|
Southeast False Creek (SEFC), a City of Vancouver reclamation
project, is being designed to set a new urban sustainability standard
in community development. The 80-acre site housing 16,000 people will
become a neighbourhood of parks, market and subsidised housing, marine
areas, community garden, shops, schools, and a community centre,
growing out of what was once the industrial hub of the city. Sawmills,
manufacturers, metal shops and marine-related shops once rimmed False
Creek. Subsurface investigation was made into soil and groundwater
quality at SEFC to complete human health and risk assessment as part of
a remedial action plan. In areas where contamination was severe, soils
were removed and in areas of lesser contamination, the material was
covered over and the land designated recreational use.
“I am told that this is the largest residential development in North
America,” said Robin Petri, Vancouver’s Manager of Engineering for the
SEFC & Olympic Village. One of the unique features of the
development, Petri points out, is that the roads are sloped so that
rainwater drains into natural bioswales on each side of the village,
negating the need to treat runoff water, while providing habitat for
birds, animals, and marine life. Buildings also capture and use water,
with approximately 50 per cent having green roofs and 50 per cent
directing the water into irrigation and functions such as toilet
flushing. A neighborhood energy utility is the first in North America
to gather heat directly from a raw sewage line, consolidate the heat
and use it in a thermal system that loops pipe to various buildings and
back to the utility building.
|
