Construction of the second tower at LeBreton Flats is under way.
The cranes swing back and forth carrying materials like Lego blocks as the Beaver Barracks and LeBreton Flats developments grow piece by piece.
Greener, more sustainable urban developments are rising quickly in opposite ends of Centretown, and as the buildings begin to take shape, future homes are becoming visable.
Phase One of Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corp.’s Beaver Barracks is the construction of 195 units within two buildings.
The first at 160 Argyle Ave. is a four-storey building that combines apartments and ground level townhouses.
The second building at 464 Metcalfe St. is an eight-storey apartment building and will have a community garden on its roof for residents.
“It’s part of a wider effort we’ve been making over the past two years to green our own operations and our properties,” says Centretown Citizen Ottawa Corporation executive co-ordinator, Ray Sullivan.
The current tenants of CCOC properties are working with the housing group on their Going Green project
“We’ve tried to reduce our collective environmental footprint,” Sullivan says. “Working with tenants to help them make changes in their own lives.”
This initiative involves tenants helping each other to reduce their environmental footprint, Sullivan says.
Composting is one strategy that tenants are using to become a greener community.
These green ideas recently won the CCOC the Going Green Award during the annual Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association conference.
“It’s not just the building design it’s what you do once you’re in there that makes a big difference,” Sullivan says.
The trend towards a greener lifestyle can be seen in another major housing project in the west end of Centretown.
The National Capital Commission and Claridge Homes’ LeBreton Flats development is in the midst of building the second tower for their new urban village.
This tower is phase two of block one of the development and will have 166 units when completed, according to the NCC.
While the LeBreton Flats development is not yet Leadership Energy and Environmental Design certified, the NCC says that Claridge Homes does intend on applying for certification.
When a building is LEED certified, it means that its performance has been recognized in areas such as sustainable site development, water and energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
Both locations of these developments offer their residents another way to live greener, by leaving the car at home.
“The Beaver Barracks is within an established area so people can basically count on their own two feet to get themselves around,” says the city’s program manager for development review in the greater downtown core, Alain Miguelez.
While future residents of Beaver Barracks will be living in an area that is already well supported, those moving into LeBreton Flats will not be as lucky.
“They’re the pioneers,” Miguelez says.
“But as that neighbourhood builds out we want LeBreton to become a real city neighbourhood with grocery stores and pharmacies and community services that support that population.”
The city hopes that the creation of the light rail line and additional pedestrian pathways will help the LeBreton residents get from one place to another more directly, Miguelez says.
“It’s been difficult to get out of the grove of the car rules everything,” Migulez says.
“But I think more and more everyone is coming around to the fact that we can’t keep living like this.”