The Future of Housing and Office Space in North America with Sheila Botting

In this episode of the Commercial Real Estate Podcast, hosts Aaron and Adam interview Sheila Botting, Principal and President of Americas Professional Services at Avison Young. Join us as we discuss the challenges of housing affordability in Canada and the current state of the office market. We explore potential solutions, such as converting older office buildings into residential units, and discuss the impact of remote work on office space requirements. 

Sheila shares her experiences and insights on creating a hybrid work model and designing office spaces for collaboration, professional development, and employee well-being. Don’t miss this engaging conversation on the future of housing and office spaces!

Topics covered include:

• Introduction of Sheila Botting and her background in CRE in North America
• Canada’s housing affordability challenge and the supply-demand imbalance in Toronto
• Sheila suggests converting older office buildings into residential units
• The impact of remote work on office space requirements
• Importance of designing office spaces to accommodate different work styles and roles
• Sheila discusses the future of the office market
• Sheila’s experience with a flexible working model
• Emphasis on creativity and innovation in the commercial real estate industry

More about our guest…

Over her 36-year career in North American real estate, Sheila Botting has deservedly earned the moniker of a “go-to” commercial real estate advisor. She is currently a member of Avison Young’s Global Real Estate Executive. Throughout her executive real estate career, Sheila has led several multidisciplinary real estate teams and assignments across the industry with owners, investors, and corporate occupiers alike.

At Avison, her mandate is accelerating growth across the Americas for the company’s professional services platform, including corporate real estate, consulting, project management, valuation, and real estate and infrastructure advisory. The firm’s recent integration of GVA in Europe provides a substantive platform to accelerate America’s growth and marketplace opportunity.

Before Avison Young, Sheila was a Senior Partner and Canadian Real Estate Leader with Deloitte LLP and President of Deloitte Real Estate Inc. In this role, she led many substantive assignments worldwide across both public and private sectors, including Deloitte’s corporate real estate strategy and implementation program across Canada. This transformative workplace opportunity redeveloped the firm’s occupier portfolio of some 2 million with major developments at Toronto’s Bay Adelaide East Tower, Montreal’s Deloitte Tower, and others across the country. 

Her vision and expertise helped Deloitte transform its “Workplace of the Future,” resulting in significant workplace improvements, productivity gains, and cost savings, along with creating a prototype “Smart Building/Workplace.” In 2016, Toronto Life named Deloitte Tower Toronto the “best new office workplace.” Before Deloitte, Sheila was Executive Managing Director of Cushman & Wakefield, a leading full-service professional firm and a global partner. Sheila led the Canadian professional services operation, including real estate valuation and advisory services for the industry’s most prominent investors, owners, and corporate occupiers. 

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