Portland Slip Water’s Edge Promenade Now Open

POSTED: JULY 15, 2014
BY: SAMANTHA GILENO

A new stretch of water’s edge promenade is now open along the Portland Slip next to the Canada Malting Silos. Like the Water’s Edge Promenade between Canada’s Sugar Beach and Sherbourne Common, the new Portland Slip promenade is made of red and grey granite forming a maple leaf mosaic pattern.  A double row of maple trees offers shade and wind protection for those strolling along – or sitting by – the water’s edge.

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Before and after the construction of the Water's Edge Promenade along the Portland Slip in Toronto's Central Waterfront. 

Designed by West 8 + DTAH, as part of the overall plan for the Central Waterfront, the water’s edge promenade helps connect our waterfront parks and public spaces.  At the Portland Slip, the promenade opens up access to Ireland Park, an often overlooked space at the foot of Eireann Quay. Ireland Park honours the Irish immigrants who fled during the Famine of 1847 – and the 38,000 who arrived in Toronto.  The park, which originally opened in 2007, includes a "wall of memories" in Irish blue limestone, a landscape of stone and plantings that blend from an Irish to a Canadian landscape, and five bronze sculptures by renowned Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie.

Our construction at the Portland Slip followed dockwall repairs which the City of Toronto completed in 2012. The City’s required dockwall infrastructure work advanced our timelines for building the promenade in this area. The new promenade stretches 130 metres along the west side of the Portland Slip from the lake to the existing sidewalk just east of the Harbourfront Community Centre.