2024 Finalists

Founded in 2001 by the Canadian Urban Institute, the Brownie Awards recognize the innovative efforts of professionals who rehabilitate sites that were once contaminated, under-utilized, and undeveloped by remaking them into productive residential and commercial projects that contribute to the growth of healthy communities across Canada.

As an annual celebration recognizing excellence in the remediation and redevelopment of brownfield sites across Canada, the Brownie Awards are presented proudly in partnership by the Canadian Brownfields Network and Actual Media.

This year a historic number of nominations were received, including a remarkable variety of projects and programs, from smaller-scale community initiatives to once-in-a-generation infrastructure developments. Here’s a good look at the outstanding achievements of the well-deserving finalists for the 25th Anniversary – 2024 Brownie Awards.

REPROGRAM

Legislation, Policy and Program Initiatives

Location: Richmond, British Columbia

What is now Metro Vancouver’s largest single-owner-developed business park was a 130 hectare landfill of inert demolition construction and land-clearing waste. Montrose Industries is converting a landfill that had been operating since the 1970s into a much needed logistical hub in a metropolitan area desperately short of industrial land. This project’s groundbreaking approach to regulatory challenges and innovations in infrastructure development have been a gamechanger for other brownfield remediation projects.

Historically, regulations would have prevented a landfill from continuing to operate while closed sections became brownfields. A phased development approach simply did fit within the existing provincial regulatory process.

Montrose Industries, supported by PGL Environmental Consultants, recognized an opportunity to develop a precedent-setting approach. Through a collaborative and consultative process, we worked with stakeholders, the Province and the City of Richmond to achieve buy-in. This required finding areas of alignment between overlapping regulatory instruments (Landfill Operational Certificate and BC Contaminated Sites Regulation Instrument).

Apart from the significant precedents this project has established on the regulation side, it also exemplifies innovative approaches to sustainable remediation and massive infrastructure investment.

A rigorous process of investigation, remediation, risk assessment and in-situ risk management have enabled closed portions of the landfill to be transformed into the Richmond Industrial Centre while portions of the landfill are continuing to accept waste. We have successfully achieved regulatory closure on five areas, and four buildings are now complete and occupied by high-profile tenants. At project build out, the brownfield site will be converted into 12 industrial warehouse buildings totaling three million sq. ft.

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Project Team: Montrose Properties, PGL Environmental Consultants, City of Richmond, BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, Omicron.

Location: Calgary, Alberta

The Domestic Use Aquifer (DUA) as defined in Alberta is often an inoperable pathway in municipal settings that was historically costly to assess and potentially eliminate which in turn hindered the progress of remediating contaminated sites. In 2022 Alberta published a “Guide to Excluding the Domestic Use Aquifer based on Municipal Bylaws” (the “Guide”), which enables the elimination of the DUA pathway for sites located within a municipality with a bylaw prohibiting the installation and use of potable groundwater supply wells. Now with the Guide in effect, the elimination of a non-operable DUA pathway serves as an enabling step to making urban contaminated site remediation projects more feasible. Stakeholders such as landowners and municipalities had been asking Alberta Environment & Protected Areas (EPA) for this option for quite some time, to align with best practices in other Canadian provinces. The published Guide requires applicants to submit site specific details to apply for acknowledgement from the municipality that an appropriate bylaw exists.

The City of Calgary has in turn determined that their Water Utility Bylaw (40M2006) meets the criteria set out in the EPA Guide to Excluding the Domestic Use Aquifer based on Municipal Bylaws (Guide, 2022). Effective 2023-08-17, The City of Calgary will be accepting requests for the municipal bylaw confirmation in accordance with Section 4 of the Guide.

Calgary is the first and only municipality in Alberta to adopt this policy to date and has developed a streamlined process for applicants to meet the Municipal Bylaw Confirmation requirement. This will result in more brownfield sites located in the City of Calgary progressing through final remediation closure and ultimately being repurposed to a productive use. Additionally, the City of Calgary’s process provides an example framework for other municipalities in Alberta to follow.

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Project Team: City of Calgary, AB Environment and Protected Areas (AEPA), City of Edmonton, Alberta Municipalities Association, Canadian Fuels Association

 

Location: Ontario

The Qualified Persons Community of Ontario (QPCO) was formed in 2021 through the awareness and support of PEO/OPSE, PGO, the MECP and ONEIA.

QPCO is a volunteer-based organization administered by Ontario Environment Industry Association (ONEIA) to provide a forum for Qualified Persons to congregate and discuss common issues, educate themselves through discussion, peer to peer communications, webinars, and presentations. QPCO is working with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to continue to improve the Records of Site Condition process in Ontario (through Reg. 153/04) for the betterment of the Brownfield industry through open dialogue and understanding of the process to attain time certainty and costs for the leaders of brownfield redevelopment.

