A Vancouver firm has been selected as the winning design for the City Centre airport lands redevelopment project.
Initially, city council narrowed down their choices from five international teams, to a shortlist of three – hailing from parts of Europe and Canada. But on Wednesday, the city revealed Perkins + Will, from Vancouver, B.C., has been selected as the winning team.
"There is a standard that's going to be set, which relies on sustainability, creativity and long-term environmental innovation, which will make this a very special development," said Mayor Stephen Mandel.
Each team developed a master plan to re-develop the airport lands and transform it into a family friendly, transit-oriented and sustainable community.
The winning team included winding waterways, open greenspaces, trendy shops and family housing in their proposal, and will focus on using geothermal energy and reserving massive space for parks in its design to reshape the 217-hecatres of land.
"We all looked at each other and said, 'how can you possibly build over this entire thing?' There has to be something better we can do and we decided preserving 50 per cent of the site for open space was the way to go," said spokesperson for Perkins + Will, Joyce Drohan.
The selection committee was made up of representatives from local, national and international business, sustainability, urban planning and policy experts.
But the final decision didn't come easy. Council was supposed to choose a winner more than a month ago, but then suddenly backed down claiming they couldn't reach a consensus.
"The big reason was their ability to build environmentally sustainable design that sell," said Coun. Kim Krushell.
Those living near the lands say it's a project worth getting excited about.
"To have all that green and canal and walkways...I can't see anybody objecting to it," said Mike Boucher.
The winning team will now be involved in a 15-month planning process, which the city said will further define roads, subdivisions, land uses, and green amenities.
The firm's proposal focused on making sure the new community had a strong connectivity to nature, history, economic opportunity and adjacent communities.
The city hopes to have shovels in the ground by 2014, with people moving in by 2017. The goal is to have the project complete in 25 years. The design plan will cost the city about $4 million.
View the firm's eight display boards and 5-minute video as part of their submission here.
