London riverfront project faces first test in committee
Ambitious redevelopment will need $400K for environmental assessment
The long-awaited redevelopment of London’s riverfront will soon have its oars in the water. Turning the fork of the Thames into a gathering place is the focus of the Back to the River project, an ambitious plan to create, along five-kilometres of the downtown waterfront, an open plaza for events, a new pedestrian bridge and pathways, scenic outlooks and an elevated hairpin-shaped boardwalk, dubbed the Ribbon, jutting out over the water.
A city council committee next week will discuss approving the environmental assessment, a more than $400,000 investment, which will start the project that could cost up to $8 million.
“We are heading into this now, full steam ahead,” Ashley Rammeloo, project manager for the city’s One River Project, said Wednesday. “Londoners will see a lot more information on Back to the River, with designs and plans, over the coming months. They will be asked to weigh in on that.”
In 2015, U.S.-based architectural landscape firm Civitas and local engineering consultants Stantec won a design contest for the Back to the River project with their joint Ribbon of the Thames design. Council’s civic works committee Monday will vote on whether to approve an additional $400,000 to Jacobs Engineering to continue with the environmental assessment (EA) study of the river. Jacobs already has done some of the EA work on decommissioning the Springbank Dam, at a cost of more than $600,000, and it makes sense to extend its work to include the Forks of the Thames project, said Rammeloo.
Having the same engineer do the work will save time and money, she said.
“The work they did with Springbank Dam lay the foundation for Back To The River, the Forks of the Thames and other management strategies,” looking at erosion and other matters related to the Thames. “Additional work needs to be done,” she said.
In total there are three areas of Jacobs’ work, the EA on the impact of decommissioning the broken dam, beginning the Back To The River project and a study of the river management system, which will look at riverbank erosion rates, and how the river will change over time.
“The city continues to achieve the cost efficiencies of having one consultant working on the three project streams, sharing environmental study work, and remaining closely co-ordinated,” says a city report on the issue headed to politicians next week.
“It also ensures that if the EA process is delayed for one of the streams, the others can continue on to completion without also being delayed.” Spending the additional $400,000 for the environmental assessment will get her support, said Coun. Virginia Ridley, the committee chairperson. “This will save time and money. A lot of the work has been done and we would have to hire someone else and start from scratch,” said Ridley of extending the work for Jacobs.
“We want to move forward with the project and we will do what we have to do. At this stage, I support it.”