The City of Calgary's Expert Management Panel on River Flood Mitigation is seeking input from the public on their ideas about reducing the impacts from river flooding in the future.

The Panel has identified six theme areas to work on: changing climate; event forecasting; watershed management; storage, diversion, protection; infrastructure and property resiliency; and additional risk management. To ensure there is a thorough examination of these areas, the panel will be seeking input from technical experts locally and worldwide.

Two local organizations aimed at helping Calgarians find housing are asking City Hall to further streamline its approvals process to help ease demand.

Fresh off the announcement that Attainable Homes Calgary Corporation (AHCC) had acquired 42 units in north Calgary, company CEO David Watson said the city needs to make things easier for those tasked with creating housing stock.

The City of Calgary is halfway there.

Left with more than 200 incomplete concrete construction projects around the city when concrete contractor Asty Construction went out of business, the city has completed repair on over 100 of the sites.

The City of Calgary has received an Award of Excellence from The Canadian Design-Build Institute in the Infrastructure category for the West LRT project.

The CDBI Awards of Excellence are presented annually to recognize excellence in Canada's designbuild industry and to acknowledge design-build teams whose projects contribute to the growth and stature of the design-build profession.

Despite the potential of higher costs, Canadians are more likely to choose renovations that include greener options than not when updating their homes, according to a recent Scotiabank poll.

The Scotiabank Home Renovations Poll reports two-thirds of Canadian homeowners are more likely to chose green home renovations over nongreen renovation options, making their homes more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Albertans considered green renovations 65 per cent of the time.

In a recent survey, Alberta's homebuyers ranked as the most family focused in all of Canada.

The National Home Buyer Preferences Survey conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights, said 19 per cent of Alberta homebuyers placed family-oriented neighbourhood as the number community criteria, more than any other province.

The list of amenities in a typical house purchase doesn't normally contain much out of the ordinary. But every now and then, homes come with something a little more strange.

Having been in the real estate business for more than 25 years, CREB® president Becky Walters has witnessed countless transactions between buyers and sellers. One instance stands out as distinctly different. Walters said the occupants of this particular home were convinced they had a ghost as a roommate.

Calgary's downtown office market is getting a little roomier.

According to a report from Colliers International, Calgary's downtown office market saw negative absorption in the third quarter of 2013, with the vacancy rate increasing from 5.03 per cent in the second quarter to 5.67 per cent.