Torontonians and visitors may now enjoy the lakefront east of the Jarvis slip. A first stretch of water's edge promenade, which connects Canada's Sugar Beach with Sherbourne Common at the lake, is now open. In the future, the promenade will extend almost a full kilometre, all the way to the Parliament Slip.  In total, Waterfront Toronto is building 30 metres of public space between buildings and Lake Ontario along the full length of East Bayfront.  It will be made up of two key parts: a 10-metre wide granite mosaic promenade and an 11-metre wide wooden boardwalk that will be slightly lower and built over the stormwater management system for the area. There will also be an additional nine metre pedestrian area between buildings and the promenade.

The way people experience the water’s edge from either the promenade or boardwalk will be quite different. Along the promenade, a row of mature trees lining each side will create a French-style allée by the lake sheltering pedestrians from sun and wind. The boardwalk, open to the elements, gives pedestrians full exposure to the lake.

At the eastern end of the promenade, Waterfront Toronto’s fourth wavedeck is planned for the Parliament Slip. This impressive 3000 square metre (32,300 square foot) wavedeck, just a five minute walk from the Distillery District, will be both a public gathering space and treatment area for East Bayfront’s stormwater management system. Several dramatic openings in the wavedeck will allow the community’s stormwater to undergo natural UV treatment as part of the water purification process.

In keeping with a commitment to sustainability and design excellence, Waterfront Toronto is constructing a storm water management system in East Bayfront that will be integrated into the design of the area’s public realm including the water’s edge promenade and boardwalk, Parliament WaveDeck and Sherbourne Common. This integrated approach allows required stormwater infrastructure to be beautiful, functional, sustainable and cost-effective.

After a storm, runoff will be collected in East Bayfront’s Stormwater Management Facility located in tanks under the water’s edge boardwalk parallel to the dockwall. These tanks have three key roles – they collect storm water, reinforce the existing dockwall and create a platform over which a beautiful public promenade can be built.

After water is collected in the tanks, it is then transferred to a large tank under the 3,000 square metre Parliament WaveDeck which includes an artificial wetland and three holes in the wavedeck’s platform to allow natural UV rays to penetrate and perform initial water treatment. At that point, the water is conveyed to the Sherbourne Common UV Purification Facility housed beneath the park’s Pavilion where strong UV light completes the treatment process.
After the UV treatment is complete, the water enters the 240 metre long water channel in Sherbourne Common through one of three dramatic sculptures that rise almost nine metres from the ground. Water is elegantly lifted from the channel toward the sky and down as a textured veil of water.

After traveling the full length of the channel which includes a biofiltration bed, clean water is discharged into Lake Ontario.

Integrating stormwater management facilities into the public realm makes sense on a number of levels. From a design perspective, it allows required infrastructure to become a beautiful part of our new waterfront community. It also benefits the dockwall which it helps to reinforce and the marine environment through the installation of 7,000 square metres of new fish habitat alongside the tanks under the boardwalk. In addition, there is a significant cost savings associated with building a boardwalk on top of tanks that are already going to be installed as required pieces of municipal infrastructure.

Location: At the water’s edge just east of Jarvis Street to the Parliament Slip

Lead Designers: West 8 + DTAH (promenade/boardwalk and wavedeck design); and The Municipal Infrastructure Group (stormwater management facility)

Size: 1 kilometre length, 10-metre wide granite mosaic promenade, 11-metre wide wooden boardwalk, 9-metre wide pedestrian area between buildings and promenade

Number of trees: Approximately 200

Waterfront Toronto is working with leading tree experts and will employ the latest technologies to ensure that trees planted along the water’s edge mature and thrive. Research shows that a major impediment to establishing trees in urban areas is the lack of an adequate volume of soil for tree root growth. Soil under pavement is highly compacted and often stops roots from growing, causing the trees to die prematurely after seven to ten years.

This new tree planting technology, which installs a tiered web of rigid boxes — called soil cells — is designed to house an average of 30 cubic metres of nutrient soil per tree. These reinforced cells provide support for the soil so it won’t compact under the weight of the pavement above. The system allows tree roots to spread and thrive resulting in healthier mature trees.

See how soil cells help deliver mature trees. Watch the video from Deep Root, our soil cell provider.