Northgate brings together a unique mix of townhomes, office space and seniors’ living, situated at the gateway to Tsawwassen.

For Century Group, the opportunity to redevelop the site of the former South Point Academy in Tsawwassen was unique in that the site was narrow and situated on a busy street. The location inspired us to explore new, non-typical uses that would work with the smaller site. Our idea was to build a mix that we haven't seen done anywhere else, which would include townhomes of different orientations, ranging from three bedrooms on multiple floors, to one-floor bungalows, together with an office tower and a boutique-style seniors’ community.

In addition to its unusual footprint, Northgate has a multi-generational character that touches everyone in the neighbourhood. To connect the townhomes and the seniors' community, we built a courtyard between the two developments to create an intergenerational space that everyone can enjoy. Seniors, parents, and their children from the townhomes, as well as business people from the office tower, spend time and mingle in the shared courtyard every day.

The flow was very important in the site design. We didn’t want Northgate to be car-oriented and also had to provide access to vehicles, so we designed it to be pedestrian-friendly as possible. Seniors and townhome residents can easily access medical and legal services, a beauty salon and other services located in the office tower.

We also integrated energy- efficient heating and sustainable practices into Northgate’s design. For seniors, a steady source of warmth is essential. We used ambient heat, embedded in the geothermal field underneath the parking garage, to heat the seniors' building and maintain a comfortable temperature all the time. To create attractive, low maintenance landscaping, we worked with a local specialist in low resource landscaping. Van der Zalm + associates, who used all BC-native plants that require fewer resources than a typical golf course lawn.

The Northgate seniors' community is Century Group’s fourth Bria community and is smaller than our other seniors’ developments. We believe it offers a model for other municipalities with small sites that are looking to build seniors’ housing.

Our ultimate goal for Northgate was to develop the site as a ‘gateway’ – a place that would create a sense of welcome for people coming into Tsawwassen and connect with the single-family homes in the neighbourhood behind. In keeping with this role, Northgate includes Coast Tsawwassen Inn and Browns Socialhouse, so when people come into Tsawwassen, their first experience is a warm, hospitable welcome to this unique community.

One of the most delightful things about Northgate is that you can walk by on the street and see someone out on their porch barbecuing, and then walk through the passage to the seniors' community and see the kids at play on the structure with the residents out with their walkers. It just really feels like a neighborhood, a real community. It's hard to believe it's only been open a year.