The International Awards for Liveable Communities 2010 Environmentally Sustainable Project Award: Southeast False Creek, Vancouver, Canada
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Cover Image: City of Vancouver skyline with Southeast False Creek in foreground.
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International Awards for Liveable Communities 2010 Environmentally Sustainable Project Awards
Applicant: City of Vancouver Project: Southeast False Creek
Bill Aujla Project Manager SEFC & Olympic Village Project Office 1800 Spyglass Place Vancouver, BC V5Z 4K8 Canada +1.604.871.6859 bill.aujla@vancouver.ca
Submitted: June 30, 2010
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project summary Project Name: Southeast False Creek Location: Vancouver, Canada Public-private partnership (City of Vancouver/ Millennium SEFC Properties Ltd.) Mixed-use urban brownfield redevelopment Total site area: 32 hectares (7 completed) Commercial: 7,600 m2 Residential: 122,400 m2 Community Centre: 4,230 m2 Parks/Open Space: 51,000 m2 Green Roofs: 14,400 m2 Density: 375 occupants/hectare All buildings achieved CAGBC LEED Gold or Platinum Development achieved USGBC LEED Platinum (Stage 2) LEED for Neighborhood Development
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INTRODUCTION An industrial wasteland transformed to a vibrant, model sustainable community was the vision that fueled the City of Vancouver’s redevelopment plan for Southeast False Creek. An industrial wasteland transformed to a vibrant, model sustainable community was the vision that fueled the City of Vancouver’s redevelopment plan for Southeast False Creek (SEFC). The site covers 32 hectares of land along Vancouver’s waterfront, adjacent to the city’s downtown core. In 2009 the first phase of redevelopment was completed, comprising residential, commercial, heritage restoration buildings and community facilities and outdoor naturalized areas and public space including two parks, a central plaza, a habitat restoration ‘island’ and a recreational waterfront promenade. The City of Vancouver committed to creating a livable community at SEFC in the 1990’s. The vision was
realized thanks to the City of Vancouver’s leadership, supported by broad input from the local privatesector planning, design and development community. The plan put forward dictated a high standard of livability and sustainability objectives which became the foundation on which the community was built. In February 2010 the new neighbourhood saw its first residents: 2,800 worldclass athletes competing in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the summer of 2010 the residences will be inhabited by the new SEFC community: young and old, families and individuals, in a mix of market rental, subsidized rental and condominium housing.
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Enhancement of the Natural and Built Landscape The vision for SEFC as stated in the area’s official development plan was: “a model sustainable community where people will live, work, play and learn in a neighbourhood that has been designed to maintain and balance the highest possible levels of social equity, livability, ecological health and economic prosperity.” Since SEFC was an industrial brownfield, the only intact habitat that existed prior to redevelopment was the shoreline. As such, the building and landscape designers had a blank slate on which to construct a landscape that seamlessly blended natural and built environments. This was accomplished through a requirement for 50% green space and a focus on urban agriculture and passive design. The neighbourhood’s built form reflects a desire to create a sense of a socially and environmentally sustainable community through design elements, including the use of scale and proximity. Residential buildings are low- and mid-rise blocks built around courtyards. The courtyards contain greenery and water features and are a pleasant area to recreate or for children to play. Many of the entryways to the residential suites are accessed via outdoor corridors that
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overlook the courtyard. This encourages a sense of health and wellbeing, connection to the outdoors, and interaction with neighbours. The design concept for building landscapes at SEFC is to create spaces where people want to be. The landscape design team recognized that buildings often look out over green spaces on large podiums that, while beautiful, are not accessible. With the building landscape at SEFC, the designers aimed instead for spaces that would contribute to social sustainability. Shared gardens provide a place for people to meet and know their neighbours, and interact with nature. Making these green areas more accessible meant connecting inside and outside spaces. Each of the residential buildings feature indoor common areas or ‘amenity rooms’ that spill out onto landscaped courtyards.
Passive Design Passive design is a current term that describes an ageold concept: designing buildings that respond to their natural environments. The design approach recognizes that the simplest way to create a bright, comfortable indoor environment is by taking advantage of the free and plentiful energy of the sun. Daylighting, heating, cooling and ventilation are achieved by careful placement of windows and shading devices. Passive design is a key strategy for energy reduction – reducing reliance on mechanical heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation – and integrating architecture with the natural environment. The result is bright, airy, comfortable indoor environments that are a pleasant place to spend time.
