Hillside Shopping Centre

The Opportunity

The Ownership Group of the Hillside Shopping Centre began an 80 million dollar redevelopment of the shopping mall in 2012. The project increased the retail area by 150,000 square feet, to a total of over 590,000 square feet, and also included interior renovations, reconfigured parking areas and upgrading/reconfiguration of servicing infrastructure.

The Approach

The Hillside Centre is the largest impervious area within the Bowker Creek watershed; as such, the client and design team chose to incorporate several low-impact development features within the parking area and road frontage to provide treatment of storm water runoff and lessen the mall’s impervious footprint.  

Westbrook worked closely with the Landscape Architect, the Capital Regional District and the City of Victoria to design low impact development features for the storm water system. Features such as permeable pavers, rain gardens and a ground water recharge system were incorporated to help to detain and treat the runoff prior to its discharge to the municipal system which drains directly to Bowker Creek. 80% of the total suspended solids are removed by the storm water treatment system prior to discharge from the site, which lessens the sediment load on the creek. Rain gardens and permeable pavers also provide microbial treatment of runoff to remove pollutants such as hydrocarbons, total suspended solids, and phosphorus.

Offsite improvements on Shelbourne Street, Hillside Avenue, and North Dairy Road, were designed by Westbrook to convert them from vehicle centered transportation corridors to ones that include safe and comfortable access for pedestrians, bicycles, transit users and the mobility-impaired. Westbrook was also responsible for the design of the parking lot reconfiguration and grading.

Challenges of the project included maintaining access to the mall during construction, as well as minimizing disruptions to traffic on Hillside Avenue, Shelbourne Street and North Dairy Road during the construction of frontage works.

The Result

The project was completed in 2014.