From Wasteland to Wonderland
02/05/2006
by -- By: Angus Ross
www.canadianbrownfieldsnetwork.ca
Over the last few years, I've had the great pleasure of sitting on the panel that reviews the projects competing for the Canadian Urban Institute's Brownie Awards. The changes I have seen in the types of projects received are quite revealing. There is no doubt in my mind that the calibre of submissions is constantly raising the bar not only for future contestants, but also for remediation and redevelopment in Canada.
In the earlier years, the majority of submissions covered a brownfield remediation that ultimately resulted in a new building being erected or the renovation of an old building maintained on a site. But there wasn't a great deal of what I would term "forward environmental thinking." Over the past two or three years, however, there has been a sea change in redevelopment activity. No longer are we seeing buildings just going up; we are seeing planned communities on larger sites and sustainable buildings on smaller sites. Many of this year's contestants were prime examples.
Planned communities, including Dockside Green in Victoria (the winner of the Best Overall Project) and the South-East False Creek redevelopment in Ontario (runner-up in the same category), have smaller future environmental footprints. This includes energy efficiency using geothermal heating, improved insulation and lower-power lighting. There are also reductions in water usage, from low-flow showers and toilets to the reuse of "grey" water for landscape irrigation. All have pedestrian encouragement and reduced vehicular traffic and, most important, mixed use and mixed income level residential properties.
Single-building developments are also taking advantage of forward environmental thinking. A surprising number are aiming for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) classification. In fact, the LEED aspect was seen regularly in the 2005 Brownie submissions. Environmental benefits are now being touted as both potentially award-winning attributes and selling features!
But what is it that differentiates a good project from a great one? I spoke with many of the attendees at the Canadian Brownfields Conference 2005 last fall and a common theme that emerged was the need for overall acceptance by the community. For example, in my own neighbourhood there is an older building (not on a brownfield). Several years ago a large hotel was proposed for the space -- in the process much of the well-loved public gardens would have to be removed. Needless to say, the community vocally opposed it and the proposal went nowhere. Today, another developer has put forward a proposal that would renew the existing building footprint and improve both amenities and the gardens while bringing in some leading-edge environmental improvements. The community is almost 100 per cent behind this new plan.
The proponent of one of the larger award-winning projects told me that when seeking local input and providing comprehensive explanations of the plans at a public meeting, local residents came up with tears in their eyes at the thought of how their neighbourhood was going to benefit. Going from wasteland to wonderland is how I would describe it.
And this, in a nutshell, is one of the challenges of brownfields outlined in the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy's national brownfields strategy: transparency of intent and overcoming the ignorance of the real social, economic and environmental benefits of brownfields redevelopment. Link this to real sustainable buildings and human-scale projects and you have the recipe for future success for your business -- and perhaps you'll also be a winner at the next Brownie Awards.
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