QPCO also provides a forum for Ontario’s Risk Assessors to congregate and discuss common issues, as there is no established body for Risk Assessors.

QPCO has also been working with the Policy Division of the MECP on implementation efforts for the recently established Excess Soil Regulation (Reg. 406/19).

Through the establishing of QPCO, there is a focused avenue for improvement of Qualified Persons processes, guidance documentation and strong working relationships with the MECP with the community of QPs in Ontario.

In 2023 QPCO developed Mission and Vision statements and established an internal governance structure to carry QPCO beyond the few volunteers that have taken QPCO from its concept and inception. An education and programming committee is working to provide QPs with expanded knowledge and opportunities to further learn from each other and expand their horizons in their area of expertise.

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Project Team: QPCO Leadership Volunteers, ONEIA Board of Directors and Operations Staff, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Environmental Permissions (Brownfields), Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, Professional Engineers Ontario, and Professional Geoscientists Ontario.

REMEDIATE

Sustainable Remediation

Location: Montréal, Quebec

As part of a condominium construction project by a developer (Vivenda) the environmental remediation of the property located on the site of a former quarry, in Montréal was to be carried out. An industrial building was demolished in 2015, and the land had been vacant prior to this project.

Characterization studies indicated the presence of soils contaminated with organic compounds (MAHs, PH (C10-50) and PAHs) and inorganic compounds in concentrations exceeding regulatory limit values of Quebec’s Land Protection and Rehabilitation Regulation.
The contamination extended from ground surface to a depth of 9.5 m. The water table was at a depth of 4.5 m. Biogases were present in low concentrations.

In Quebec, a remediation approach by risk assessment is not accepted when petroleum compounds are involved.
In-situ treatment was consequently proposed for soils contaminated in depth by petroleum hydrocarbons. However, such an approach can take a long time before the remediation criteria are reached, precluding financing of the project.

ALTRA | SANEXEN proposed a remediation approach combining excavation of contaminated soils up to the level of the groundwater table, in-situ treatment of soils contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons and a risk assessment to leave the contaminated soils with metals in place. A decision-making diagram was integrated into the remediation plan to include a technical impracticability option, allowing an end to the in-situ treatment, a significant departure from the established procedure.
The approval of the remediation plan facilitated brownfield redevelopment by allowing the client to get funding from the bank.

This approach allowed the client to build a 4-floor residential building with underground parking while the in-situ treatment was ongoing.

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Project Team: Vivenda, Sanexen Environmental Services Inc., Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs
 

Location: Clarington, Ontario

As part of the Port Hope Area Initiative, the Port Granby Project successfully relocated more than 1.3 million tonnes of historic low-level radioactive waste and marginally contaminated soils, located on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Municipality of Clarington, in Southern Ontario. The area has now been restored with native trees and grasses and forms part of a wider corridor for a nature reserve in Port Granby.

Historic low-level radioactive waste was deposited at the 17-hectare area between 1955 and 1988 by the former Crown Corporation, Eldorado Nuclear Limited, which operated in Port Hope. The company originally refined radium and later transitioned to uranium refining. These processes, which changed over time, resulted in a variety of wastes being deposited throughout Port Hope and at the neighbouring Port Granby site. This site received a variety of chemical wastes, industrial refuse, and contaminated soils during its 33 years of operation. The waste was buried in the East and West Gorges, and in trenches located in the flatter areas above the gorge and in the Central Plateau.

The Port Granby project included remediation of the site, construction of an engineered aboveground storage mound to isolate the waste from the environment, and a dedicated waste-water treatment plant for runoffs and leachate before and during construction. The Government of Canada, the Municipalities of Clarington and Port Hope with local First Nations and community groups are actively engaged in the development of a naturalized landscape end-use concept for the area, including the restored site.

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Project Team: Design Engineering, Environmental Monitoring, Construction, Waste-Water Treatment, Project Management Team

Location: Victoria Island, Ottawa, Ontario

Victoria Island spans 5.6 hectares in the Ottawa River just north of the downtown core. This site has a rich history of mixed industrial, commercial, and residential use dating back to the late 1800s. Due to these historical activities, this brownfield site had soil, groundwater, and sediment contamination.

The island is acknowledged as a place of special significance for Indigenous Peoples in the National Capital Region.

The National Capital Commission is undertaking remediation efforts to address these health and safety concerns and to prepare the site for future use that will include the development of a master plan in partnership with the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation to establish a place of special significance in the Capital for Indigenous peoples and their cultural traditions.

The project was awarded to Decontie Milestone Inc. (DMI), a partnership between Decontie Construction Inc. and Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc., established in 2016. DMI, a leading Indigenous environmental contracting and construction company, is majority-owned by Decontie Construction Inc., the first Algonquin-Anishinabe-owned general contractor licensed by the Régis du bâtiment du Québec (RBC).

