West Don Lands Project Update

It’s full steam ahead in the West Don Lands, the massive urban revitalization project in downtown Toronto. The first architects have been selected and a sales centre will soon rise. The first 850 LEED Gold residential units of the planned 5,800 unit green community are expected to go on sale in 2009.

Miserable weather in the GTA has slowed construction of the flood protection land form (or berm), but the target completion date is still the summer of 2010. Several major soil remediation and drainage projects are now nearing completion.

From early morning, convoys of heavy trucks arrive at the site, an amazing 150 to 200 times per day, hauling in up to 4000 tons of clean soil from construction sites around the GTA. This soil that would otherwise end up in dump sites is re-used to construct the berm.

Upon completion, the massive berm will provide effective flood protection for the new West Don Lands community, permitting the removal of the flood-plain designation and allowing the land to be rezoned for residential development. The berm will also prevent flooding as far west as Bay Street, protecting Canada’s financial hub from the devastation of any potential storm-of-the-century.

A classic ‘brownfield’ remediation project, the West Don Lands site has not been without significant challenges. Extensive soil remediation projects around the site have already removed vast quantities of earth fouled by over a century of heavy industry – soil contaminated by PCBs and various petroleum by-products. No construction can begin until the ground is deemed safe for development and habitation.

Forming part of the original course of the Don River, significant portions of the West Don Lands still contain extremely soft, waterlogged soils that require major drainage and compacting before construction can begin. To remedy this problem, engineers are employing an ingenious groundwater drainage system that literally forces water out of these wet soils to the surface where it is easily dissipated.

Also nearing completion is a massive sewer line re-routing that connects Toronto’s downtown core to the Ashbridge’s Bay treatment plant.

Great care has been taken to control dust and dirt on the site and to protect the surrounding neighbourhood from construction particulates. Measures include the installation of a network of electronic dust sensors that continuously monitor air quality. Not only are workers exiting the site asked to wash mud from their boots, but all vehicles exiting the site are pressure-hosed to ensure that contaminants are not carried off the site onto surrounding roadways.

With work still to be done in order to meet ambitious timelines, thanks to the ORC, the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and Waterfront Toronto, Toronto’s newest sustainable downtown community is fast becoming a reality.

Click here to view recent photos from June 2009. NEW!

Click here to view the WDL project overview and history.