The Eaglewind Development in downtown Squamish garnered three gold Canadian Home Builder's Association of B.C.'s Georgie Awards, Saturday Jan. 30.
With more than 500 entries from across the province vying for gold in nearly 50 categories, Solterra Development Corporation won the technical innovation award for its work at Rockcliff at Eaglewind, the sustainability award for its work at Talon at Eaglewind and best public-private partnership for Talon at Eaglewind.
"The Georgie Awards look at the best projects in B.C. and it is a remarkable honour for a Squamish development to be recognized," said Cameron Chalmers, District of Squamish director of planning.
Eaglewind (Talon, Rockcliff, Stream, and Summits View) is a 25-acre master-planned development including an 11-acre park that was donated back to the community. The park is open to all residents and offers a playground, tennis courts, a dog park, lawn bowling, flower gardens, plus many paths and trails. A 10,000 square foot Seniors' Centre is set to open in Rockcliff at Eaglewind during spring 2009.
The Solterra Group of Companies specializes in building townhomes and highrise residences.
"Squamish has such a beautiful natural environment and we took a lot of care to ensure the project compliments the natural beauty," said Laura Rizzo, Solterra director of marketing. "I think it is important to work with the community in order to build a better community."
The Public-Private Partnership Award was presented to Solterra for working with the district on the joint initiative of constructing and opening the 11-acre public Eaglewind Park.
Mayor Greg Gardner said Solterra Development has set the bar high for downtown Squamish. He said the sustainability and public-private partnership award are indicative of the Solterra's commitment to the Squamish community.
Chalmers hopes that working in partnership with developers becomes a trend in Squamish. He said the development community is stepping up in terms of delivering amenities back to Squamish.
"We are seeing a push toward these types of partnerships with developers," Chalmers said.
Over the last couple of years, $120,000 has been collected from developers for amenities such as affordable housing. Chalmers said the district is becoming much more sophisticated in addressing community impacts from development.
The Technical Innovation Award was given for installing pre-fabricated "eco-friendly" wall panels that reduce waste and increase efficiency.
The Sustainability Award was presented for completing all landscaping and the 11-acre Eaglewind Park with a 100-year storm detention facility. The storm detention preserves forest and natural vegetation and using infiltration swales and retention ponds with oil separators.
Solterra was also recognized for migrating a drainage channel for trout and salmon spawning/rearing habitat.
Rizzo said the environment is a top priority for Solterra Development. From eco-friendly landscaping to using eco-friendly wall panels, Rizzo said the goal was to reduce the development's carbon footprint.
After working closely with the company, Chalmers insists Solterra has set the bar high and hopes other developers will follow suit.
"In the last five years, the district has undergone a fundamental transformation in terms of sustainable approaches to development," Chalmers said. "Council has shown a leadership role to encourage the community to be as sustainable as possible. Eaglewind is an example of that."