The project included environmental site remediation on parts of the western side of Victoria Island, a portion of the north side of Amelia Island, and the restoration of a section of the Timberslide Ravine watercourse, installation of aquatic habitat features in the Timberslide watercourse including four rock (riffle) structures and other aquatic habitat features (boulder clusters and logs) at the downstream section of the Timberslide Ravine watercourse.

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Project Team:
Owner/Client:  National Capital Commission
Owner’s engineer/consultant:  WSP
Contractor:  Decontie Milestone Inc.

REMEDIATE

Technological Innovation

Location: Red Rock, Ontario

The Red Rock Mill Site Rehabilitation Project has been led by the Red Rock Mill Development’s (RRMDI) team in support of the BMI Group’s efforts to revitalize brownfield sites across Ontario. The mill site officially closed all operations in 2006, and remained a vacant site until RRMDI’s acquisition in 2021. Over the past 3 years, RRMDI has set forth a development plan and remediation efforts to transform the site into a Critical Mineral Hub (CMH) for Northern Ontario.

The Red Rock mill site posed many environmental challenges, with a lengthy history of contaminating activities from legacy mill operations and industrial works. When RRMDI adopted the site, a number of key items were presented as a priority for remediation and restoration:

● The Bunker C Oil Tank removal and natural restoration area.
● The former Administration Building abatement and demolition.
● Site-wide waste clean-up and pollution prevention.

All of these items have now been completed with the support of the teams listed below. An especially exemplary project – The Bunker C Oil Tank – required significant efforts from a multi-disciplinary team of contractors, engineers and environmental planners alike. The tank was left in a state of disrepair from previous operations at the site, and had leaked Bunker C oil into the surrounding bermed area, denoted the ‘Bunker C Pond’. This project – completed in the summer of 2023 – was a major milestone for the Red Rock mill site, and a massive win for the Township of Red Rock.

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Project Team: The Red Rock Mill Site remediation initiative had contributions from many teams and disciplines, however, the standout contributors are: Red Rock Indian Band (Indigenous Partner), The BMI Group (Parent Company of RRMDI, Project Developer), Pinchin Ltd. (Environmental Consultant), Township of Red Rock, GFL Environmental

Location: Mississauga, Ontario

The project is focused on fostering the redevelopment of a dormant hazardous brownfield located in the heart of a growing and active industrial and commercial community. With PCBs, chlorinated solvents, PHCs, potential off-site migration and free product – the site has a varied and storied past, complete with several ultimately unsuccessful remedial efforts and the well-intentioned but unfortunately mismanaged handling of hazardous levels of PCBs. However, through the implementation of a robust property boundary control with PRBs, hotspot remediation and free-product isolation, and vapour intrusion mitigation and management, this 14.6 acre diamond in the rough is being polished into a safe and profit generating asset.

This project involved the installation >1000 ft. long funnel-and-gate style permeable reactive barrier. This innovative boundary control represents the first of its kind to use a catalyzed zero valent iron (ZVI)-impregnated engineered carbon-based reactive media as the primary treatment amendment while also including an ‘Containment Zone’ designed to hydraulically isolate and contain free-phase CVOCs and PCBs located in fractured bedrock. The whole purpose of which is to manage impacts onsite safely to allow for redevelopment of the property while at the same time prevent the requirement of off-site disposal of thousands of tonnes of impacted soils.

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Project Team: Pinchin, Montcrest, VEI Contracting, Green Infrastructure Partners Inc.

Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The site was formerly used as a gas bar and service station from 1964-2011. Upon decommissioning the storage tanks and building in 2011, significant concentrations of PHCs and VOCs remained in the soil and groundwater across most of the site. Remediation estimates for several different traditional approaches exceeded the value of the land by a significant margin, leading to the site sitting vacant and unused between 2011-2022 due to lack of an economic path to remediation and redevelopment. In 2022 R Squared Environmental Inc. was retained to implement an anaerobic remediation program after providing a costed proposal at a price point that made remediation costs far less than the land value, thus providing an economic way to remediate the vacant brownfield site and facilitate redevelopment within a 2-year timeframe. The City of Saskatoon awarded the project a significant one-time grant through their vacant lot and adaptive re-use incentive program.

All soil and groundwater was remediated through anaerobic bioremediation below ground surface on the site itself. Offsite disposal was entirely avoided. A customized mix of solid and liquid amendments containing micro and macronutrients was mixed into the contaminated soils with an excavator as fine-grained soils made injection methods impractical. Overall remediation costs were approximately 90 per cent less when compared to excavate and remove estimates. Remediation was completed within two years and construction of a new fast food outlet is underway. The site will be a source of local employment and increased tax revenue for the city since redevelopment.

