Vancouver LEED Neighborhood Handed Over to Olympic Organizers
The City of Vancouver staged a ceremonial handover of the Olympic Village to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games (VANOC) on Wednesday.
November 06, 2009
Mayor Gregor Robertson officially handed over the keys to the Olympic Village to VANOC CEO John Furlong.
In January 2010, when the Winter Olympics come to Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, the athletes will live in an all-new, sustainable urban neighborhood.
I toured the site in 2008 while it was under construction. I was guided by Ian Smith, the City of Vancouver's man in charge of Olympic Village development and the surrounding neighborhood known as Southeast False Creek.
As part of a USGBC pilot program, Southeast False Creek is one of eight developments to apply for certification under LEED for Neighborhood Development. Beijing Olympic Village was the first Olympic Village to receive LEED-ND certification. Vancouver Olympic organizers told us that the Vancouver and Whistler Olympic Villages both participated in the pilot LEED-ND project.
During the 2010 Winter Olympics the Southeast False Creek neighborhood will be off limits to visitors. At the end of the Games the property reverts to the City and will become housing, retail spaces, and community facilities.