Erika Yarrow explores a vibrant eco-facility on the outskirts of Toronto.

The Evergreen Brick Works is an inspiring place, oozes potential and despite being in the early stages of development, it is engaging the public and providing space for the arts.  Only days before my visit, the still derelict factory area had housed a concert, which had been performed by candlelight, utilising the various platforms and structures of the former brick works as stage areas.  I am not sure what the health and safety guys back in the UK would make of it, but the idea of this magical place staging a musical extravaganza certainly captured my imagination.
 

Evergreen, the organisation heading up the initiative to transform Toronto's historic Don Valley Brick Works into a centre of environmental education and the arts, is a charity that focuses on building relationships between nature, culture and the community.  Evergreen encourages a hands-on approach to the environment and is keen to demonstrate how nature can be experienced in an urban setting.
 From 1889-1984 the Don Valley Brick Works was one of Canada's pre-eminent brickyards, producing the material from which many of Toronto's heritage buildings and Canada's national landmarks were constructed. The 16 hectare site is made up of the Don Valley Brick Works Park - an 11.5 hectare nature area and park incorporating gardens, wetlands, wildflower meadows, ravine forests and trails - and the Don Valley Brick Works Industrial Pad - a complex of historic, industrial buildings stretching over five hectares. 

Evergreen has been engaged in the naturalisation of the site since 1998.  But it was only in 2004 that the City of Toronto granted permission for the redevelopment of the industrial pad.  Evergreen has great plans for this 184,000 square foot industrial space.  The site will house Evergreen Gardens, a collection of demonstration gardens, showcasing how schools can green their environments and how public green spaces can be managed in greater harmony with nature.  A plant nursery will supply native plant species and market pavilions will house a weekend farmers' market.  In addition, space will be offered to charitable, non-profit organizations and socially-conscious private enterprises working in the fields of the environment, education, community and the arts.  Space will also be created for community programmes, including an art club, woodworker collectives and theatre groups.

In order to utilise fully the potential of this project, Evergreen is working with a variety of like-minded partners.  The Jamie Kennedy Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that will be running the Brick Works flagship restaurant.  Run on Slow Food principles, the facility will also be used as a culinary education centre, guest chefs offering demonstrations.  Training will be provided for local students who will be able to showcase their work at the restaurant and the foundation will initiate events that place sustainability at the heart of good gastronomy.

The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art will be heading up the Brick Works ceramics programme which will offer ceramics classes and lectures and provide space for visiting artists.   The museum has been involved in all of the festivals that Evergreen has held at the site over the past two years and ceramics activities have been found to be popular with families, initiating  a connection with the geology and history of  the site's brick-making tradition.

Outward Bound Canada will be running team-building and personal and community development exercises at the Brick Works, creating rope courses and climbing walls that will utilise the industrial archaeology of the site.  The Brick Works will also provide a base for the organisation's experiential environment programme.

With nearly a 100 years experience of working with deprived children, Moorelands Community Services, is working with Evergreen to run summer day camps at the Brick Works, where children can learn about nature and take part in hikes, cooking sessions and drama.
 

In addition, the YMCA of Greater Toronto is teaming up with Evergreen to offer opportunities for training and employment for at-risk youths, with the intention of creating social enterprise programmes that provide meaningful employment for these young people.

Evergreen Brick Works is set to be a community space that has relevance to all ages and backgrounds, providing everything from hands-on green gardening to information about innovative eco-building practices, and space for theatre and music productions, art exhibitions, eco-conscious retail, conferences and private functions.

Plans for the environmental credentials of the buildings are equally ambitious.  Evergreen wants the Brick Works to be one of the most sustainable buildings in Canada and analysis of the plans identifies the building as achieving 'gold' level LEED certification - Canada's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating framework.  The site will demonstrate a system that is capable, through landscaping and water use, of managing stormwater largely on site.  Green roofs will be utilised to minimise heat island effect, and energy and water use within the site will be minimised by various high-efficiency and renewable technologies.

On completion, the Evergreen experience with be one that integrates fully practical environmental education with arts and business resources, community activities and entertainment.  What I found interesting was the way in which the 'organic' pace of the project was enabling the community to engage with the whole process of regeneration.  Evergreen has been encouraging visitors and hosting events for a number of years.  As a result the community is seeing the Brick Works develop step-by-step - created habitats becoming naturalised, initiatives taking shape, green technologies being installed.   Genuine links have been created with the community, resulting in an energy that cannot help but inspire. There can be no better way of understanding the true meaning of sustainable development than experiencing it from the ground up in this way.