Recent industry trends show that redevelopment is significantly rising in proportion to all land development projects. So is the turnaround of brownfield sites. Likewise, the green building movement is becoming more prevalent and consumer-driven.

However, it is rare that one project encompasses all of these components. Dockside Green is a 15-acre brownfield development site located in the heart of the City of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Specifically, the now-vacant industrial site is located adjacent to the Upper Harbour and downtown, between the Johnson and Bay Street bridges.

Dockside, the biggest and greenest development project in Victoria, is being co-developed by VanCity Enterprises and Windmill Development Group, and aims to be a vibrant, innovative, mixed-use community as required by the Request for Proposals (RFP) in October 2004 written by the City of Victoria in partnership with a range of stakeholders. The RFP espoused a formal Development Concept that envisioned one million square feet of mixed-use and sustainably-developed buildings on a newly remediated site.

The Development Partners
Windmill Development’s expertise in sustainable development and its successful track record partnered with VanCity Enterprises Ltd. (VCE), itself a unique market developer. VCE is a wholly owned subsidiary of VanCity Savings Credit Union; a $9.1 billion financial institution. The credit union enjoys a reputation as a credible force for progressive community development.

VCE typically acts as developer and equity investor in complex, government-funded housing projects. In addition, VCE has a track record of developing financially sound projects that deliver innovative designs and partnerships; the company is separately capitalized and has a history of undertaking non-recourse equity risk and complex developments.

The company has the capacity to finance projects in the $100 M to $200 M range through its access to the parent credit union. Further, VanCity Capital is interested in this Dockside project, and will consider financing creative innovative micro utilities at the Dockside site for onsite energy generation.

VCE has a track record of balancing financial and business responsibilities with a well-defined policy of social and ecological benefit. The mandate of VCE is to foster socially responsible housing development. As a charter member of the Canada Green Building Council, the company has committed itself to sustainable and green development, and has a history of maintaining financially sound projects that deliver innovative designs.

Windmill provided a perfect partnership opportunity for VCE. Windmill only pursues new projects based on a triple bottom line approach that ensures strong environmental, social and financial returns are achieved on all of our projects.

Windmill was formed to leverage the strengths of the construction, development, and environmental remediation divisions within the Westeinde Group (a multi-disciplined services firm specializing in the selection, design, development, leasing and construction of commercial and industrial projects) in order to focus specifically on green building and brownfield redevelopment opportunities.

Windmill recently received a national award from the Canadian Brownfield Network for its project in Ottawa and a provincial award for its project in Alberta. With a management team of proven leaders in the areas of construction, development and environmental technology, Windmill has the expertise, execution ability and market presence to successfully undertake the Dockside development. It is a leading green building development firm in Canada, and its BuildGreen consulting subsidiary is a leader in North America, providing green building and LEED consulting services on a wide range of projects.

Key Component – Triple Bottom Line
All proposals were being evaluated on a triple bottom line (TBL) - strong ecological, social, and economic performance.

Both VanCity and Windmill had previously illustrated this responsibility of developing projects that perform exceptionally well on the TBL. Windmill is a recognized North American leader in green building design and TBL development. VanCity’s community efforts are well known throughout North America, and the company was recently named by Macleans Magazine as the number one company to work for in Canada.

“Our development plan recognizes that each triple bottom line component (economic, environmental and social sustainability) should not be treated as separate or individual targets independent of each other,” explains Joe Van Belleghem, president of Windmill Development Group. “Our approach integrates and intertwines economic, environment and social objectives to enhance the attributes of each other – making it difficult to distinguish what component a particular approach is addressing.”

“Many believe economics determine what can be done from an environmental or social perspective. The more money you have the more you can do. While this is true, our approach demonstrates how our commitment to the environment and a livable new urbanist mixed-use community contributes to improved marketability, job creation and economics.”

“Our plan emphasizes the creation of a community that supports new economic opportunities, a healthy and vibrant environment, new urbanism development principles, and high quality public spaces,” concluded Van Belleghem.

The Project
Dockside Green’s co-developers have made a commitment that all buildings will be certified to LEED Canada 1.0 Platinum level, with few exceptions (restaurant and pub facilities.) This is quite a challenge when you consider the scope of the project.

Once complete, Dockside Green will be a community for approximately 2,500 people incorporating the very highest in green standards. It is a $380 million project that includes residential, live/work, hotel, retail, office, light industrial uses and numerous public amenities. It will comprise of 26 buildings totalling 1.3 million square feet, and will be built over 10 -12 years. 

Dockside Green will be developed in phases, and construction will continue until its expected completion date of 2015 – 2017.

