The federal government has announced $23.7 million in funding for Edmonton’s Blatchford redevelopment project.
Federal Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Randy Boissonnault announced Wednesday the funding will go toward the Blatchford district energy sharing system.
The system is designed to centralize energy production in neighbourhood energy centres and circulate it through underground pipes to all the buildings within the community. This leads to significantly less energy use than if each building had its own equipment.
“Thanks for projects like this, Blatchford homes will soon release 75 per cent fewer GHGs (greenhouse gases) – and that’s 75 per cent less than a home in another part of the city might do,” Boissonnault said.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said the federal money will be spent on installing an additional heat pump and auxiliary equipment, “which is much needed during hotter times we have recently experienced, as well as cold winter months.”
“It will also fund the design and construction of a growing distribution piping network and sewer heat exchange energy centre,” Sohi continued. “These additions are aligned with the pace of the growth and needs of the community.”
The development at the old City Centre Airport lands aims to use 100 per cent renewable energy and be carbon neutral.
People began moving into the community in May 2021, four years after they were originally expected to.
The city said Wednesday that 90 units in Blatchford are currently occupied and another 60 units are built or under construction. The city said another 500 homes are on the way, including a 90-unit rental townhouse development and four six-storey apartment-style buildings.
Heather MacKenzie moved into a townhouse in Blatchford about three and a half years ago.
“We were really looking for a net-zero rowhome in central Edmonton and this fit the ticket,” MacKenzie said. “It’s been wonderful.”
MacKenzie is also the president of the community league. She said about 300 people live in the neighbourhood.
She is encouraged by the federal government’s announcement and looks forward to the community growing, while keeping the builds green and the neighbourhood’s vision of 100 per cent renewable energy.
“It’s definitely lived up to our expectations. We have had no trouble with our heating and cooling and really been quite comfortable in minus 40 and plus 40,” MacKenzie said.
“In a home like ours, where we also have solar, we have very low utility bills because the solar is also offsetting our utility usage… Not all the homes in the neighbourhood are solar ready, so only a few of them have that capacity to go fully net-zero.”
Blatchford will eventually be home to 30,000 people. However, the redevelopment and getting people to buy into the community hasn’t been smooth sailing. Affordability has been an issue.
Sohi maintained the community’s access to transit and bike networks make it more affordable. The largest home available in Blatchford is a townhouse. The city has more affordable options are coming.
“More apartment buildings and condominiums that are more affordable are coming on board,” Sohi said. “The initial houses that have been built, yes, they have been more expensive than you would see in other parts of the city, comparable products.”
“The broader the community gets, the more housing types and affordability will be addressed,” added Tom Lumsden, development manager for Blatchford.
Earlier this year, Coun. Tim Cartmell floated the idea of selling off a large piece of undeveloped land at Blatchford. He hoped to shrink the size of the utility footprint to reflect the size of the community so any remaining land would then be put up for sale.
Council did not have time to get to the motion in May or June when it was set to be discussed, so it died on the floor.
The idea was not new. In May 2022, Cartmell suggested the city consider selling land at lower-than-market rates to incentivize development.
At the time, the councillor said the city had expected about 2,700 homes would have already been built in the central Edmonton community, but just 32 homes had been constructed.
Cartmell also thought the city should be open to partnerships with private development. However, councillors were told in October 2022 that the private sector has never wanted to be part of the project due to concerns over financial feasibility.