The federal government announced Thursday it is giving local institution Evergreen Brick Works $2.4 million to help modernize and electrify part of its facility.
The funding will go to the TD Future Cities Centre, which opened in 2018 as a space for “urban thought leaders” to gather and test prototype solutions for building low-carbon cities of the future, according to Evergreen Brick Works’s website.
“The investment is going to support a renovation that’s going to include new solar panels on the roof that will help power this building and high efficiency LED lighting is also going to be installed,” Deputy Prime Minister and University—Rosedale MP Chrystia Freeland said Thursday after touring the site.
“Most importantly, this investment is going to help the Brick Works and the great team here do more of what you’re doing already: welcome more and more people from Toronto, from across Ontario, from around the country here to experience industrial history, to experience nature, to build a community,” she added.
The federal government says the investment will help make the building more sustainable.
“The largest source of emissions in our city is our buildings,” said Toronto—Danforth MP Julie Dabrusin.
“When we’re talking about doing something to help ‘green’ a building like this, it is actually also having a really large impact on the quality of air we breathe in this city.”
Evergreen Brick Works is a former industrial site located in the Don River Valley that’s been converted into a community environmental centre. The facility hosts farmers’ markets throughout the summer, but also doubles a park with walking trails which connect to a ravine that flows through the area.
CEO Jennifer Angel says the sustainability of the site, especially in the wake of a rapidly changing climate, is necessary for the community to be able to enjoy it.
“Part of what we’re trying to do is make sure the beauty and capability of the ravines is not only made more accessible to people, but also extended into the urban centre that is Toronto,” Angel said.
The announcement is the second significant funding deal the federal government has given Evergreen Brick Works in the last year. Last November, Freeland announced a $1.9 million investment to rehabilitate the facility’s ravine centre.