MNN - Mother Nature Network

A few days back, The New York Times profiled an uber-green mixed-use development project that’s been on my radar — and perhaps yours — for a while now: Victoria, British Columbia’s Dockside Green.

 

If you’ve heard of Dockside Green before it might be because the 15-acre, harbor-front development is the largest development of city land — when completed it will include 26 buildings and house 2,600 residents — in the history of B.C.’s capital city.

 

Or perhaps it’s because the first residential phase of the project, Synergy, in the recently completed Dockside Wharf neighborhood is the highest scoring LEED Platinum project in existence, anywhere.

 

Or maybe you caught wind of the project when I reviewed COTE's (The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment) top 10 green building projects of 2009.

 

Or perhaps it’s because the greenhouse gas-neutral development located on a once-contaminated industrial site offers a smattering of unique amenities that follow a model for “holistic, closed-loop design": an onsite wastewater recycling plant, rooftop wind turbines, a biomass heat generator, and a whole lot of sensible transportation options (biking and walking trails galore, commuter ferries, car share programs, etc) just to name a few. 

 

Ring a bell? If not, head on over to the New York Times to read more about this remarkable urban revitalization project in a scenic but rather subdued city that's perhaps better known for its Miniature Museum and afternoon tea at a historic hotel and not groundbreaking green building projects. As Deborah Day, Victoria's director of planing, tells the Times, the project has given the city "a bit of a morale boost."

 

Also be sure to take a gander at Dockside Green’s comprehensive website that details all of the development’s sustainable features. British Columbians: Have you had a chance to check out Dockside Green in the flesh yet? 

 

Via [NY Times], [GOOD]