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Project Team: R Squared Environmental Inc., Aggressive Outdoor Services Inc., Saskatoon Cooperative Association Ltd., Northstar Innovative Developments Inc., City of Saskatoon

 

RESTRATEGIZE

Partnerships and Community Engagement

Location: Welland, Ontario

The Empire Canals Development in Welland, Ontario comprises the redevelopment of 2 former industrial lands adjacent to the Welland Canal. The western portion (Canals West) was first developed by John Deere in 1911 for the manufacture of rotary cutters, utility vehicles and loaders. Manufacturing ceased in 2009. The eastern portion (Canals East), a former auto wrecking facility, was also subject to extensive infilling due to dredging activities during Canal construction. The 145-hectare site is actively being re-developed for mixed-use, including residential (over 2200 homes), parkland, institutional, community, and commercial uses. To date, 400 homes have already been constructed. The development brings much needed housing to Welland to support the employment growth in Welland and the Region of Niagara.

Given the historic industrial nature of the site, extensive environmental site assessments were completed to characterize soil and groundwater quality. The investigations revealed various impacts resulting from the historic manufacturing operations. To enable redevelopment, extensive remediation, risk assessment, and soil management activities have taken place to support the filing of multiple RSCs, facilitating the change in land use. The revitalization has also included the construction of a City sports complex (Empire Sportsplex), the re-alignment of Canal Bank Road to allow the creation of a community park adjacent to the Welland Recreational Canal, and reconstruction of the Forks Road Bridge over the Welland Canal (the original bridge was demolished in 2018 due to safety issues).

This development showcases how the private developers can work with municipal partners to revitalize brownfields. Empire worked with Welland’s Community Improvement Plan for Brownfield Properties and Niagara Region’s Brownfield Incentives Program to access incentives and accelerate the project.

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Project Team:  Empire Communities, Armstrong Planning, EXP Services Inc., YORK1, MBTW

Location: Squamish, British Columbia

Operation of a chlor-alkali plant for multiple decades resulted in losses of mercury to the environment via plant exhaust, effluent, and the use of unlined lagoons. In 1999, a Remediation Order was issued by the BC Ministry of Environment to remediate the Site and impacted off-site lands and water bodies. After years of remediation throughout the entire peninsula, a plume of mercury contaminated groundwater remains and discharges to Howe Sound. As part of ongoing management, the Site was vacated and fenced to exclude public use but as Squamish had no public waterfront access, the community regularly would access the Site for recreational purposes. Recognizing this gap in natural community amenities, a beautiful Squamish Nation-themed oceanfront park was built over a newly reclaimed shoreline with a playground, a traditional intertidal root garden, two beaches, a boat launch, and a large grassy open space for festivals and art installations. In May 2024, Sp’akw’us Feather Park was opened to the public, giving the patient community access to the waterfront they had been craving.

A joint project led by Matthews West and the District of Squamish, funding was provided in part by provincial brownfields funding and GMF grants. The Park was designed to promote the cultural restoration of the area with significant input, support, and knowledge sharing from the Squamish Nation. The use of the land in this regard required outside the box thinking to remediate associated exposures. The order to remediate was implemented twenty-five years ago and ongoing management has seen significant reductions in impacts.

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Project Team:   Matthews West, Stantec, District of Squamish, Squamish Nation

Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Station 20 West is an innovative community funded, community focused brownfield redevelopment in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan built in 2012. It sits on the edge, connecting several inner-city neighbourhoods and adjacent to the rail line that fed the West. The population has high concentration of poverty and is predominantly Indigenous and Immigrant. The goal was to create a Social Enterprise Centre, bringing much needed multifaceted social benefits to the community such as food security, public health access, a grocery store, housing co-op, and other community NGOs, like a new mothers support group. Sadly, the grocery store is now closed, however there is an Indigenous ran café.

As early as 1907, the site was used by Monarch Lumber Co, provided Saskatoon homes with building lumber and coal for heating homes in the cold winters. From the 1950s to early 2000s there were other various business on site. The site was impacted by hydrocarbon, benzene, lead, and arsenic contamination. It was remediated in 2006 though a cost sharing between the Province of Saskatchewan, the City of Saskatoon, and federal Government. The land was sold from the City for 1$ and the redevelopment was then almost entirely community funded, with a provincial government change, the new government pulled the funding. Station 20 West scaled down their project and was funded by the wider Saskatoon community. This redevelopment has spurred other redevelopment in the area, and created a much needed connection between the two sides of the tracks, and most importantly a sense of place for this community.

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Project Team:   CHEP Good Food Inc., Quint Development, City of Saskatoon.

