Report to: Development Services Committee Date of Meeting: June 6, 2006

SUBJECT: Urban Design Awards Program

PREPARED BY: Shirley Marsh, Senior Urban Design Planner

RECOMMENDATION:

That the staff report entitled Urban Design Awards Program, dated June 6, 2006, be received;

And That the existing Urban Design Award categories be amended and that five categories of awards for built projects be established (as outlined in the report), to improve the quality and quantity of submissions, better align the program with the Town’s urban design objectives and to sustain the awards program over the longer term;

And That the Urban Design Awards rotation timeline be amended from a 2-year rotation to a 3-year rotation to encourage more high quality built projects to be submitted and considered;

And That Town nomination of qualified projects be permitted in the program in order to encourage strong candidate projects to enter the competition;

And Further That the Urban Design Awards program for 2006 proceed in the fall on the basis of the new award categories.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Not applicable

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

The budget for the 2006 Urban Design Awards Program has been approved in the 2006 Capital Budget.

The Town of Markham’s current Urban Design Awards program was initiated in 1999 and through 2003 was undertaken on a 2-year rotation. The main purpose of the awards is to recognize and encourage urban design excellence within the Town.

During the course of the award program, several positive outcomes have occurred. These include a greater public appreciation for different forms of urban design, a broader scope of recognition within the GTA and beyond, and the creation of public places and environment to facilitate innovation in urban design.

However, after the awards program in 2003, concerns were expressed by jury members that the Town should take specific steps to refine the program for future competitions.

Specific concerns identified in the 2003 program included the declining number of submissions and the caliber of submissions received. In 2001, the Town received 33 submissions for the competition, but in 2003, the Town only received 11 submissions. Although the program was well advertised, submissions were not representative of a full range of high quality projects. In 2003 and earlier programs, the Town did not directly nominate individual projects, but rather the applicant independently brought forward each submission.

In the jury’s view, a 2-year rotation period does not provide sufficient time for a full range of high quality projects to be developed. In a formal letter to the Town, the jury recommended that the Town consider an awards program based on a 3-year rotation period. A three year rotation would increase submission volumes and provide greater diversity and quality. The jury also recommended that Town officials either nominate candidate projects for the competition, or strongly encourage consultants/designers to submit their projects. This action would also help enhance the number and quality of the submissions.

The current Urban Design Awards program was established in 1999, and the competition did not originally have specific award categories. Instead, strong submissions received a general Award of Excellence. The original categories represented the criteria that the jury used to judge each project.

The criteria used include the following 6 categories:

Town-wide Significance – Contributes to the Town’s overall character, identity and image.
Community Significance – Enhances the community’s sense of place and livability having regard to locale, natural features, history and cultural heritage.
Neighbourhood Significance – Contributes to a neighbourhood’s character having regard for built form, streetscapes and open space within the public and/or private realms.
Innovation and Creativity – Demonstrates uniqueness and creative responses to design objectives, program requirements and site constraints.
Quality of Execution – From concept to completion: the quality of workmanship, materials and the interpretation of the design realization.
Award of Merit – For projects that have raised the standards for their type of development in Markham.

In 2001, the jury decided to adopt the above criteria list into designated award categories. This procedure occurred also in 2003, but with greater difficulty given the limited number of submissions. Since the criteria were not originally intended to be used as specific award categories, there is a need to change the categories to give stronger direction to award applicants and reflect the type of developments in the Town.

Presently, each category does not branch from an overall vision or goal(s). This could help clarify the motivation behind some of the projects and provide insight as to why the Town distinguishes and rewards a project with an Award of Excellence. Also, many of the current categories encompass a variety of themes or subject areas that are not clearly defined. Projects in turn risk becoming vague and are difficult to fit in a specific category.

Further, projects submitted for an award in 1999-2001-2003, were not required to apply to a specific category. Each project was designated instead to a certain category by the jury. In the jury’s opinion, the strength of the submissions and how they were represented could be improved by providing more direction and project focus to the parties making the submissions.

The amendments to the program contemplated in this report are aimed at improving the quality and quantity of submissions and better aligning the program with the design objectives of the Town. The amendments to the program are also intended to enhance the prestige and recognition of the Town of Markham as a centre of design excellence.

The Town of Markham has achieved recognition for innovative community development, open space design, heritage conservation, intensification and design leadership. The Design Awards in turn should reflect these development types and character that Markham has worked strongly towards.

The proposed new Urban Design Award Categories are as follows:

Buildings of Significance – Includes commercial, retail, cultural, residential, recreational and institutional projects. Primarily focused on projects of a larger size and scale.

This category seeks to identify high quality built projects that through design innovation, creativity, architectural or urban design character make a positive and significant contribution to the Markham community in a local context, and have potential for Town wide significance.

Community Design – Includes residential at low, medium or high density or as a mixed use project that contributes to a community-oriented neighbourhood or precinct context.

This category seeks to identify residential and mixed use development in an assembly or collective context that through design innovation, mix of uses, architectural or urban design character, make a positive contribution to the Town’s community development, support the principles of New Urbanism, diversity of use, streetscape character, contribution to the public realm, heritage values and quality of life.

Open Space – Includes public parks, public or private open spaces, urban plazas or landscaped areas including storm water facilities, landscape restorations or rehabilitations.

This category seeks to identify urban open space landscapes that through design, innovation, creativity and character make a positive contribution to the Town’s community development principles, urban objectives, environmental enhancement and quality of life.

Urban Intensification – Includes urban infill, mixed-use and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) at any size and scale.

This category seeks to identify built projects that demonstrate best practice models for urban infill, intensification, mixed use or transit oriented development, that are integrated into their existing context along main streets, at urban nodes and within heritage districts.

Design Leadership and Innovation – Includes buildings, public parks, public and private open spaces and landscape treatment at any size and scale, and other Best Urban Design and Management Practices.

This category seeks to identify built projects and spaces that feature new ideas and best practice models in design, sustainability, accessibility, environmental practices and technical innovation that raise the bar in the Town’s commitment to creativity, progressive design and environmental leadership.

The five categories represent a reduction from the existing six (6) Urban Design Award categories. As such, a reduced number of awards categories is being proposed to promote higher quality submissions and create greater competition for the Town of Markham.

Staff recommend that the Urban Design Awards timeline be changed from a 2-year rotation to a 3-year rotation. This will enable more projects to qualify for an award since there is more time allowed for projects to be proposed and built. This will also help increase the quality of the projects submitted since there will be a larger pool of submissions to select from.

Furthermore, it is recommended that the awards program be opened up to Town nominations or recommendations of projects in order to encourage strong candidate projects to enter the competition. This will help improve the quality of submissions and ensure that each category has several strong candidates competing for an award.

The Town of Markham also has the opportunity of being recognized on a national level through exposure to other awards programs. Efforts should be made to encourage winners to apply for the various industries, government and other professional awards for which their projects qualify. Submissions to other bodies can enhance national awareness of the exciting projects taking place in the Town of Markham and potentially can spur more interest and investment.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Promotes environmental awareness and rewards environmental excellence in the Town

ACCESSIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS:

Promotes accessibility awareness and rewards excellence in accessible urban design. The recommended new categories aim to provide high quality accessible environment to meet the needs of all residents, businesses and users.

ENGAGE 21^ST CONSIDERATIONS:

Supports the quality of life objectives of Engage 21^st Century Markham.

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

Not applicable

RECOMMENDED BY:

__________________________________

David Clark,

Town Architect

Valerie Shuttleworth, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.

Director of Planning & Urban Design

Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.

Commissioner of Development Services

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