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1661 Napier Street Vancouver, BC V5L 4X4
INFO@BRITANNIARENEWAL.ORG
Members of the Planning & Development Committee roll up their sleeves to work with site partners to plan the best Britannia Centre possible. This is an enormous but inspiring task for a largely volunteer committee. Join us!
A rezoning application is the next step in site redevelopment and is required to allow development that includes heights, densities, and uses indicated in the Master Plan. Through Community Conversations and other engagement opportunities, the public is invited to share what spaces, places and services they envisage for the renewed Britannia site.
On March 16, 2020, Britannia Community Services Centre, along with other community centres and facilities throughout the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia, were ordered to close all programming and services to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. A report is published to tell the story of Britannia’s response to the pandemic, for the purpose of ensuring knowledge for the future. Britannia navigates the inability to safely gather in-person by hosting a range of renewal engagement events online.
The Britannia Renewal Master Plan is unanimously approved by the City of Vancouver Mayor and Council in July 2018 with support from the site partners based on an in-depth community consultation process focused on the values and principles that should guide the Britannia Renewal. The Master Plan establishes a vision statement that reflects on Britannia’s role in the community and its innovative partnerships, design principles that reflect the considerations that will help guide the planning and evaluation of site scenarios, and renewal objectives that articulate the goals the renewal should address. The Master Plan identifies the requirement to continue meaningful and actionable dialogue with Host Nations and Urban Indigenous communities and service providers throughout all aspects of the project. The Britannia Community Services Centre Society supported the Master Plan, with some caveats which are covered in the document 'Response to the Britannia Renewal Master Plan'.
The Grandview-Woodland Community Plan aims to thoughtfully guide change in the community for the next 30 years. The plan responds to the challenges facing this community, and addresses current issues such as managing growth. The Britannia Renewal is included in the plan as a project that will ensure that Grandview-Woodland continues to be a socially diverse and welcoming community.
Thanks to voters in Vancouver, the Capital Funding package for Britannia gets the green light. It is anticipated the renewal will span three, four-year Capital Budgets (approximately 12 years total). The enhancement of the pool, fitness centre, Information Centre and the Gym C building take priority. Centre. As a whole, the renewal project will consider the entire 18-acre site and all of the community’s needs, such as arts and culture, community-engagement activities, recreation, and the public library.
Britannia Centre’s renewal is on the Capital Plan ballot.
In an effort to keep the community informed about the progress of the renewal process, a site-wide open house showcases the myriad services, classes, activities, and people at Britannia.
Britannia hopes to be included in the City of Vancouver’s 2011 Capital Plan, but prospects are dashed. We are, however, fortunate to get City funding to continue our planning and consultation until the next Capital Plan cycle.
Britannia and its site partners further analyze the condition of the site and all the information gathered thus far. Building on the 2007 Plan, they collaboratively develop concepts for the site that retain the innovative integrated-delivery model. The need for a new pool facility is emphasized within the new Strategic Master Plan.
An online and print survey of Britannia users and people in the community assembles valuable opinions, information, and ideas about what people want to see in their new centre.
SCARP, the School of Community and Regional Planning at UBC, challenges their students to take on the Britannia Centre’s renewal as a school project. They build a magnificent model of the site—that includes precise renderings of every single building of the surrounding area—and suggest solutions for areas that are in need of improvement.
Britannia works with DGBK Architects to investigate and assess the condition of all the buildings on the site, and to set out requirements for a renewed facility. This plan focuses on the south end of the site and on improved spaces for arts and culture space programming.
A formal needs analysis is conducted. It concludes that the centre needs considerably more and better space for its programming and activities.
In the late 1990s, the community and Britannia staff begin to flag problems with a deteriorating site that contains many design flaws. Discussions ensue in recognizing a need for expansion and renewal.
After an inspiring, community-driven movement to create an integrated community centre hub in Grandview-Woodland, the original Britannia Secondary School site is expanded to 18 acres, and Britannia Community Services Centre opens. The new Centre combines the original secondary school, the elementary school, and a Vancouver Public Library branch with an ice arena, a swimming pool, and comprehensive recreational and social programming.
Hundreds of new houses are being built in the flourishing neighbourhood of Grandview-Woodland, and the families that are moving in need of a high school. The new Britannia Secondary School, with a splendid view of the North Shore mountains, opens in 1911.