REBUILD

Project Development at the Building Scale

Location: Downtown Toronto, Ontario

This former commercial and industrial property was previously occupied by the provincial headquarters of the Liquor Corporation Board of Ontario (LCBO) in Toronto’s harbourfront. The project site was historically inundated by Lake Ontario, prior to infilling to support the industrial development of the waterfront in the early 1900s. Soil contamination consistent with infilling was identified across the Site. In addition, groundwater contamination was identified on the northwestern portion of the Site associated with underground storage tanks associated with the former LCBO building operation.

Mixed-use development, including residential, commercial, institutional, community, and parkland uses has been proposed for the Site. The new development plans will include the retention of the historically significant north and west building façades of the former LCBO office and warehouse which will be incorporated into the development which will include 90, 87, 79 and 16-storey mixed-use condominium and rental buildings, including 200 units dedicated to affordable housing.

As the northern and western facades of the building are to be preserved (i.e., left in place), full-scale remediation of identified soil and groundwater impacts is not feasible below the facades and thus a Tier III Risk Assessment of the development lands is being conducted to support Record of Site Condition filing per the requirements of Ontario Regulation (O.Reg.) 153/04 due to the proposed change in land use. In addition, management of soil required to removed to facilitate the construction of underground structures will be carried out in compliance with O.Reg. 406/19 related to On-Site and Excess Soil Management.

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Project Team:  Menkes, EnVision, Astro Excavating, architectsAlliance, RV Anderson Associates Limited, Stephenson Engineering

Location: Toronto, Ontario

The Weston Bakery (originally founded as Brown’s Bread Limited) made the iconic Wonder Bread among other baked goods and consisted of a mix of one-to-four-storey factory buildings constructed from 1920 to 1929 with later additions added haphazardly to the site as it adapted to changing manufacturing needs.

When it closed in 2014, the sturdy industrial fabric of the main factory structure presented an opportunity to re-imagine the factory as part of a new mixed-use building that continues a legacy of responding to its ever-changing surroundings.

The approximately 1.54-acre site is now occupied by the Wonder Condominium, a U-shaped, eight-storey mid-rise building with 285 residential units including townhouses and hard- and soft-lofts. The base of the U is formed by the Edwardian brick factory buildings retained along Eastern Avenue with retail spaces at grade and loft units on the upper floors, with new construction setback behind and above. The two wings along Logan and Booth Avenues create an interior courtyard and consist of two-storey townhouses at the street, stepping back with private terraces as the building increases in height. Below the courtyard is a two-level underground garage with parking spaces for the building that can also be purchased by neighbouring residents. A landscaped amenity terrace is located at the eighth floor, set back to minimize overlooking adjacent backyards.

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Project Team: Diamond Schmitt, GBCA, Greywood, Alterra, Entuitive

Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Radiance Cohousing is a collaboratively-built and -operated housing development located in the core of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 2018. The project was led by the members of Radiance Cohousing Development Company, designed by BLDG Studio, built by Renew Development Cooperative, and financed by New Community Credit Union.

The development includes 8 privately-owned townhouses, which range in size and cost and one unit as a common house. The development has extensive solar panels on the property. The build meets passive solar house standards, reducing energy use in the era of climate change for the harsh prairie winters and scorching summers. All the units are facing a shared yard that has been xeriscaped with sustainability goals of having native plants, urban garden, and low water needs. The site has large rain water storage, EV chargers,

The land was previously used as industrial land for over 100 years, record keeping was unreliable at the start of the 1900s, fire insurance maps would draw over changes, making it difficult to know the true scope of the land. Inferring from the maps, there was oil tanker storage prior to the propane plant, and a rail spur serving the west industrial area. The land sat vacant for decades, sitting on the edge of a diverse, low income neighbourhood. Renew Development purchased the entire block and remediated the whole parcel. Then, sold the 5 lots to Radiant Co-Housing (the remaining north lots have become affordable housing as well).

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Project Team:  Radiance Cohousing Development Company, BLDG Studio, Renew Development Cooperative

 

RENEW

Project Development at the Neighbourhood Scale

Location: Waterloo, Ontario

The Spur Line Common development in Waterloo, Ontario has been established at the site of the former Ontario Die Company (ODC), located at the corner of Roger Street and Moore Avenue, within an existing residential neighbourhood. ODC occupied the site from 1923 to 2019, manufacturing tooling, molds, and dies within a 59,000 sq.ft. industrial building. A limited number of lots adjacent to the ODC property were also purchased to assemble 2.05 hectares and facilitate the development of several new housing options for the area. The site vision and design were established through extensive engagement with the City of Waterloo, the surrounding neighbourhood, and the family owners of ODC.

