Proposed downtown developments in Calgary will be more than welcome as the city has an office vacancy rate of only 5.4 per cent.

According to Barclay Street Real Estate's Office Market Review, year-to-date office absorption in Calgary as of August was 2.38 million sq. ft. due to the addition of 1.84 million sq. ft. from the recently completed Bow Building.

Calgary Economic Development (CED) and the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre kicked off a year long, nine session Soul of the City speaker series to answer just that. CED is touting the series as a year-long engagement with Calgarians about what makes Calgary great and attracts the brightest people to be part of our energy.

The series kicked off Sept. 26 at the Simmons Building where more than 100 people took part in a discussion from consultant and placemaker Katherine Loflin.

It seems fitting that over the last year Airdrie has grown by roughly one sizeable family every day. Home to just over 17,500 people in 1998, the city has welcomed plenty of new additions over the last 25 years, nearly tripling in size according to the most recent census.

Growing by such leaps and bounds, Airdire has had to adapt from being a small town on the outskirts of Calgary to a full-fledged city with more than enough attractions and amenities to keep the 45,711 residents happy. Over the last year, Airdrie's population grew by 2,556, or seven new residents per day.

With all the amenities of a large city and the small town charm of days gone by; Okotoks has become one of Canada's fastest growing communities.

With a core comprised of Old Towne Okotoks with its kitschy shops and tasty cafés, surrounded by new communities in construction and every amenity imaginable Okotoks is — according to town demographics — the tenth fastest growing community in Canada between 2006 and 2011 with acurrent population of about 24,962.

Home buyers and sellers will enjoy new confidence that the home they buy is sound, if the Government of Alberta follows through on its promise to introduce legislation to augment home warranties this fall.

The new rules, to be tabled at the fall sitting of the legislature, which begins Oct. 23, would make warranties mandatory for all new homes, and also toughen fines for negligent builders. The changes come in the wake of an increase in complaints around the province of condo owners facing hefty repair bills on leaky units.