Golder received a 2019 Brownie Award for engineering excellence at the 20th Canadian Brownfields Network (CBN) Brownie Awards held on November 26th, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 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.
Golder received the “Rebuild: Project Development: Building Scale” award for the Transforming Moncton’s Downtown, Sustainable Redevelopment of the Avenir Centre project in Moncton, New Brunswick. The Rebuild category recognizes projects that demonstrate excellence in site-specific responses to public policy initiatives that accelerate the pace of regeneration resulting from development, combine innovative adaptive reuse of heritage structures that promote health and well-being, and leverage opportunities for collaboration and policy integration across various sectors.
This property, a former railway yard, had been impacted with a wide range of contaminants due to its previous use. Now the site has been reborn as the Avenir Centre, a 10,000-seat indoor arena for sports, including ice hockey and basketball, as well as cultural events and corporate meeting spaces, which boasts a year-round community gathering spot on beautifully landscaped grounds.
“The concept of building on a brownfield site and using a risk management approach, including a vapour mitigation system and capping into the site design, is new to the city,” notes Belinda Culgin, Senior Project Manager, from Golder’s Dartmouth, Nova Scotia office.
Golder’s work on the site began with several Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) to study the contaminants in the soil, groundwater, and soil vapour. The ESA work helped guide development of the property, managing the health and environmental risks while also pointing to cost-saving opportunities. This led to developing a Risk Management and Remediation Action Plan detailing the risk management measures to be taken, as well as a Soil and Groundwater Management Plan.
Golder’s work on this project is a stellar example of sustainable brownfield redevelopment. The centre, a strategic investment, is an anchor for revitalizing and transforming downtown Moncton and creating an urban core critical for the city’s future economic success.
Read more on the sustainable redevelopment of the Avenir Centre by clicking here.