While phase one excavation is just underway, and phase two design is beginning, pre-development sales were hot. A staggering 85 percent of the phase one units were sold within the first three hours

In fact, according to reports in the Victoria Times Colonist, 24 of the 85 squares representing available condo units were marked as sold within the first hour of sales.

“A large part of the reason this project has had such a successful start,” reveals Van Belleghem, “is because the community was involved from the beginning. They helped us design this project – which is very large in many ways. During our rezoning request, we actually received a standing ovation. Nothing upsets a community more than when a developer walks in and says ‘here is what we are going to do’ and shows everyone some fancy drawings. We don’t do that. The community actually helps us design our projects which is why the Dockside project took us only nine months for approval when a project this size can sometimes take three years.”

The phase one units to be built by the fall of 2007 were selling from $272,000 to $1.25 million (averaging $490 per square foot), with 10 additional suites set aside for affordable housing. The prices and selection process for the affordable housing units have not yet been decided but a housing committee has been formed to address this in the near future.

According to the newspaper report, some people bought condominiums as an investment, but the vast majority bought units for their retirement in a few years. Another interesting thing is that there is a good mixture of purchasers, seniors, young families, and single professionals. That is exactly what the community told the developers they wanted.

“A lot of the features that we design into our buildings make them very desirable,” claims Van Belleghem. “We are building community. In addition to being responsible to the environment, residents will enjoy long-term operating savings and less reliance on automobiles.”

How and Why Go Green
While many developers cringe at the idea of meeting green or sustainable requirements, Van Belleghem relishes in the challenges and opportunities that it presents.

“The beauty about what we are doing is that things like available technology are evolving so fast. We get better from building to building to building. When you are looking at techniques as you are designing your project,” explains Van Belleghem, “by ensuring that it has an economic, environmental, and social component, the project actually becomes stronger.”

“We are able to save significant money on our infrastructure costs – such as on stormwater and wastewater management. In the case of Dockside, we are developing our own sewage treatment facility based upon the design of the buildings’ significant reduction of wastewater by utilizing high efficiency washers, dishwashers, dual flush toilets and other fixtures which can reduce the capital cost of wastewater treatment.”

Naturally, experienced and qualified partners are essential to making this project work. Van Bellegnem explains why it especially works on projects like this. “Because our partners actually understand the triple bottom line concept which allows everyone to act genuinely in the project and work together with the same objectives.”

Founded in 1992, Quantum Environmental Group is a full service environmental contracting company. Drawing on its extensive civil and geotechnical construction background, Quantum provides a full range of remediation services, from heavy civil and geotechnical applications, site de-commissioning, and the on-site treatment of contaminated soil and water, to the removal of small, underground storage tanks.

Quantum has acted as design/build prime contractor on a number of successful, high profile, environmentally sensitive remediation projects. Quantum’s local management also has extensive experience in developing and implementing complex remediation plans that include human health and ecological risk management.

Busby Perkins+Will Architects, formed from a recent merger of two well-established firms, is serving as the lead sustainability architect. The combined strengths of the two noteworthy organizations will raise the bar of excellence in architecture to an even higher level.

Terence Williams Architects is the key local architectural firm and in recent years the practice has been recognized for sustainable planning and design projects. Building green is a design philosophy that has resulted in recognition of design and planning excellence and many awards.

Keen Engineering is a leader in sustainable design on the engineering front and will be responsible for the mechanical, electrical, as well as the energy and waste systems. The firm employs 129 LEED Accredited Professionals and holds one of the largest portfolios of completed green projects in North America, for which they have received numerous sustainable design awards. They provide design services focused on reducing energy consumption and operating costs while improving occupant well-being. Blair McCarry, a senior partner at Keen, is the company’s specialist in onsite generation of heat and electricity, and will act as a key member of the Dockside team.

Aqua-Tex Scientific Consulting Ltd. is an aquatic consulting firm engaged in leading-edge integrated ecological site planning for water management, particularly stormwater. They will handle the ecology and serve as the stormwater management consultant. Under the leadership of Patrick Lucey, Aqua-Tex has successfully planned, designed and constructed stormwater management projects which include numerous residential developments and several other LEED buildings.

PWL Partnership Landscape Architects’ design philosophy draws inspiration from the ecological, historical, and cultural aspects of landscaping. The firm is Dockside’s project landscape architect and has worked on a wide range of projects in British Columbia and China, and specializes in native landscapes and waterfronts. The landscape company has agreed either to open an office in Victoria or partner with a local firm as part of the team’s commitment to support local business.  SLDT