Westminster Pier Park may not be finished, but it's already a potential award winner.
The Canadian Urban Institute has announced that the City of New Westminster's Westminster Pier Park construction project is a finalist for the 2011 CUI Brownie Awards.
The Brownie Awards program recognizes leadership and innovation in a number of categories, including sustainable remediation technologies and excellence in project development at the neighbourhood scale.
The Westminster Pier Park construction project has been selected as a finalist in the category of Sustainable Remediation Technologies and Technological Innovation, along with projects in Belleville, London and Cambridge, Ont.
"It is a truism to say that the jury's decisions get harder every year, but this is indeed the case. The range and scale of projects continues to grow, and it is clear that brownfield redevelopment expertise has expanded far beyond simply gaining the necessary planning and environmental approvals," Glenn Miller, vicepresident, education and research for the Canadian Urban Institute, said in a media release announcing the award finalists. "The emphasis today is on the quality of place and the contribution a project or program can make to the community at large."
The City of New Westminster purchased the former industrial property on the city's waterfront for $8 million in 2009 and is redeveloping the riverfront site into a $25.1million park. The city has received federal and provincial governments contributions for two-thirds ($16.6 million) of the project funding through the Build Canada Fund.
New Westminster also received a $105,500 brownfield grant from the province to help remediate the Westminster Pier Park site.
"We're very proud of the Westminster Pier Park project and of the fact that ours is the only project outside of Ontario to be selected as a finalist in this category," said Mayor Wayne Wright in a press release.
