The City of Burnaby and Lougheed Town Centre landlord Shape Properties have won the Planning Institute of British Columbia’s '2016 Award for Excellence in Planning Practice - City and Urban Areas' Gold award. The Lougheed Town Centre Core Area Master Plan includes a dramatic reconceptualization of a 42-acre suburban shopping district into a vibrant, pedestrian and transit-connected, mixed-use community with diverse housing, employment, service and recreation opportunities

At its heart is the 600,000 square foot Lougheed Town Centre itself, anchored by Hudson's Bay and Walmart, as well as about 160 retailers. The mall will double in size as part of the overhaul, which will include millions of additional square feet for mixed uses. The Lougheed Town Centre Core Area, which is currently comprised primarily of older, commercially zoned properties with an abundance of surface parking, has been identified in the master-plan as having the greatest opportunity for transformation to a pedestrian and transit-oriented centre with a fuller and better integrated range of uses. We'll discuss this in more detail in a separate article.

The Planning Institute of British Columbia awards honour the best in professional planning work undertaken by members in communities and regions across British Columbia and the Yukon. Each award submission is evaluated by a committee of six experienced planners from across British Columbia. Evaluation criteria include: innovation, transferability, contribution to the profession, public process, implementation, sustainability, and overall presentation. According to Planning Institute of British Columbia, to achieve a Gold Award, submissions must meet very high standards in all categories.

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“We are thrilled that the City and Shape Properties have been recognized with a Gold Award for this important planning process,” said City of Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan. “It recognizes that we’ve achieved excellence in innovation, public process, and sustainability – all elements we are determined to embed in our planning processes, because we know they are critical to ensuring that the Lougheed Town Centre will reflect the high expectations and diverse aspirations of Burnaby citizens.”

“This award is an honour and we’re truly thankful to the Planning Institute of BC,” says Darren Kwiatkowski, Executive Vice President of Development and Design at Shape Properties. “We’re appreciative to The City of Burnaby for facilitating a unique and effective planning process that married the interests of the community, the City and the landowner to create a shared vision for an extraordinary new community. We’re especially excited that this process has produced a long-term, executable plan that will transform Lougheed into a vibrant city centre.”

"The Lougheed Town Centre Core Area Master Plan represents a unique collaboration between the land owner and the City of Burnaby,” says James Moore, acting department manager, policy and planning, Planning Institute of British Columbia. “The result is an ambitious vision for a leading-edge community that will have a positive impact on Burnaby for many years to come.”

The award was presented to Shape Properties and the City of Burnaby at the annual Planning Institute of British Columbia conference in Kelowna, on May 12, 2016.

Canadian Retail News From Around The Web: May 19, 2016