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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
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The Maw\u2019s Garage at 291 Bannatyne Ave. is one of the sites announced in January to be transformed into housing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Adaptive reuse would help the city reduce waste, protect historic places and add more housing options, according to the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not going to meet your climate targets if you keep throwing buildings in the landfill, so if we can do something to discourage that, I would think that\u2019s a pretty good victory,\u201d said Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital).<\/p>\n
He leads the city\u2019s climate action and resilience committee, which met with the property and development committee and the public service to discuss adaptive reuse options.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Coun. Brian Mayes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe keep hearing people say, \u2018the greenest building is the one that is already standing,\u2019 and then we never actually do anything about that,\u201d Mayes said. \u201cSo, let\u2019s do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Winnipeg already has some tools to support adaptive reuse, including heritage bylaws, zoning rules and grants. These tools are helpful, the report notes, but they are limited and could be improved.<\/p>\n City staff reviewed adaptive reuse programs in Halifax, Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal.<\/p>\n These cities use a mix of incentives and regulations such as flexible zoning rules in exchange for restoration, single unit to multi-unit house conversions beyond four units, and rules that make it harder to demolish older character houses.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can do something to promote heritage and promote the environment, I think that\u2019s a pretty good legacy,\u201d Mayes said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can do something to promote heritage and promote the environment, I think that\u2019s a pretty good legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n Cindy Tugwell, executive director of Heritage Winnipeg, said she felt \u201chopeful\u201d after learning about the report on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe heritage sector has been advocating for a lot of these things,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is great. It sort of puts it all together comprehensively.\u201d<\/p>\n Adaptive reuse is happening all over the Exchange District, Tugwell said.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Heritage Winnipeg executive director Cindy Tugwell.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n She noted that the city and industry leaders announced in January a plan to take four vacant, historic buildings downtown and transform them to offer housing: the St. Charles Hotel (235 Notre Dame Ave.), Maw\u2019s Garage and the Sanford Building (291 Bannatyne Ave.), the Alloway Building (179 McDermot Ave.) and Garry Block (290 Garry St.).<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m elated that this report has been put out,\u201d Tugwell said. \u201c(The city is) really starting to recognize the impact that demolition of buildings and homes are having on the landfill and our climate, and that, in 80 to 90 per cent of the cases, these are structures that can be reutilized.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA retrofit for residential \u2026 is critical to meet housing demands over the next five to 10 years, for any major city in Canada,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The report notes that the City of Halifax uses heritage development agreements to promote adaptive reuse of a designated heritage building.<\/p>\n These are legally binding, negotiated contracts between the property owner and the municipality that offer flexibility and additional development rights.<\/p>\n \u201c(The city is) really starting to recognize the impact that demolition of buildings and homes are having on the landfill and our climate.\u201d<\/p>\n The report cites a project at 5294 Inglis St., in Halifax that\u2019s currently under development as one example of such agreements. Developers are restoring and adding on to a heritage house built in 1891 to create 31 housing units and two commercial spaces.<\/p>\n The heritage development agreement program has been positive, said Chris Crawford, partner at Fathom Studio, the architecture firm working on the Inglis Street project.<\/p>\n \u201cOur city is changing very quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge demand for housing and this is helping, certainly on the peninsula within Halifax, alleviate some of that pressure while still bringing some new life to heritage projects.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Mira Locher, dean of the University of Manitoba\u2019s faculty of architecture, applauded the report, adding that adaptive reuse is \u201can excellent direction for (Winnipeg) to move in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an important way that cities maintain their strong kind of inner city fabric and maintain those stories that people have that are associated with the buildings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The report states that the strategies it outlines can be considered during the comprehensive zoning bylaw review scheduled to happen next year.<\/p>\n aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Aaron Epp Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. Read more about Aaron<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Aaron produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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