This is the second guest post in our week-long series The Future of Ottawa. In this column Jonathan Westeinde of Ottawa-based Windmill Development Group discusses how developers can play a positive role in urban growth, as well as outlining his company’s potentially transformative plans for the Domtar site on the border of Ottawa-Gatineau. Twitter users: use hashtag #futott if you want to discuss this series on Twitter.
Real estate development is a challenging business. It is intensely local, highly emotional for those that are impacted and a major focus of local politics.
Real estate development ultimately creates the physical fabric of our city in conjunction with the transportation networks that weave around the built environment. If done right it can literally change the fabric and vibrancy of sections of the city; if done wrong it can cause a dent in civic pride.
Developers often are criticized and discredited for being solely driven by profit with no care for the legacy of their actions. What is often overlooked is the incredible amount of risk involved. Developers have to count on the fact that if they build it they hope you will come and that whatever was built can be sold for more than it cost to build.
Overcoming a mountain of municipal bureaucracy, often very vocal community associations, changing code requirements, a very fragmented building industry and demanding financial institutions makes it difficult to deliver truly visionary projects and often results in mediocre outcomes despite the best intentions of the developer.
The only currency a developer has to trade in the marketplace is their reputation so rarely is a developer intentionally just trying to be mediocre.
Cropped sketch of proposed Domtar redevelopment
Sometimes, however, the stars align where a very special location intersects with a shared vision between various levels of government, key stakeholders, the developer and the majority of the surrounding community. The result is a shared desire to build something that can be truly amazing.
When the stars align like this it allows what were seen as insurmountable risks to be mitigated. This is the opportunity that has come together for the redevelopment of the Domtar site in downtown Ottawa–Gatineau.
The Domtar site consists of Albert Island and Chaudiere Island on the Ottawa side of the river, all of the waterfront between the Portage Bridge and Eddy Street Bridge on the Gatineau side, along with a collection of older buildings just west of Eddy Street. The site represents a significant amount of history both from a first nations perspective and the industrialization and establishment of the Ottawa-Gatineau community.
The Chaudiere falls were and are a very important spiritual feature for first nations and the ability to harness power from those falls created the most productive lumber industry in North America. This industrial activity unfortunately left a legacy of a gated up, polluted and inaccessible site.
Windmill, the Ottawa-based company that I helped found, now has an approved master plan for the site with the intent to develop the most sustainable community in the world.
The closest competitor in North America is Dockside Green, another similar project that was master planned by Windmill in Victoria, British Columbia. The Dockside Green development still has the two highest rated LEED Platinum multi-residential buildings in the world.
Cropped sketch of proposed Domtar redevelopment
Our intent with the Domtar development is to pursue a One Planet Living framework to achieve the sustainability and community goals for this development. We are pursuing this because this is a framework that goes beyond the built structures and encompasses all the elements of what makes a world-class community.
The action items encompass the following 10 areas:
1. Zero Carbon
2. Zero Waste
3. Sustainable Transport
4. Sustainable Materials
5. Local and Sustainable Food
6. Sustainable Water
7. Land Use and Wildlife Habitats
8. Culture and Community
9. Equity and Local Economy
10. Health and Happiness.
If everyone in the world lived the way we live in Canada we would need 4.5 planets. The One Planet Living Action Plan we have created for this site is a plan to develop a vibrant, amenity and culturally rich community that demonstrates how we can live in a community using the resources of one planet.
Ottawa-Gatineau consists of two waterfront cities where you have very little opportunity to commercially enjoy the waterfront. If we are successful the Domtar development will become a regional, if not national, attraction that demonstrates the cultural diversity of Canada, while delivering a community where people can live, work and play in harmony with the planet. In addition, it will also offer a place where we can gather and drink a beer on a sunny patio right on the waterfront – currently a rarity for our region.
Jonathan Westeinde is a founder of the Ottawa-based Windmill Development Group.
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