William Hawrelak Park is often called the heart of the Edmonton Park System. It has large perimeter trails, pavilions, and picnic areas, and is a place for the greater community to come together and celebrate.
Before construction began, the surrounding First Nations and Metis Nations were consulted, and an on-site monitoring program was implemented to help mitigate the construction impact on the parkland and river valley. Residents, park users, and festival and event groups were also engaged during the planning and decision-making stages.
Our civil project team’s scope of work included utilities, transportation, open spaces, and facility infrastructure throughout the park. This 168-acre project area included the installation of:
- 7km of new underground piping
- 45km of new underground cable
- Replacing the equivalent of 80 Olympic-sized swimming pools of material during underground piping and cable installation
- Renovation of 5 distinct heritage buildings
During construction, our team worked on 11 buildings. The main pavilion and plaza were upgraded with new interior finishes, fixtures, skate flooring, a commercial kitchen, and gender-inclusive washrooms. Upgrades to the boathouse structures included a new building envelope and mechanical and electrical systems, enabling year-round access. The Heritage Amphitheatre was refreshed with new structural, mechanical and electrical systems, interior finishes, and outdoor seating.
The team also replaced the original paddle boat dock and playground, and added new bicycle parking and accessible picnic areas connected by asphalt pathways. The park was fully connected through a network of multi-use paths linking key amenities and structures.
During early site work, archaeology partners conducted a preliminary survey and discovered more than 280 fossils across 39 locations. Findings included bison, elk, extinct horse species, fossilized plant remains, and 32 dinosaur bones, including ceratopsid, ornithischian, and hadrosaurid specimens.
