Advertise on podcast: Building Toronto's Skyline with Nick Ainis

On this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with Gilberto Fernandes, Canadian historian, public scholar, and author of Militants, Mobsters and Mavericks: The Men Who Built Modern Toronto in the 1960s–70s, about Giovanni (John) Stefanini, Gerry Gallagher's cerebral successor and founding business manager in the building trade unions (such as LIUNA), who helped lead the struggle for fair wages, worker safety, and union organizing amid clashes with contractors, politicians, and organized crime figures (like Hamilton Mafia boss Johnny Papalia).

On this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis and Gilberto Fernandes have a second conversations about Militants, Mobsters and Mavericks: The Men Who Built Modern Toronto in The 1960s-70s, Gilberto's new book available now.

On this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis and Toronto Mike chat with Karen Stintz before a live at The Old Mill.

On this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with Gilberto Fernandes, author of Militants, Mobsters and Mavericks: The Men Who Built Modern Toronto in the 1960s–70s, about the men who built Toronto in the 1960s and 70s.

On this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with Mark Tigchelaar, President of GeoSolv Inc., about the geoscience profession and the arena of geotechnical contracting.

On this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with former Toronto city councillor Karen Stintz about how we can fix Toronto.

In this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with David Huynh, Partner at Bousfields. David has extensive experience in obtaining development approvals (Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment, Site Plan Approval, Plan of Subdivision, Plan of Condominium, Consent and Minor Variance), project coordination and management, undertaking reports and studies (Planning and Urban Design Rationales, Segment Studies, Block Context Plans, Housing Issues Reports) and associated research assignments, as well as providing expert planning witness at the Ontario Land Tribunal and presenting to Council, Committees and the general public. In line with Bousfields Inc.’s collaborative approach, David works to build strong relationships with clients, consultants, community members and municipal staff to work towards solutions and positive outcomes. Specializing in land use planning matters, he has been involved in a number of intensification and infill projects, as well as greenfield projects, throughout Toronto and the GTA. These projects include residential, commercial, office, institutional and mixed-use developments.

In this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with Neil Lowhar, co-founder and Vice President of the ProPlanix Consulting Group, and Stephen Callender, President and founder of ACCA, about the Afro Canadian Contractors Association, a not-for-profit organization that works to increase the presence of BIPOC contractors and construction companies across Canada.

In this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with Jeff Cogliati, founder of Blood Architects. Bloom Architects is a next-generation architectural practice rooted in the belief that great design has the power to transform lives, communities, and the future of our planet. Our mission is to reimagine the built environment through a fusion of timeless architectural principles and cutting-edge technologies, creating spaces that are not only beautiful and functional - but deeply human. They are a tech-native design firm committed to leveraging advanced AI-driven tools, parametric modeling, digital twins, and environmental simulation to elevate every phase of the design process. From conceptual site planning to construction detailing, our work is informed by data, optimized for sustainability, and inspired by the promise of a more connected, resilient world.

On this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with Christian Huggett, Managing Director, Head of Development at Podium Developments. Christian is their leader in all things Design; he steers them through site acquisition to project stabilization, development and design trends, site and building layout, municipal approvals, sales and marketing, and leads their development management team as a member of Podium’s executive team.

Recorded live in front of a big and boisterous audience at Viale, Nick Ainis chats with Brad Bradford about affordable housing, the missing middle and why he wants to be the next mayor of Toronto.

In this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with Marlon Bray, a chartered quantity surveyor by trade who has almost 30 years of experience in the Construction and Development field. His expertise encompasses countless sectors of the industry from high-rise residential, through Universities & Colleges, highways, and large-scale transit. Over his career, Marlon has been involved in more than 7,000 projects, with the past number of years more focused on residential, office and industrial. Both the typology and scale are vast array from small $100K renovations to $35B master plan projects, with a handful of $1B+ mixed use developments thrown in for good measure.

On this spirited episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with Darius Saplys, VP of Operations/Director, API Consultants & Saplys Architects. They chat, they spar, they love... do not miss this battle of the giants.

In this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with Oliver David Krieg, President at Intelligent City. OD is an expert in mass timber construction and industrialized manufacturing in the AEC industry. With a PhD in robotics and parametric design, OD serves as the President of Intelligent City, leading the company’s strategic vision and execution. Under his leadership, Intelligent City is scaling its mass timber product platform for high-rise multi-family housing.

In this episode of Building Toronto's Skyline, Nick Ainis chats with Paul Frith, President, Ontario Geothermal Association & JPF Consulting about the benefits of low carbon and energy efficient technologies.