In order to realize the site vision, significant demolition, environmental remediation, and construction efforts were undertaken, including the phased demolition of the ODC and adjacent buildings, and the filing of both a generic RSC and an RSC via a Risk Assessment. The RA identified mitigation measures for the ODC site, including capping and vapour intrusion mitigation, which were incorporated into the design.

The community is now comprised of 248 residential units, with a range of housing types including two, 6-storey mid-rise buildings and 68 stacked townhomes. Amenities within the new community include a public park block, a corner parkette at Roger St. & Moore Ave., and two walkways through the property that connect and integrate the site with the adjacent neighbourhoods and King Street. Public access to these new community features was a significant design feature and provided through public easements.

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Project Team: Reid’s Heritage Homes

Location: Richmond, British Columbia

What is now Metro Vancouver’s largest single-owner-developed business park was a 130 hectare landfill of inert demolition construction and land-clearing waste. Montrose Industries is converting a landfill that had been operating since the 1970s into a much needed logistical hub in a metropolitan area desperately short of industrial land. This project’s groundbreaking approach to regulatory challenges and innovations in infrastructure development have been a gamechanger for other brownfield remediation projects.

Historically, regulations would have prevented a landfill from continuing to operate while closed sections became brownfields. A phased development approach simply did fit within the existing provincial regulatory process.

Montrose Industries, supported by PGL Environmental Consultants, recognized an opportunity to develop a precedent-setting approach. Through a collaborative and consultative process, we worked with stakeholders, the Province and the City of Richmond to achieve buy-in. This required finding areas of alignment between overlapping regulatory instruments (Landfill Operational Certificate and BC Contaminated Sites Regulation Instrument).

Apart from the significant precedents this project has established on the regulation side, it also exemplifies innovative approaches to sustainable remediation and massive infrastructure investment.

A rigorous process of investigation, remediation, risk assessment and in-situ risk management have enabled closed portions of the landfill to be transformed into the Richmond Industrial Centre while portions of the landfill are continuing to accept waste. We have successfully achieved regulatory closure on five areas, and four buildings are now complete and occupied by high-profile tenants. At project build out, the brownfield site will be converted into 12 industrial warehouse buildings totaling three million sq. ft.

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Project Team: Montrose Properties, PGL Environmental Consultants, City of Richmond, BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, Omicron.

Location: Welland, Ontario

The Empire Canals Development in Welland, Ontario comprises the redevelopment of 2 former industrial lands adjacent to the Welland Canal. The western portion (Canals West) was first developed by John Deere in 1911 for the manufacture of rotary cutters, utility vehicles and loaders. Manufacturing ceased in 2009. The eastern portion (Canals East), a former auto wrecking facility, was also subject to extensive infilling due to dredging activities during Canal construction. The 145-hectare site is actively being re-developed for mixed-use, including residential (over 2200 homes), parkland, institutional, community, and commercial uses. To date, 400 homes have already been constructed. The development brings much needed housing to Welland to support the employment growth in Welland and the Region of Niagara.

Given the historic industrial nature of the site, extensive environmental site assessments were completed to characterize soil and groundwater quality. The investigations revealed various impacts resulting from the historic manufacturing operations. To enable redevelopment, extensive remediation, risk assessment, and soil management activities have taken place to support the filing of multiple RSCs, facilitating the change in land use. The revitalization has also included the construction of a City sports complex (Empire Sportsplex), the re-alignment of Canal Bank Road to allow the creation of a community park adjacent to the Welland Recreational Canal, and reconstruction of the Forks Road Bridge over the Welland Canal (the original bridge was demolished in 2018 due to safety issues).

This development showcases how the private developers can work with municipal partners to revitalize brownfields. Empire worked with Welland’s Community Improvement Plan for Brownfield Properties and Niagara Region’s Brownfield Incentives Program to access incentives and accelerate the project.

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Project Team: Empire Communities, Armstrong Planning, EXP Services Inc., YORK1, MBTW

Location: Squamish, British Columbia

Operation of a chlor-alkali plant for multiple decades resulted in losses of mercury to the environment via plant exhaust, effluent, and the use of unlined lagoons. In 1999, a Remediation Order was issued by the BC Ministry of Environment to remediate the Site and impacted off-site lands and water bodies. After years of remediation throughout the entire peninsula, a plume of mercury contaminated groundwater remains and discharges to Howe Sound. As part of ongoing management, the Site was vacated and fenced to exclude public use but as Squamish had no public waterfront access, the community regularly would access the Site for recreational purposes. Recognizing this gap in natural community amenities, a beautiful Squamish Nation-themed oceanfront park was built over a newly reclaimed shoreline with a playground, a traditional intertidal root garden, two beaches, a boat launch, and a large grassy open space for festivals and art installations. In May 2024, Sp’akw’us Feather Park was opened to the public, giving the patient community access to the waterfront they had been craving. The Park is part of a larger development of the property that includes upgradient commercial and residential expected to create homes for 6,500 people, 2,500 jobs, and a vibrant community with shopping, light industry, maker spaces, public parks, and trails.

