A single hectare will be improved

It’s only a tiny slice of LeBreton Flats, but property south of Wellington Street and the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway near the Booth Street intersection should look a lot more appealing by mid-December.

According to a recent tender posted by the National Capital Commission, work on the LeBreton Flats “interim improvements” will begin as soon as a construction contract has been awarded and must be substantially completed by Dec. 15.

As part of the project, a one-hectare site just east of Booth will become a new park and a small temporary plaza will be added on the west side of Booth to display a reconstructed 19th century fountain unearthed in 2013 during soil remediation work.

Once completed, the NCC promises that the improvements will greatly improve the “gateway experience” for those using the parkway to enter the downtown core.

Contaminated soil on both sites was removed down to the bedrock and clean fill was imported last fall to prepare the area for landscaping.

The new park will be “a romantic gardenesque-style public green space, with bold and dynamic land forms, symbolizing movement through the landscape,” the NCC says on its website.

It will also help visitors better appreciate Algonquin culture through interpretive and public art elements.

The restored granite fountain was erected in 1892 and dedicated to Lilias W. Fleck, wife of Ottawa businessman Alexander Fleck and motherin-law of Thomas Ahearn, a prominent businessman and inventor who later became the first chairman of the Federal District Commission, a precursor of the NCC.

The improvements are only temporary and will eventually be displaced by the proposed redevelopment of LeBreton Flats.