Energizing Communities: Dockside Green chat with Architect Drew

At about one-third complete, the 15 acre Dockside Green development is being hailed as one of the greenest communities in Canada and quite possibly the world.  Located in Victoria's downtown inner harbour, the neighbourhood is home to businesses and hundreds of people occupying about 270 residential units - once completed it will be home to about  2,500 residents. 

A model for holistic, closed-loop design, Dockside Green functions as a total environmental system in which form, structure, materials, mechanical, thermal and electrical systems interrelate and are interdependent - a largely self-sufficient, sustainable community where waste from one area will provide food for another. Dockside Green was the first applicant of the LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot program, it has since earned a platinum rating under LEED-ND. 

The island’s economic reliance on dwindling natural resources and Vancouver’s emergence as the dominant regional node for trade led local authorities to pin their hopes on tourism. ​Former industrial areas nearby were slated for mixed-use redevelopment. An underutilized, 15-acre area with four parcels on the west bank of the Upper Harbour, part of which was once a landfill, was contaminated with heavy metals and petrochemical residue from mills and a paint factory. The City of Victoria purchased the parcels, which it named “Dockside Lands,” from the province in 1989 for $1. As a former brownfield industrial site -where cleanup alone reportedly cost $20 million - Dockside has been turning heads since development started in 2008. Previous operations included shipbuilding, roofing and shingle manufacturing, railway works, and asphalt production. 

The city commissioned a detailed environmental assessment as part of the preparation of a business case for the property. It concluded in 2002 that development was possible, with some public financial support, favorable land pricing, and rezoning to allow greater densityDockside Green is being built by the financial institution Vancity, which launched the project with its partner, Windmill Developments, a real estate development firm committed to sustainability that worked with the City of Victoria to understand and approve a bold green concept for the site.

The development will be entirely greenhouse gas neutral due to the innovative design of the district energy system which uses hydronic (water) energy fuelled by locally-sourced, renewable wood waste to heat homes and for domestic hot water. Corix operates a state-of-the-art wastewater facility that is located directly within the Dockside Green community. This system conserves water by combining reclaimed treated water with rainwater to service toilets, rooftop gardens and the community’s landscaping features. Additionally, the wastewater treatment plant is designed to incorporate a heat recovery system to provide supplemental energy for the district energy system as the community grows in the future.

Vancouver-based architect Robert Drew of Perkins + Will led a local group made up of financier Vancity, a credit union, energy system maker Nexterra and utility manager Corix Group – that came together to build the world-leading community.

Robert Drew will take questions in a live chat hosted by the Globe and Mail moderated by Vancouver-based reporter David Ebner today at 11 a.m. PT, 2 p.m. ET.  Click to join in the live chat!

Interested in more?

Terrain.org "Dockside Green in Victoria" Author: Ken Pirie

Atlantic Monthy "Is This the Worlds Greenest Neighbourhood?" Author: KAID BENFIELD