The gardens provide a place for people to meet and know their neighbours, and interact with nature.
Hinge Park features a native plantings, a children’s play area, public art and a constructed wetland that filters stormwater.
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Arts, Culture and Heritage The SEFC Art Master Plan helped define how art should reflect the history, sustainability ethic and forward-looking nature of the new community. There are two main elements that define SEFC’s culture and heritage, prior to redevelopment: ecology and industry. Prior to colonization, the SEFC area was a rich wooded and estuarine zone, surrounded by a dense temperate rainforest. Numerous salmon-bearing streams meandered through the trees, draining into the Pacific Ocean at False Creek. The 1800’s marked the beginning of over a century of industrial activity, beginning with the harvesting of local forest resources, and developing into a busy centre for manufacturing and processing. Much of the city’s early infrastructure, upon which modern-day Vancouver was built, was fabricated on this site. These two unique and contrasting histories are captured and referenced in the landscape architecture, public art, and heritage building restoration at the new SEFC community. The SEFC Art Master Plan helped define how art should reflect the history, sustainability ethic and forwardlooking nature of the new community.
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Examples of the intersection of arts, culture and heritage: The Birds At the centre of SEFC’s central plaza, The Birds are a pair of sparrows that stand 5.5 meters high. According to the artist Myfanwy MacLeod, “Locating this artwork in an urban plaza not only highlights what has become the ‘natural’ environment of the sparrow … The Birds reminds us of our past, but it aspires to challenge the future.” The NEU Stacks The Neighbourhood Energy Utility (NEU) is the neighbourhood’s district heating system, which is based on renewable energy. The NEU has five exhaust flues that were designed by local artists created a design to transform the system’s emissions stacks to a community amenity. The stacks extend into a sculpted stainless steel “hand,” with LED lights as “fingernails” that change colour to reflect the amount of green energy being produced by the system (see page 11).
Shipyard Plaza
The Salt Building
The neighbourhood’s central plaza is built on the former shipbuilding site. The plaza’s design is based on an interpretation of the shipbuilding method called lofting. The Shipyard Plaza is effectively a huge lofting floor, with sweeping lines on the pavement outlining various sections of a ship’s hull. Some lines rise three-dimensionally as the site grade changes, providing a built-in seating area. Light standards on the plaza take the form of the varying ribs of a ship.
The 1930s-era Salt Building is a familiar Vancouver industrial landmark. The building originally housed a salt-processing operation, and was later used for paper recycling. The architect worked to preserve heritage details while retrofitting the building to meet LEED Gold certification and its new role as a retail and commercial hub.
The Salt Building, a heritage restoration project, opens onto the ‘Shipyard Plaza.’ Lighting standards (right) take the form of the ribs of a ship.
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Environmental Best Practices SEFC is truly a demonstration project, featuring a number of sustainable design approaches and technologies that are new to Vancouver (and North America, in some cases). SEFC is truly a demonstration project, featuring a number of sustainable design approaches and technologies that are new to Vancouver (and North America, in some cases). The intent was to pilot new ‘green’ building and development requirements to set a template for future policy development in Vancouver. Buildings A Green Building Strategy set the standard for energy and water conservation, green space, building materials
Arial view of the SEFC Net Zero building, featuring 288 m2 of solar evacuated tubes, with green roof below.
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and construction waste management. All of the buildings at SEFC received LEED Gold or Platinum certification from the Canada Green Building Council. The Net Zero Building is a 64-unit seniors’ affordable housing residence that is designed to generate as much energy as it uses on an annual basis. This is accomplished firstly by reducing energy consumption through passive design and efficient mechanical systems. The remaining energy demand is met by two rooftop
solar thermal installations, comprising 480m2 and a planned heat recovery system from an adjoining grocery store refrigeration system. Energy: Passive Design and Renewable Energy The buildings at SEFC incorporate many aspects of passive design to reduce reliance on mechanical sources. Passive design uses the building’s shape and form to draw in natural light, heat and fresh air to improve comfort levels inside the buildings. Buildings at SEFC derive their heat from a district heating system, the SEFC Neighbourhood Energy Utility (NEU). The NEU derives its energy from a sewage heat recovery system, the first of
its kind in North America. The system uses a heat pump to capture waste heat from a municipal sewer line. Water: Stormwater Management and Conservation Rainwater that falls on buildings at SEFC is captured and drains into storage cisterns. This water is used for sewage conveyance and for irrigating onsite vegetation. Rainwater that falls on the public realm flows to a bioswale on the site’s eastern edge or to the west, to the Hinge Park wetland to be filtered and treated before discharging into False Creek.
