Morguard, Canada Infrastructure Bank and NERVA Energy Advance $145 Million Building Retrofit Program Across Canada
Morguard ReNew Fund establishes a scalable platform for high-performance building retrofits, aligning long-term capital, portfolio investment and Canadian engineering execution
Morguard Corporation, supported by the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) and NERVA Energy, is advancing a major portfolio-scale building retrofit initiative through the newly established $145 million Morguard ReNew Fund.
The program is supported by a $100 million loan from the Canada Infrastructure Bank through its Building Retrofits Initiative, alongside an equity commitment from Morguard and its investors. The Fund will enable energy-efficient retrofits across approximately 30 residential and commercial properties in Canada, creating a coordinated platform for improving building performance, reducing emissions and lowering long-term operating costs.
For NERVA Energy, which will serve as the program’s technical and delivery partner, the initiative represents an important evolution in how large building portfolios can approach energy performance: moving beyond individual retrofit projects toward a structured, measurable and scalable portfolio strategy.
A Portfolio Approach to Building Performance
Canada’s existing building stock represents a significant opportunity to improve energy performance while simultaneously strengthening the operational quality, resilience and long-term value of existing assets.
The Morguard ReNew Fund brings those objectives together at portfolio scale.
Morguard and NERVA Energy will complete deep energy retrofit and optimization projects across a diverse portfolio of multi-suite residential and commercial properties, including retail, office and industrial assets. Planned upgrades include optimization of building systems and mechanical equipment, along with fuel switching to lower-carbon heating and hot-water solutions, including heat pumps and district energy where appropriate.
Rather than applying a single technology or retrofit measure across every property, the program provides a framework through which individual buildings can be evaluated and the appropriate combination of energy conservation, mechanical optimization and lower-carbon technologies can be implemented based on each asset’s requirements.
The result is intended to be more than reduced energy consumption. It is an opportunity to improve how existing buildings operate while creating a repeatable approach that can be deployed across a large and diverse real estate portfolio.
“Establishing the Morguard ReNew Fund, with support from CIB, advances our ongoing efforts to strengthen the performance, efficiency and resilience of our properties over time. By implementing retrofit upgrades across selected assets, we are improving building operations, reducing emissions and continuing to position our portfolio for long-term value creation.”
Angela Sahi, President and Chief Executive Officer, Morguard Corporation
Capital Designed to Unlock Deeper Retrofits
A central element of the program is the alignment between long-term capital and technical execution.
The CIB’s $100 million loan is being provided through its Building Retrofits Initiative, which offers low-cost, long-term financing designed to help building owners overcome the high upfront costs and longer payback periods often associated with deep energy retrofits.
For large portfolios, that financing structure creates the opportunity to look beyond isolated retrofit measures and advance a broader combination of building optimization, mechanical modernization and lower-carbon infrastructure within a coordinated long-term strategy.
That alignment between capital, ownership and execution is central to the model.
“Delivering deep retrofits at scale takes strong collaboration between building owners, technical experts, and long-term capital. Working with Morguard and NERVA Energy, we’re accelerating deep retrofits that reduce energy use, save owners long-term operating expenses and cut emissions.”
Ehren Cory, Chief Executive Officer, Canada Infrastructure Bank
The significance of the financing extends beyond access to capital. It creates a framework through which deeper building improvements can be considered alongside measures that produce more immediate operating savings, allowing individual assets to be approached as complete building-performance opportunities rather than collections of separate projects.
Modernizing Existing Buildings for the Long Term
The opportunity is not limited to reducing utility consumption.
Canada’s existing buildings represent substantial embedded infrastructure. Extending their useful life, improving the performance of their mechanical systems and reducing long-term operating requirements can create meaningful environmental and economic value without requiring the premature replacement of otherwise viable assets.
The Morguard ReNew Fund is intended to support precisely that type of modernization.
Planned upgrades will modernize mechanical systems while supporting fuel switching to lower-carbon heating and hot-water options. In practice, that means improving how buildings operate today while creating a stronger technical foundation for future reinvestment and capital planning.
“Through investments like this, the Canada Infrastructure Bank is helping building owners make the upgrades needed to cut emissions, lower energy costs, and extend the life of the building. These large-scale retrofits will modernize buildings across Ontario and Quebec while supporting a cleaner economy and more resilient communities for generations to come.”
Hon. Gregor Robertson, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada
That concept of extending building life is particularly important to the broader retrofit opportunity.
High-performance retrofits can create a bridge between today’s building infrastructure and longer-term capital renewal. Improving system performance, gathering better operating data and addressing inefficiencies earlier can help owners make more informed decisions about when equipment should be optimized, renewed, replaced or converted.
In that sense, energy retrofit programs are increasingly becoming part of a broader asset-management strategy rather than a stand-alone sustainability initiative.
