William Hawrelak Park is sometimes 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 enthusiasts, and festival and event groups were also asked for their opinions in the planning and decision stages.
Our civil project team’s key scope of work includes utilities, transportation, open spaces, and facility infrastructure throughout the park. This 168-acre project area will see the installation of:
- 7km of new underground piping
- 45km of new underground cable
- Displacing and replacing 80 Olympic-sized pools worth of material while installing the underground piping and cables
- 5 distinct and separate heritage building renovations
During construction, our team will work on 11 buildings. The main pavilion and plaza will have updates to the interior, including finishes, fixtures, skate flooring, a commercial kitchen, and gender-inclusive washrooms. When the upgrades are completed on the boathouse structures, there will be year-round access to the building with a new envelope and mechanical and electrical systems. The Heritage Amphitheatre refresh will include new structural, mechanical and electrical systems, interior finishes, and outdoor seating. Lastly, the team will also be replacing the original paddle boat dock, the playground, adding new bicycle parking and accessible picnic areas with asphalt paths. The entire park will be connected with multi-use paths to connect the structures and amenities.
Since the team broke ground, it’s been an exciting project! Our archeology partners did a preliminary site survey and found over 280 fossils from 39 different locations around the park. They found a significant number of bison, elk, extinct horse, fossilized plant remains, and a whopping 32 dinosaur bones, including Ceraopsid, Ornithischian, and Hadrosaurid remains.
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