Edmonton Airport Redevelopment Project Taking Off

It aims to set the bar for carbon-neutral living in Canada and Blatchford, a 217-hectare development on the site of the former Edmonton Airport, has made a promising start; diverting 27,000 tonnes of building materials from landfill during site preparation.

Material included 50 hectares of hard surface consisting of two runways, taxiways, surface parking lots and foundations. The asphalt, concrete and gravel has been processed and sold back to the construction industry.

Twelve airport buildings were also deconstructed and sold off to be reassembled and repurposed elsewhere. Those buildings not recycled as complete units were recycled in their component parts. Fixtures that were aviation-related, such as floodlighting, were purchased by another airport which is undergoing expansion.

Mark Hall, executive director of the redevelopment project, says the deconstruction phase was a huge task but, ultimately, the economics made good sense.

"It actually saved money to recycle buildings and materials as we avoided the cost of transporting material to landfill and paying the tipping fees," he explains. "The deconstruction process was undertaken in two phases and we diverted 92 per cent of all materials from landfill, which was a huge achievement. The volume of material was large and our goal was 80 per cent; we surpassed that.

"In May, we started installing the utilities that support residential development like power, cable, gas, telecommunications, water pipes, sanitation and the district energy system," he continues.

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