“Active involvement of stakeholders in the planning and execution of the neighborhood upgrade” – Holcim Awards Jury

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    Global Holcim Awards Bronze 2006 - Canada: “Greening the Infrastructure at Benny Farm”, Montreal.

This community-driven initiative is merited for exploring an innovative merger of urban, architectural, and landscape design that serves to foreground the benefits of cost-efficient, sustainable augmentation of infrastructural services. Applauded is the active involvement of stakeholders – owners, tenants, and users – in the planning and execution of the neighborhood upgrade.

Last updated: April 25, 2006 Zurich, Switzerland

The inventive proposal for public and private financing of the overall venture serves to boost the communal economy while empowering residents with stronger managerial leverage over their residential conditions.

A premium is placed on environmental and social sensitivity across a variety of scales, from broad concerns for contextual compatibility of the interventions to the fine-grained detailing of individual structures on the site. The knowledge gained from this integrative strategy is transferable to a large array of different conditions and circumstances.

The project could therefore function as a reference, if not a catalyst, for similar endeavors elsewhere. Also commended is the ambitious vision put forward to cultivate public awareness as to the benefits of such energy saving measures, which simultaneously galvanizes interest concerning the advantages of collective action in rehabilitating the civic realm.

In this way, the project contributes a valuable model for responsible and imaginative joint investment, offering insight to a range of robust technologies as well as material processes that increase building performance beyond conventional standards. Of equal significance is the strong ethical stance expressed in the commitment to long-term maintenance and monitoring of the neighborhood’s vitality.