Biodiversity: Habitat Island As a part of the development a portion of the pre-existing shoreline was filled. To meet a requirement to replace lost shoreline habitat, the city constructed a habitat restoration island off the SEFC shore. The island resulted in a net increase in the area of intertidal fish and wildlife habitat as well as additional park space. The island and natural shoreline demonstrate the ability to reintroduce natural habitat back into the urban environment. Proof of success appeared in the fall of 2008 when herring returned to spawn, for the first time in many years, along the once toxic shoreline of SEFC.
Habitat Island was constructed to replace shoreline habitat that was filled in during site preparation.
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Community Participation and Empowerment Community consultation and engagement are key elements of building sustainable communities. It takes a village to raise a village. Community consultation and citizen engagement are key elements of building sustainable communities. The City of Vancouver recognized at the outset that creating a livable, thriving community would only be possible with broad citizen input. The vision of creating a model sustainable community in SEFC came from concerned citizens who wanted to see a vibrant, ecologically sound and socially cohesive community. Planning and Design Process Prior to redevelopment, SEFC was a vacant brownfield, with no residents to speak of. As such, community groups became involved in researching and developing recommendations for the redevelopment. Within the general goal of building livable neighbourhoods, citizens considered adequate housing, health care, education, employment, mobility, urban agriculture and environmental restoration. A consultation program included open houses, workshops and a public hearing. The rich scope of discussion, diverse points
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of view and comprehensive input to the City were all critical elements in the SEFC process. An external advisory group worked with city staff to integrate stakeholder recommendations into what would become the SEFC Policy Statement, a document that served as a guide to the sustainable development of the site. Job Training Program The City of Vancouver and Millennium Properties entered into a “Community Benefits Agreement” with Building Opportunties with “Business (BOB)”, an inner-city job training and employment organization. Through the agreement a training program was creating, offering entrylevel construction jobs to inner-city residents. The employment program placed 87 trained individuals at the Olympic Village and 33 people on other construction sites. According to BOB, one of the most positive outcomes of this partnership was the legacy of construction training capacity that was developed through the program.
Community Participation: Occupant Engagement The City of Vancouver recognizes that green buildings and sustainable communities are only effective when the occupants are engaged. Buildings can be designed to the highest energy efficiency performance, but if an enduser or occupant leaves all the lights and the television on constantly, then the building will not perform to the desired or predicted level.
At SEFC, occupants will be made aware of the green and livability features of the project, and equipped with the tools to embrace conservation in their daily lives. One of the particular tools that is used to engage occupants at SEFC are digital energy display meters. Each residential unit is equipped with a meter. The meters show real time information about energy use and as well as a predicted utility bill amount. Users are engaged to keep track of their usage and to respond to changes in their consumption habits.
The Neighbourhood Energy Utility exhaust flues feature LED lights that will use colour to indicate the amount of green energy being produced by the system
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Healthy Lifestyle Health is fundamental to a livable community. Health is fundamental to a livable community. At SEFC it was understood that a community based on environmental, social and economic sustainability inherently must support healthy living. Great care was taken to provide residents and visitors with nontoxic indoor and outdoor environments, clean air and water, opportunities for physical activity and recreation, employment and social interaction, and access to fresh, healthy food. Urban Design & Transportation One of the key objectives at SEFC was to develop a compact, mixed-use neighbourhood in order to encourage healthy living
The waterfront promenade provides opportunities for walking, running, cycling, playing or enjoying the views across the water to Downtown Vancouver.
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among local residents and surrounding communities. This was accomplished in part by building infrastructure that supports alternative transportation, such as biking and walking, rather than building in car-dependency. SEFC has an abundance of sustainable transportation options. Its dedicated bicycle paths connect to a network of bike routes that traverse the city. Public buses, the ‘Skytrain’ rapid transit line, and the ‘Canada Line light rail system are all a short walk from residences. The waterfront promenade is a perfect venue for a leisurely walk, run or bikeride, or a scenic commute to work.
