The West Don Lands area is a brownfield site in the flood plain of the Don River. Before any revitalization and development can occur the area requires remediation and flood mitigation.

In 2007 the Ontario Realty Corporation which has since merged with Infrastructure Ontario began work on behalf of Waterfront Toronto to contsruct the area’s massive flood protection landform (FPL). When complete in 2012, the FPL will protect not only the West Don Lands but a 210 hectare (519 acre) area, including Toronto’s financial district, from flooding.

The massive landform is being constructed from clean soil taken from construction sites within the Greater Toronto Area.

Approximately 400,000 cubic metres of fill was used to construct the low-lying landform, which is equivalent to about 40,000 dump truck loads.

The landform provides the necessary flood protection for the new West Don Lands community, permitting the removal of the flood-plain designation, allowing the land to be rezoned for residential development.

In addition to the landform, flood protection was also provided by widening the channel of the Don River so that it could accommodate a larger flow of water. Toronto and Region Conservation carried out this work as part of the Lower Don River West Remedial Flood Protection Project.

The unique topography provided by the landform has been utilized to build Don River Park, a signature part of the new West Don Lands community.