Development strategy & permitting

Good development strategy starts with a design question, not a form question. How many homes a zone permits is a ceiling; how many the lot can hold well is the real answer. A wide corner lot in Dunbar and a narrow inner-city lot in Marpole are both in Vancouver's R1-1 zone, but they produce very different buildings. The strategy has to fit the specific parcel.

We work with the architects and designers who know Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley's residential fabric, the setback patterns, the character of the street, the way light moves through a north-south block. The goal is a multiplex that reads as a natural part of the neighbourhood rather than something imposed on it, which matters both for the approval process and for the value of the finished homes.

Density strategy also means making the right call on tenure early. In Vancouver's R1-1, building for secured rental instead of strata lets you add up to two extra homes on the same lot. That choice reshapes the design, the financing, and the partnership structure. We raise it before drawings start, because changing direction once plans are underway is expensive.

Since BC's SSMUH legislation came into effect, most standard Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley lots no longer need a full rezoning to build a multiplex. The use is now permitted outright in the applicable zone, which means a conforming project goes through a development permit and a building permit rather than a public rezoning hearing. That shift, from a discretionary process to a procedural one, is one of the most consequential changes in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley development in a generation.

In Vancouver, most conforming multiplex projects move through the Development and Building Services Centre using a combined track for smaller multiplex applications, which the city has been standing up to reduce review times. In Burnaby and Richmond, the path is similarly streamlined for projects that comply with the new SSMUH districts. In New Westminster, eligible lots were pre-zoned through the city's Infill Housing Program and can go straight to a permit.

We manage the permitting process from application through to approval. That means preparing the documentation, coordinating the required reports, geotechnical, arborist, energy modelling, and responding to the city's review comments in a way that keeps the project moving rather than letting it stall. Municipalities are processing high volumes of multiplex applications; our job is to keep yours legible and complete so it moves through the queue without unnecessary delays.

Most standard residential lots in Vancouver, Burnaby, and Richmond can now proceed to a building permit without rezoning. But not every project can. Larger sites, unusual configurations, heritage-adjacent properties, and projects that push beyond the zone's permitted maximums may still require a formal rezoning, a discretionary process with a public hearing and no guaranteed outcome.

When a rezoning is the right path, we assess whether the additional density it could unlock justifies the time and cost of the process. A rezoning that adds meaningful value to the project is worth pursuing; one that adds six months and uncertain risk for a marginal gain typically isn't. That's a judgment call we make together with our partners based on the specific lot and its numbers.