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Project Team:   Matthews West, Stantec, District of Squamish, Squamish Nation

REFOCUS

Vision of Alternative Benefits to Brownfield Remediation

Location: Welland, Ontario

Union Carbide operated a 260-acre site in Welland, ON between 1906 and 1999. The operation consisted of 104 manufacturing buildings and over 7700 employees. While ferrosilicon alloys were initially produced on-site, production expanded to carbon and graphite electrodes. A 46-acre landfill was constructed on-site to manage production waste. Political and economic forces in the 1990s, led to plant closure in June 1999. In the decades that followed, the buildings were demolished and, for decades, the site sat vacant and underutilized, a sad legacy for a once commanding manufacturing hub.

By 2020, the property was purchased by King and Benton Redevelopment Corporation, along with the adjacent 70-acre former Stelco Tube lands. The >300-acre site was intended for residential use; however, the plan changed with the discovery of valuable resources on-site. The former landfill contained an extensive cache of graphite: key to the manufacture of electric vehicles! Graphite recovery was planned and a first of its kind approval under the Resource Recovery Circular Economy Legislation was obtained, facilitating recovery at a rate of 2,000 tonnes/day and precipitating the on-site redevelopment of 35 acres as a Linamar giga castings plant, a $600M investment creating 600 new jobs, reviving local manufacturing.

Redevelopment efforts also necessitated navigation of the Excess Soil regulation, with a projected >1 million m3 of Table 5.1 soil to be imported – the largest reuse site of its kind in Ontario! An RSC has also been filed for a portion of the lands to support redevelopment as affordable housing for plant employees.

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Project Team: King and Benton Redevelopment Corporation

Location: Toronto, Ontario

Beare Hill Park is a recently-opened, 75-hectare new park in the City of Toronto. It is built atop the closed Beare Road Landfill, which operated as a municipal landfill from 1967 to 1982, and has since revegetated. The stated end-use of the landfill changed from a ski hill to a botanical garden, and later, to a natural area park with trails. Through a robust collaboration between City of Toronto divisions, the site was remediated and made safe for use as a public park, providing sustainable recreational opportunities, as well as wildlife habitat. With approval from MECP, the park opened in 2022, with over 6km of trails, lookouts, natural seating, and a parking lot.

The endeavour began in earnest in 2010, with a collaborative report to City Council by Solid Waste Management Services (SWMS) and Parks, Forestry, and Recreation (PFR). Following project approval, MMM (now WSP) was contracted for a park master plan, including extensive public/ stakeholder consultation. Completion of the park master plan in 2013 paved the way for park design and construction. To minimize disturbance of natural areas, the bulk of the recreational trail network follows the original footprint of the landfill service roads. A natural heritage study found that the revegetated habitat supported four species at risk. The park was designed with care to retain the meadow, forest, and wetland ecologies that had emerged since landfill closure. Ongoing management ensures that the natural elements continue to thrive, offering climate resiliency, healthy local ecology, and active recreation greenspace for residents and visitors.

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Project Team:  WSP Global Inc., Aecom, Dynex Construction Inc., Toronto & Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), City of Toronto

Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Radiance Cohousing is a collaboratively-built and -operated housing development located in the core of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 2018. The project was led by the members of Radiance Cohousing Development Company, designed by BLDG Studio, built by Renew Development Cooperative, and financed by New Community Credit Union.

The development includes 8 privately-owned townhouses, which range in size and cost and one unit as a common house. The development has extensive solar panels on the property. The build meets passive solar house standards, reducing energy use in the era of climate change for the harsh prairie winters and scorching summers. All the units are facing a shared yard that has been xeriscaped with sustainability goals of having native plants, urban garden, and low water needs. The site has large rain water storage, EV chargers,

The land was previously used as industrial land for over 100 years, record keeping was unreliable at the start of the 1900s, fire insurance maps would draw over changes, making it difficult to know the true scope of the land. Inferring from the maps, there was oil tanker storage prior to the propane plant, and a rail spur serving the west industrial area. The land sat vacant for decades, sitting on the edge of a diverse, low income neighbourhood. Renew Development purchased the entire block and remediated the whole parcel. Then, sold the 5 lots to Radiant Co-Housing (the remaining north lots have become affordable housing as well).

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Project Team:  Radiance Cohousing Development Company, BLDG Studio, Renew Development Cooperative

 

25TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION

Outstanding Achievement in Brownfield Advancement

Location: Several sites across Nunavut

Over the past 25 years, Qikiqtaaluk Corporation has participated in several Federal Site Remediation projects on DEW Line and Long-Range Navigation Sites in Nunavut. Between 1997 and 2006, QC completed the BAF-5 Resolution Island DEW Line Site cleanup. Then, from 2008 to 2010, they went on to perform the environmental site remediation of the Cape Christian Long-range Navigation Site and from 2011 to 2014, QC’s group completed the DYE-Main Cape Dyer Site Remediation.

