A 50 story building in Vancouver will now be 50 stories

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by WugOverlord

It's like giving a Dodge guy a brand new F-150 but putting Ram badges on it to keep him happy

Haha pretty much.

Originally Posted by Klazu

Actually, often times also 2 is omitted, so "5th floor" is in reality only the 3rd floor (see photos above).

What's the point of omitting 2? some buildings here, 2 is the +15 level, so you get that button instead, but I've never noticed no second level button at all before.

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

I've never understood this. Do people who are on the 4th floor that is labeled 5 not realize they are still on the 4th floor?

Yes but they don't care. Because it's the number they don't like. Not what the floor is in reality

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by connect2source

This is a victory for 'truth in advertising'. One Burrard Place, for example, is simply being marketing with a bold lie, 53 storeys is simply NOT 60 storeys. As a Realtor and one who's worked previously in pre-sales, I'll be glad to see an end to this ridiculous trend which was constantly growing ever-more extreme.

Absolutely agree!

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

What's the point of omitting 2? some buildings here, 2 is the +15 level, so you get that button instead, but I've never noticed no second level button at all before.

In my building most of it is 'second floor ground', which tends to confuse people. Because of the slope of the ground, there is a limited first floor across the back of the building (it's also the upper level of parking under the courtyard).

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by Vin

I wish they can also apply this logic to how Windows and Apple name their products.

3rd floor
3g floor
3gs floor
4th floor
4s floor
.
.
.
6th floor
6th floor plus

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Sheba

In my building most of it is 'second floor ground', which tends to confuse people. Because of the slope of the ground, there is a limited first floor across the back of the building (it's also the upper level of parking under the courtyard).

I look for the star to find the main ground floor lobby (although some of Klazu's pics don't have the star!)

[Metro-One]

Waiting for the first ultra PC person to call this decision racist or incensitive...

Seriously though, a great victory for rational thinking and safety.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Waiting for the first ultra PC person to call this decision racist or incensitive...

Seriously though, a great victory for rational thinking and safety.

Ultra PC?

[Metro-One]

Watch this years entire new season of South Park or an episode or two of Real Time and you will understand my feelings towards the recent Liberal Arts campus style ultra PC wave.

Huge supporter of equality and social liberties, hate over sensative hyper PC.

And yes, I would not put it past one of them to honestly call this logical decision racist / insensitive.

[Smooth]

Add me to the list of people glad to see this change. I recently noticed a 6 storey building which numbered its floors M, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 in an effort to make the "penthouse" the 8th floor.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Waiting for the first ultra PC person to call this decision racist or incensitive...

Respect our ancient condo traditions you bigot

[jlousa]

Personally the issue never bothered me and them changing it doesn't bother me either. In Europe they don't count the ground floor as 1, it's ground, the 1st floor is the 1st floor above ground, the fire dept seems to manage just fine.
I've been in hotels where there are no floor numbers at all, each floor was a different name, I've been in apt buildings with letters as floors too A-Z etc.
And they would never be able to make the new rules retroactive as the mess that would create for Canada Post and every utility would be monstrous.

[officedweller]

The issue was mentioned in a news article on One Burrard (I think) -
They will be installing lights in the emergency stair so that in the smoke and haze the firefighters climbing the stairs know which floor the fire is one.

i.e. - 9-11 call - "We have a fire on the 15th floor" or someone who runs out of the building yells, "there's someone trapped on the 15th floor"
Firefighter runs up emergency stairs - count 15 floors - oops - wrong floor, can't find the person - person dies of smoke inhalation in the time it takes to clarify where the person is.

[jlousa]

The fire dept doesn't just run up the stairs, they check the firepanel which tells them what floor the fire device was activated on first. All the floors in the stairwell are clearly identified as well, they aren't relying on a fireman carrying a bunch of equipment to have to worry about counting floors as they run up the stairs. Truth be told, they won't even take the stairs most of the time, they will take the firemans elevator up to a floor or two below the point of activation and then take the stairs the last leg. In the case of a medical emergency the elevator will take them to whatever floor the caller told them they are on be it 4,13 or whatever.... Don't get me wrong I'm all for the change, just think the reasoning isn't sound, let just be honest and say it's to keep marketers from tricking suckers.

[officedweller]

Here's the Vancouver Sun article I mentioned:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/met...343/story.html

Tall towers pose big challenges in Vancouver
Cultural and social issues are changing the city’s architecture
By Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
October 14, 2015

...

Tall condo towers, which are attractive to Asian buyers, present developers and the city with some cultural challenges. Some developers renumber towers to eliminate certain numbers, such as 13 and anything containing a four, which Chinese buyers associate with death. For example, the Burrard Place tower by Reliance/Pattison is being marketed as 60 floors, even though it has only 53.

Jon Stovell, president of Reliance Properties and a vice-chairman of the Urban Development Institute, says such “cultural accommodation” is important but can cause confusion around issues of life and safety.

“There is even some interesting tension between the City of Vancouver’s building department, who have some aggravation with these skipped floors,” he said.

As a result, Stovell said, builders have to change the way they identify floors in case of emergencies.

“Such as strobe lights in the stairwell of the actual floor where a fire alarm is occurring, as opposed to relying on the numbering,” he said. “If firemen are counting floors as they go up and the guy who called the fire alarm thinks he’s on the 30th floor but is actually only on the 28th, it doesn’t matter to the firemen because they have a strobe indicator in the stairwell."

Pat Ryan, the city’s chief building inspector, said the city has published new bulletins asking developers to consider these issues. However, he said in the city’s tallest towers, firefighters normally use locked-off elevators to access the floor below a fire. Most of the technical issues are resolved by building code consultants, who flag potential problems for developers, he said.

...

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/met...343/story.html

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by Smooth

I recently noticed a 6 storey building which numbered its floors M, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 in an effort to make the "penthouse" the 8th floor.

Now if only they would pass a law not to advertise several floors as "sub-penthouses". I have been to a building where a place was advertised as sub-penthouse but was in reality the fourth highest floor in the building. According to the agent "the building just has several floors of sub-penthouses". What a load of bull...

[Infrequent Poster]

I wonder if this will push developers (even in the smallest way) to not build highrises that are 40 to 49 floors. If they can no longer lie about the number of floors, perhaps it is in their best interest (for marketing reasons) to just not ever have to say or write that their building has 45 floors or 48 floors etc.

That probably sounds ridiculous....nevermind it is ridiculous, but I mean they were skipping the four everywhere else so...

Maybe we will end up getting more 50+ story buildings out of this change? One can hope anyhow I guess.