Best social housing community design for Global Awards shortlisted
LONDON: The shortlist for the best social housing community design has been declared.
Over 250 designs have been considered by the awards secretariat. One of the finalists in this category is shown above.
There is a new proposal to finally redevelop the surface parking lot at the southeast corner of the intersection of Commercial Drive and Adanac Street in Vancouver’s Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood.
More specifically, this is the site of the cancelled Kettle Boffo redevelopment — a previous controversial proposal that called for a new 12-storey, mixed-use building with 200 condominium homes, 30 supportive housing units, 18,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses, and a new drop-in facility for The Kettle Society.
After seven years of planning, in 2018, development partner Boffo Properties cancelled their proposal due to the municipal government’s steep additional cash community amenity contribution (CACs) requirement of up to $16 million, in addition to $39 million of in-kind CACs. This pushed their proposal into the realm of financial unviability, adding to the challenges and delays due to the immense public opposition from the immediate neighbourhood.
And now, the City of Vancouver’s Non-Market Housing Development department is looking to redevelop the municipally owned property on its own into a mixed-use building with primarily social housing uses.
The Global Award winner will be announced next November in London. (Globals)