These 3 sites had been used in the 50s, 60s, and 70s and were left with legacy waste such as drums of liquids scattered throughout the sites, soils and water contaminated by hydrocarbons, metals, and PCBs, buildings containing asbestos, mercury and lead-paint, surface debris, equipment, batteries, old vehicles, etc. The cleanup work involved the removal of these contaminants. Some were treated on-site, and proper landfills were built to safely bury some of the debris. Other waste streams were shipped to southern disposal facilities for final disposal or recycling.

These sites are known to be frequented and/or used as nesting grounds by polar bears, foxes, several bird species, and marine fauna. They are traditional hunting grounds for the Inuit and had not been used for several years because the Inuit feared the contamination may affect the animals. Once the sites were remediated, the Inuit people were able to enjoy the Nuna (land, in Inuktitut) once again. Since then, QC with its partner Sanexen, formed a company named Qikiqtaaluk Environmental, which operates a waste processing facility in Iqaluit.

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Project Team:  Qikiqtaaluk Corporation, Qikiqtani Logistics Inc., Sanexen Environmental Services, Defence Construction Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

Location: Calgary, Alberta

More than a century ago, Calgary’s East Village sat at the heart of activity – abutting the historic Fort Calgary outpost, established in 1875 by the North West Mounted Police and by Indigenous nations since time immemorial. Over time, East Village served as a commercial and industrial hub and the land use resulted in significant environmental challenges and degradation.

By the 1970s, a substantial portion of the neighbourhood was cleared as part of an urban renewal project. While three senior-living apartment complexes were constructed, the surrounding area remained undeveloped and underutilized in the decades following.

In 2009, the East Village Master Plan (EVMP) was established as the framework for redeveloping East Village into a vibrant, mixed-use, creative city neighbourhood. Approved by Calgary City Council and led by Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), the EVMP is a 20-year vision for inner-city transformation, entailing a ground-up overhaul and revitalization of the entire neighbourhood.

Today, it’s home to numerous award-winning spaces, including the beloved Central Library that was constructed above a curving C-Train tunnel, the multi-use Platform Innovation Centre that was built to easily transform from an active parking structure to a mixed-use building, numerous historical restorations, and the reclamation of 31-acres of St. Patrick’s Island into a thriving biodiverse urban park.

Since 2009, more than 4,000 new residents and 65 retailers have chosen East Village for its vibrancy, walkability, programming, public spaces and natural beauty. The neighbourhood will eventually be home to 11,500 residents and 300,000 sq. ft. of commercial space.

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Project Team:   Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, The City of Calgary, Broadway Malyan

Location: Region of Waterloo, Ontario

In 2006, Region of Waterloo Council approved a Brownfields Financial Incentive Program (BFIP). The goals of the program are to encourage the remediation and redevelopment of brownfield sites, to promote reurbanization and better utilize land and infrastructure within Waterloo Region by offering financial incentives including joint incentives in partnership with Area Municipalities.

The BFIP currently consists of a Joint Tax Increment Grant (TIG) and a Regional Development Charge (RDC) Exemption which is currently being phased out as of July 31, 2024. Since 2006, 49 applications for these incentives have been approved valued at over $100 million. The program has contributed to the remediation and redevelopment of 39 sites within the Cities of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, and Townships of Wilmot and Woolwich. This investment is anticipated to contribute to the creation of over 7400 new residential units, over 2.4 million square feet of new non-residential floor area, and over $1.45 billion in increased assessment value. Estimates indicate that for every public dollar of incentive provided through the TIG, $27 of increased assessment results.

Based on a review of the BFIP program in 2019, some refinements to the BFIP were made including removing the Phase Two ESA Grant, phasing out the RDC Exemption and refining the TIG incentive terms and conditions. The review concluded that the BFIP was helping to achieve Regional goals and objectives and it is a key incentive to facilitating brownfield redevelopment, reinvestment and regeneration across Waterloo Region.

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Project Team:   Region of Waterloo, City of Cambridge, City of Kitchener, City of Waterloo, Township of Wellesley

Photos of 5 sites within Waterloo Region that received funding through the Region of Waterloo Brownfields Financial Incentive Program. Property addresses:
99-107 Roger St, Waterloo;
93 Grand Ave S, Cambridge;
64 Grand Ave S, Cambridge;
151 Charles St W and 44 Francis St S, Kitchener;
181 King St S, Waterloo

The categories above reflect those refreshed in 2024. See detailed descriptions here.