Vancouver firm wins airport lands design competition

Vancouver firm Perkins + Will was announced Wednesday as the winner of an international competition to turn the Edmonton City Centre Airport lands into a residential area.

"This is really going to be a phenomenal development. It's going to be one of the most sustainable, creative developments that exists in the world today," Mayor Stephen Mandel said.

The city will now start negotiating a contract with Perkins + Will to work out details ofthe design plan, a work schedule and a public consultation strategy.

The concept plan submitted by Perkins + Will for the competition is not the final design and changes will be made over the next15 months.Construction is expected to start by 2013.

"We're absolutely thrilled to have a project of this nature," said Joyce Drohan, director of urban design for Perkins + Will.

The firm must now develop a community for 30,000 people that is sustainable and well-served by transit.

"Just getting a community to carbon neutral is a big enough challenge onto itself, but to actually propose to go beyond carbon neutral, which is what our proposal suggests, is a very large challenge," Drohan said.

Perkins + Will was named in February as one of five finalists in the competition. Last month, the city narrowed thefield to three firms.

Perkins + Willwas selected by a panel made up of local, national and international experts. City council endorsed the recommendation in a closed-door meeting.