Vancouver-based Renewal Development has an innovative solution to Canada’s housing shortage. The company identifies detached single-storey homes across the city that are slated for demolition and, instead of knocking them down, transports them by road (and sometimes by barge) to communities outside Greater Vancouver. The reinstalled bungalows are then modernised; in order to maximise land use, basement suites are often added before the homes are brought to market.

“Some of these houses were only built about five years ago or were refurbished in the past decade,” says Glyn Lewis, who founded Renewal Development after a career as a political advisor in Ottawa and the US. “They are in good condition so demolishing them doesn’t make sense. Some 3,000 single-family homes are torn down every year, so we thought that we could give them a second life elsewhere.”

Renewal Development’s practice of picking up entire houses and hauling them where they’re needed is a novel idea in Canada. Other countries – such as New Zealand, which rezoned several residential districts in its big cities in 2016 – are rolling out the infrastructure required to relocate detached homes and make way for larger developments. “Vancouver moves about 50 houses a year,” says Lewis. “But we should be moving 200 to 300. If we’re ambitious, many urban areas across North America could be moving in that direction.”
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Better known as a tourist destination, Byron Bay is now seeing a steady inflow of creative businesses, centred around the Byron Arts & Industry Estate. When property developer Alex Douglas arrived from Brisbane in 2017 after 10 years at the city’s foremost retail quarter, the James Street precinct, he spotted a bunch of upstart businesses seeking room to grow. “The industrial estate had good bones with incredible businesses but it didn’t have a distinct identity,” he says. “That was our opportunity.”

Douglas and his partners bought a 4,800 sq m vacant lot at the centre of the estate in 2021, setting out to knit together the rough-around-the-edges area. Four years on and the development, 18 Banksia Drive, hosts 10 thriving businesses including a furniture shop and a spa, with more incoming. “It has become a tight-knit community,” says Douglas, pointing across the road at 17 Banksia Drive, home to commercial kitchen Maria’s and coffee roaster Beam.

His property development firm, Norfolk, has since taken on more projects on the estate, soon to be joined by 16 Banksia Drive, a former mechanic shop that is in the process of being renovated and readied for more makers to move in. “It’s rewarding when it all works,” says Douglas.

This issue features our annual Property Survey, including the best in new developments.

Over the course of the civil war in Syria, at least half of the country’s social infrastructure and many of its homes have been destroyed. Now constructors, exporters and a few intrepid travel companies are among those eyeing up opportunities to help the nation rebuild.

Turkey and Qatar, two countries that consistently opposed Bashar al-Assad’s regime, are tooling up for reconstruction. A day after the fall of Assad, shares in construction and cement businesses surged on Istanbul’s Borsa stock exchange. Though Turkish contractors have been working in parts of northern Syria that were under rebel control for several years, they will now be able to expand operations.

The Buildex construction fair, which will take place at the Damascus Fairground in May, is attracting interest from Turkish, Egyptian and Saudi companies after years of dominance by Chinese and Russian firms. Businesses will then return to the Syrian capital for Turkish Construction & Energy Week in June. Elsewhere, Qatar has stated its intention to play an active role in Syria’s redevelopment; Qatar Airways resumed flights to Damascus in January after a nearly 13-year hiatus.

But all this progress rests on a fractious peace. For Western companies, doing business in Syria could prove difficult as a result of sanctions and travel advisories. Though these restrictions are being lifted, it will take time for European and US constructors to feel confident enough to begin redevelopments in Damascus.