Century Gardens park redevelopment
Century Gardens is a recognized historic resource that was originally developed in 1975 to celebrate Calgary’s Centennial. The landscape is an abstraction of the nearby Rocky Mountains and Foothills.
At over 40 years old, the park’s mechanical and electrical equipment, and some above ground features have reached the end of their lifecycle. These lifecycle upgrades gave The City an opportunity to explore the park further and to create a redevelopment plan for its overall use.
Project update - June 2021
While we experienced some supply and construction delays, in part due to COVID-19 and unseasonal snow and winter weather in mid-October, over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress toward the redevelopment of Century Gardens and the park is now open to the public.
Redevelopment highlights
The concept for the site redevelopment was created with extensive public engagement. The changes make the park more open and welcoming while preserving historic fountains.
Redevelopment highlights include:
- Two new park pavilion buildings, with a public washroom and the opportunity for a park food concession;
- Upgraded heritage waterfalls, landscaping, lighting with security cameras;
- Restored and repositioned public art sculptures;
- A wood amphitheatre;
- A new central water feature splash pad;
- Wider park entrances, improved site lines, and increased route options to and from the train platform.
Developing the concept
Parks worked with external partners and a consultant team (Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg and Carson McCulloch Associates Ltd.) to develop a concept for the park’s redevelopment. Initial feedback from park users and key external partners was gathered using a Park Use Assessment (survey).
Through the survey, The City could observe how, when and why people used the park, as well as what perceptions and preferences citizens had concerning park features and opportunities. From there, four different concepts were presented to key external partners for their input.
From the feedback collected, a preferred concept was created that incorporates elements and features from each of the original four. This preferred concept focuses on creating a space for Calgarians to use any time of day, any day of the week and any season.
The design invites people to use the park during lunchtime, for unstructured and informal activities, and as a corridor link between the beltline area into the downtown core.
Thank you to everyone who completed the online survey providing feedback on the draft concept for the redevelopment of Century Gardens. The survey was available from September 3 – October 15, 2014. Survey results and a summary report are available.