Measurable Environmental and Operational Impact
The Morguard ReNew Fund is targeting meaningful reductions in energy use and operating costs, with participating retrofit projects expected to achieve a minimum 30 per cent reduction in emissions.
Across the participating properties, the upgrades are expected to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 35,246 tonnes of CO₂e, while improving building performance and supporting long-term operational efficiency.
The scale of that impact reflects the potential of portfolio-based retrofit programs to contribute to broader infrastructure modernization.
“This $100 million investment through the Canada Infrastructure Bank will help modernize buildings across Canada, reduce emissions by more than 35,000 tonnes annually, and improve long-term energy efficiency. By partnering with Morguard and NERVA Energy, we are supporting practical solutions that strengthen our building infrastructure while advancing Canada's clean economy.”
Hon. Shafqat Ali, President of the Treasury
Importantly, the program is designed to deliver value beyond emissions reduction alone.
Mechanical optimization and modernization can improve system reliability, increase operating visibility and create better information for future capital planning. When combined with appropriate lower-carbon technologies, these measures provide a pathway for existing buildings to become more efficient and resilient while continuing to serve their occupants and owners over the long term.
Canadian Engineering and Execution at Scale
As technical and delivery partner, NERVA Energy will provide the integrated engineering and implementation capabilities required to translate the program’s investment objectives into building-level results.
NERVA’s multidisciplinary model combines engineering expertise with field execution and focuses on measurable outcomes and accountability. Its retrofit programs are designed to optimize building systems, improve energy performance and strengthen overall asset quality.
The Morguard program creates an opportunity to apply that approach across multiple asset classes and markets under a common performance framework.
This type of delivery model is increasingly important as retrofit programs become larger, more complex and more integrated. Building owners are no longer evaluating energy conservation, mechanical renewal, electrification and operational optimization as entirely separate initiatives. They are increasingly being considered together as components of overall building performance.
“This is a clear example of where the industry is heading. Retrofit programs are no longer conceptual or fragmented, they are becoming structured, measurable and scalable. We are proud to support Morguard in delivering tangible performance improvements across their portfolio while advancing Canadian expertise in this space.”
Rob Hallewick, Chief Executive Officer, NERVA Energy
A Scalable Model for Existing Buildings
The significance of the Morguard ReNew Fund extends beyond the individual properties participating in the initial program.
Canada’s transition toward lower-carbon buildings will require solutions that work within the realities of existing assets: aging mechanical infrastructure, competing capital priorities, differing building types and the requirement to maintain reliable operations throughout implementation.
The Morguard ReNew Fund demonstrates one approach to addressing that challenge.
By bringing together a major national building owner, long-term infrastructure financing and integrated engineering and implementation within a common program, the initiative creates a repeatable model for executing deeper building upgrades across an institutional portfolio.
That model also reflects a broader shift already taking place within the retrofit industry.
Energy conservation, mechanical modernization, operational performance and decarbonization are increasingly being considered as interconnected components of asset performance, rather than independent projects.
When capital, engineering and implementation are aligned around measurable outcomes, retrofit programs can move from isolated initiatives toward repeatable portfolio strategies.
The opportunity is therefore larger than energy savings alone.
It is about using better engineering, better operating data and long-term capital to extend the life of existing assets, improve how they perform and establish a more disciplined pathway for future reinvestment.
The Morguard ReNew Fund demonstrates how that can be accomplished at scale.
About the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB)
The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) is an impact investor developing the next generation of infrastructure Canadians need. Working with businesses, institutional investors, Indigenous communities and governments, the CIB helps bring private investment to infrastructure projects that support sustainable economic growth, connected communities, energy security and competitiveness.
The CIB invests in revenue-generating infrastructure projects in the public interest and uses its capital to help attract private and institutional investment and accelerate the delivery of infrastructure across Canada.
About Morguard Corporation
Morguard Corporation is a real estate investment company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: MRC). The company and its subsidiaries, Morguard REIT (TSX: MRT.UN) and Morguard North American Residential REIT (TSX: MRG.UN), own a diversified portfolio of real estate assets across multiple classes, including office, industrial, retail, multi-suite residential and hotel.
Morguard also provides real estate management services to institutional and other investors. As of June 30, 2026, Morguard’s owned and managed portfolio of assets was valued at $24.2 billion.
For more information, visit www.morguard.com
About NERVA Energy
NERVA Energy is a Canadian multidisciplinary engineering firm specializing in the delivery of high-performance building retrofit solutions.
Combining in-house engineering expertise with field execution capabilities, NERVA provides turnkey programs that optimize building systems, improve energy performance and enhance overall asset quality.
With a focus on measurable outcomes and accountability, NERVA’s solutions are supported by performance guarantees, ensuring that projected results are realized in practice. The firm works with building owners and institutional partners to deliver scalable retrofit programs that improve efficiency, reduce emissions and strengthen long-term asset performance.
To learn more about the company and our services, visit: