Shortlisted Proponents for the Keating Channel Pedestrian Bridge

Keating Channel Pedestrian Bridge location in context.

POSTED: AUGUST 10, 2023

Waterfront Toronto and the City of Toronto in collaboration with Host Nation and Treaty Holder, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, are pleased to announce the shortlist of teams being invited to propose designs for the accessible Keating Channel Pedestrian Bridge.

In May 2023, Waterfront Toronto and its partners issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and received 13 submissions from a variety of local, national and international teams. Following careful evaluation of the submissions, five (5) Proponents have been selected to participate in the Design Competition stage. The shortlisted Proponents are listed in alphabetical order by Lead Firm:

• Lead Firm: Entuitive 
  Engineer: Schlaich Bergermann Partner 
  Architect: Grimshaw Architects 
  Architect & Indigenous Consultant: Two Row Architect 
  Landscape Architect: O2 Planning + Design with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates 

• Lead Firm: EXP 
  Engineer: Buro Happold  
  Architect: INFORM Studio 
  Indigenous Consultant: 4 Directions 
  Landscape Architect: Sprucelab   

• Lead Firm: Henning Larsen 
  Engineer: Ramboll 
  Architect: Henning Larsen  
  Indigenous Consultant: Two Row Architect  
  Landscape Architect: Henning Larsen 

• Lead Firm: RJC Engineers 
  Engineer: Anta Ingeneria Civil 
  Architect: Smoke Architecture Inc. 
  Indigenous Consultant: MinoKamik 
  Landscape Architect: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates   

• Lead Firm: Zeidler Architecture Inc. 
  Engineer: Arup 
  Architect: WilkinsonEyre 
  Indigenous Consultant: Two Row Architect 
  Landscape Architect: PLANT Architect Inc. 

The Keating Channel Pedestrian Bridge will link the Quayside neighbourhood and Toronto’s downtown to an expanded regional park system along the Don River and the emergent Villiers Island. It will contribute to the creation of a continuous and publicly accessible water’s edge along the harbour and play a critical role in providing safe, direct, and equitable access across the Keating Channel.

Artist’s rendering of the location of the bridge just east of Parliament Slip, including the future vision for the activation of Parliament Slip (unfunded).

Incorporating Indigenous design principles is key to this project. Together, with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the City of Toronto, we envision a bridge that meaningfully celebrates local Indigenous arts, cultures, storytelling, histories, and traditions. This initiative also seeks to support Indigenous place-making and place-keeping as a part of a collective re-imagining of public spaces to strengthen the connection between place, community, values, culture, past, present and future.

Precedent image, (Xwa-Lack-Tun “Rick Harry.” Squamish, Canada. 2012) “East Side Pier Squamish Overpass” by B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

For the Design Competition, Shortlisted Proponents are being asked to submit proposals that will be reviewed by an evaluation committee made up of Waterfront Toronto, City of Toronto and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation staff. Waterfront Toronto anticipates that the successful Proponent will be identified in the fall of 2023.

On behalf of our project partners, we thank all the proponent teams for their interest in this project and for their submissions.

This project is funded, in part, by the Government of Canada.