks should eventually broaden the options available to Edmonton families, this initiative is not a silver bullet.
“This is not going to fix the housing crisis or make housing more affordable on its own,” Mr. Janz cautions. “But the absence of it is not helping anyone.”