Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Guelph is bringing back the Guelph Urban Design Awards to celebrate design excellence and recognize thoughtful, innovative and sustainable urban design features. The awards were last held in 2006.
“Guelph is a vibrant, diverse city with a unique sense of community, and good urban design is part of what makes people feel welcome here” said Todd Salter, general manager of Planning and Building Services. “The Guelph Urban Design Awards will honour the exceptional projects.”
Submissions must be in the following categories.
Adaptive re-use/heritage conservation:
- Rehabilitation and restoration of an existing building(s) to its former condition; or the rehabilitation of an existing building(s) for a purpose other than what it was originally designed.
Public buildings and developments:
- Building or composition of buildings with a primary function to serve the public and/or be largely accessible to the public
Private buildings and developments:
- private building or composition of buildings, that achieve(s) urban design excellence and is precedent setting for a project of its type through its relationship to the public realm
Open space/public space/green infrastructure:
- Open spaces, public spaces and green infrastructure projects that contribute to the public realm and the natural environment
Place-making:
- Stand-alone objects, public art installations, landscape elements or small-scale building components that contribute to the public realm
Urban design plans/visions:
- Visions, studies and master plans that have the potential to significantly impact the future of Guelph
Each will be evaluated by a panel of expert judges on a range of criteria, including how the project contributes to successful city-building, how it advances the city’s goals to be a net zero carbon community by 2050 and whether it successfully demonstrates a positive contribution to the public realm.
Winners of each category will receive an Award of Excellence certificate and a physical award. Honorable mentions for each category will also be acknowledged with an Award of Merit.
A project or components of a project may be submitted under more than one category.
The jury has the discretion to decide not to present an award in a category or to re-allocate entries into another category.
Projects must have been completed after Jan. 1, 2008, be in Guelph and be substantially constructed/occupied.
Projects submitted for the ‘Place-making’ and ‘Urban Design Plans/Visions’ categories must be complete but not necessarily built.
Winners will be announced in September 2020 and may also be eligible for free submission into the National Urban Design Awards.
To learn more about the Guelph Urban Design Awards or submit a project, visit guelph.ca/urbandesignawards.