Residential Amenities In addition to public parks and recreation space, many of the residential areas offer semiprivate spaces for play and recreation. As a starting point for each open space design, each building courtyard has a rainwater feature, a children’s play area most often consisting of naturalistic play features, and an open lawn, garden plots and an amenity room. SEFC Community Centre A community amenity, the SEFC Community Centre features a 69-space child-care facility, non-motorized boating centre, full-size gymnasium, fitness centre, rooms for games, arts and crafts and fitness classes. The building also includes space for a two level restaurant or cafÊ. The north side of the facility
provides sweeping views of the mountains and ocean and the Village’s pedestrian plaza will be accessible from the west side. The seawall skirts the north side of the building and provides easy access for cyclists and pedestrians. Urban Agriculture In order to encourage healthy living and access to healthy food, the City focused on creating opportunities for residents to grow food at SEFC. The City explored multiple options for urban agriculture and the associated benefits. As a result of the study, the City developed a minimum growing area requirement: 1.02 square meters of growing space per residential unit (2,937m2 total). There is also a 2,200m2 community demonstration garden planned for the site.
Arial view of the SEFC Community Centre featuring green roof, solar panels, and a rooftop daycare play area. The facility opens onto the Shipyard Plaza and waterfront promenade.
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Strategic Planning In 1991, the City of Vancouver proclaimed that SEFC would be the site of a model sustainable community. In 1991, the City of Vancouver proclaimed that SEFC would be the site of a model sustainable community. The City engaged in a number of studies and worked with the public to investigate best practices and recommendations in a variety of planning and policy areas. Years of studies, consultation and community involvement culminated in the production of a milestone document: the SEFC Policy Statement, which was adopted by Vancouver’s City Council in 1999. Normally, policy statements are created to provide general planning principles to guide a site’s development. The policy statement for SEFC, however, pushed the boundaries by describing a vision for the development of a sustainable community. The policy statement included 15 principles of sustainable development to guide the creation of a sustainable community. These principles would carry on throughout the course of development, helping to inform decisionmaking throughout the design process. Following the adoption of the policy statement, it came time to turn the plans into
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achievable actions. The city engaged a suite of consultants to develop action plans detailing how to achieve each sustainability target. Based on their recommendations, the city created the Official Development Plan for SEFC, which was approved by City Council in 2005. The Official Development Plan incorporated an unprecedented level of commitment to sustainability. The City’s goal was to develop a mixed-use neighbourhood with a diversity of residential uses. The development was to accommodate people of all incomes and all ages, with family housing as a priority. The plan established a foundation for urban design, determining the configuration of the neighbourhood’s parcels, parks, rights-of-way, public amenities, densities and massing. The design team for the first phase of SEFC began their process with a charrette that was facilitated by an experienced sustainable community planner. External professionals were invited to contribute their expertise in select topics related to social, environmental and economic sustainability. The initial
charrette marked the beginning of an integrated design process that brought together a variety of professional disciplines to work together toward meeting the livability and sustainability targets.
commissioning of the buildings and has built in a number of measurement and verification systems. A program is being designed to educate and engage building operators as to how to meet the optimal performance of the buildings.
The city developed indicators to monitor the ongoing success of the community once it is inhabited. Indicators will help measure whether the various sustainability targets are met. For the more tangible, technical aspects of the project such as building operations and energy use, the city will undertake ongoing comprehensive The Official Development Plan area for Southeast False Creek, with Phase I completed area (Olympic Village) highlighted.
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In Conclusion There is a prevailing notion that livability, manifested as social and environmental sustainability, is fundamental to successful community building. While achievements in capacity building don’t often make headlines, the ‘tremendous amount of learning’ that took place amongst Vancouver’s planning, design and construction industry by way of the redevelopment of SEFC is often cited as the most significant, if intangible, outcomes of the project. SEFC proved to be a test-bed for the implementation of sustainability driven planning and design practices that were unprecedented in the local industry. This posed a challenge not only to the City of Vancouver’s established policies and procedures, but
also on the ground, amongst the hundreds who designed and built the project, testing the limits of their professional skills and their ability to explore new solutions and think outside of the box. The city will continue to reap the benefits of a growing local sustainability expertise within the planning, design and development industries. As a result of this project, both within and outside the walls of Vancouver’s City Hall, there is a prevailing notion that livability, manifested as social, environmental and economic sustainability, is fundamental to successful community building.
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This document was printed with vegetable based inks on Enviro 100 (paper that contains FSC certified 100% post-consumer fibre).
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