Brownfield Basics

For an introduction to the basics of brownfield redevelopment, please select one of the following topic areas:

• What are brownfields?
• Why redevelop brownfields?
• What are the benefits?
• What are the challenges?
• What are the opportunities?
• Coordinated action at all levels

What are brownfields?

Brownfields can be defined as "abandoned, vacant, derelict or underutilized commercial or industrial properties where past actions have resulted in actual or perceived contamination and where there is an active potential for redevelopment." (National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy)

British Columbia has an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 brownfield sites, which are often in or near communities. Examples include:

• closed service stations;
• former drycleaners;
• abandoned mines;
• old industrial waterfronts and manufacturing plants;
• former rail yards.

Left as they are, these sites are of little economic value and can pose human health and environmental risks. Cleaning up and redeveloping these sites can generate significant economic, social and environmental benefits, leading to more sustainable communities.

Vancouver's Pacific Place and Victoria's Dockside Green are examples of high-profile, successful brownfield developments. But it is smaller communities, where the benefits are less obvious, that represent the greatest challenges and opportunities for brownfield redevelopment in the province.

Why is brownfield redevelopment important?

Land development in British Columbia is physically constrained by geography, resulting in only about six percent of the province being available for land development.

Continued population pressures, rising real long term real estate values and public calls for sustainability all point to the importance of re-using old industrial and commercial lands.

Brownfields are often visual eyesores that lower property values, provide minimal tax revenues, pose health risks to residents, and impact growth of communities. Left alone, they are of little economic and social value to a community and may leave a legacy of environmental contamination.

What are the benefits?

Brownfield redevelopment can provide many social, environmental and economic (or, triple-bottom-line) benefits:

• Economic development, with urban redevelopment in large population centres, and job creation;
• Enhanced quality of life through neighbourhood revitalization;
• Reduced urban sprawl pressures on Greenfield sites around a community;
• Farmland (ALR, local food supply) and green space preservation;
• Re-use of infrastructure such as roads and utilities;
• Increased tax base from lands that would otherwise sit vacant; and
• Reduced risks to environmental and human health and safety through cleanup and removal of site hazards.

What are the challenges?

Although brownfield sites are often located in prime real estate areas such as near waterfronts or in historical city centres, there are a number of reasons why many brownfields in British Columbia have not been redeveloped.

Some of the challenges include:

• Unclear liability/ownership for potential environmental contamination;
• Additional costs of environmental assessment, demolition, and clean up;
• Increased time and complexity often required for environmental and planning approvals as compared to greenfield development;
• Limited site information, and stakeholder knowledge and capacity regarding brownfields and brownfield redevelopment; and,
• Prevailing market conditions and obtaining project financing.

We are developing guidelines, documents and publications to meet your needs. Where we do not have British Columbia based materials, we will guide you to helpful materials from elsewhere.

For more information and a list of topics, visit our Resources page.

This information can help guide your activities and answer your questions. Please let us know what other tools would be useful to you so we can ensure that relevant British Columbia materials can be developed.

What are the opportunities?

The trend towards a more urban society will continue in the years ahead. That means more pressure on municipal infrastructure, such as transportation, water, electricity, and other amenities to serve a growing population.

Brownfield redevelopment offers a key opportunity to create sustainable, livable communities in which residential and business interests can thrive.

Successful projects demonstrate that the benefits of brownfield redevelopment extend to the surrounding community.

Coordinated action at all levels

Getting the most from these benefits will require collaboration across all levels of government, the community, developers and support professionals.

Tackling the relevant barriers to redeveloping brownfield sites will provide economic, environmental and social benefits, as well as business opportunities for the development and other support sectors.

We encourage you to look at your community's brownfields in a new way, and to work with both the public and private sectors to make brownfields an important foundation for sustainable communities.

Email us about your community's brownfields or send us your feedback about this site.